Gupho shel Pesach, o Hagadath Pesach Letinokoth Yisrael [“The Essence of Passover; or, A Passover Hagadah for Jewish Children”]

(HAGADAH)

Trebitsch & Son

Berlin

1830

Judeo-German text in waybertaytsch letters

Vinograd, Berlin 554; Yerushalmi, pl. 90 and pp. 72-3

Acording to Yerushalmi, few copies are extant of this unusual Hagadah edition - he knows only of the copies in Harvard and the British Museum. Unique in its style and content, this “Hagadah” is in fact a Christian missionary tract seeking the conversion of Jewish youth. Formatted as a dialogue between a Jewish father and his son seeking to explore the deeper meaning of the Paschal Lamb, the subtlety of language distinguishes this publication from others of its genre. “The technique is one of constantly raising doubts, rather than direct Christian preaching; of erosion, rather than frontal attack” (Yerushalmi, p. 73).