Bernard A. Solomon. An Artist’s Hagadah. Rochelle Ratner and Abagail Stern (poetry eds).

<<“NEXT YEAR IN THE COMMUNITY OF FULLMENT.”>> A contemporary, liberal interpretation of the Passover Hagadah by artist Bernard Solomon (1946-95). Supplementing the traditional Hebrew text of the Hagadah with contemporary poetry, this edition reinterprets the liturgy to a most idiosyncratic universal, humanist level. For example the poem placed following the blessings on the ritual search and burning of the chometz: “The Search” by Morton Marcus concerns a New Jersey bake shop owner, five-foot-one and fat, in apron and undershirt, with sweaty black hair and pudgy forearms, referred to as “King of the Universe” - the Source of bread. The numerous woodcuts both printed on the page and tipped into the volume serve as an additional illustrative commentary by the artist. For example, just prior to the beginning of the Seder, the artist inserts a fold-out illustration of 36 individuals around the seder table; included in this most unusually diverse ‘guest list’ are personalities from the Torah (Miriam and Elijah), rabbis (Akiva and Maimonides), Abolitionists (Sojourner Truth and Harriet Beecher Stowe), Civil Rights leaders and feminists (Martin Luther King, Jr. and Susan B. Anthony). Other historical and political figures: George Washington, Florence Nightingale, Anwar Sadat, Eleanor Roosevelt, Raoul Wallenberg, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Golda Meir and David Ben Gurion. Further unexpected invitees include Rashi, Ann Frank and Queen Victoria.