Seder Hagadah shel Pesach

THE FIRST HAGADAH PRINTED IN JERUSALEM. Evidently the printer, Israel Bak, was not struck by the irony of reciting within the precincts of Jerusalem the Hagadah’s totemic phrase: “Le-Shanah ha-Ba’ah bi-Yerushalayim” (Next Year in Jerusalem). It would seem the Hagadah was primarily issued for export (the text assumes that two nights of the Seder will be observed). An interesting Yehi Ratzon prayer recited prior to the Counting of the Omer contains an unusual phraseology: “Just as the commandment of Omer protected Gideon, Hezekiah, Ezekiel, Mordecai and Esther, to vanquish their enemies…so may it protect us to overcome our mortal foes.” Another copy of this Hagadah, lacking three introductory leaves, was sold by Kestenbaum & Company, Selections from the Rare Book Room of the Jews’ College Library, December 2003, Lot 85