A non-traditional - early social Haggadah, extremely rare. New York, 1894 – only edition

A non-traditional - early social Haggadah, extremely rare. New York, 1894 – only edition

Haggadah of Passover According to a New Version. Published by the “Socialist Pamphlet Association” (Sotsialistisher Broshurn Farein) – New York, 1894. Published by Arbeiter Zeitung. A non-traditional early Haggadah of exceptional rarity - a socialist version. New York, 1894 – only edition. In Yiddish.

A socialist Haggadah that criticizes class divisions—particularly the upper classes—and calls for an equal distribution of the workday and of property. This is achieved by replacing traditional Haggadah passages with satirical and critical texts.

In place of the traditional “Ma Nishtana” appears: “Father, I will ask you four questions: What has changed? How are we different from Shmuel the manufacturer, Meir the banker, Mizrach the merchant, Todros the rabbi?... They have grand palaces, adorned and furnished with all sorts of things, many beautiful rooms simply standing empty beside them, while we lie together in a pit - and they want to throw us out of that as well... They eat a good meal, drink a fine glass of wine, and go to sleep in a soft and warm bed, and we are doing just fine, we are merely saving ourselves for a nap on a pile of hay, so that we can rise again soon for work…”. In this same spirit, the Haggadah tells the story of the brothers Shmuel the industrialist and Meir the banker, “All the days of your life are the nights when you must work in the blacksmith’s factory…” Throughout the Haggadah, the message appears that all people are born equal, that labor is true freedom, and entire sections are dedicated to denouncing class distinctions in society. In place of Pesach, Matzah, and Maror, we find: “Murder, Burden, and Bitterness.” Also: “In every generation, a person must see himself as equal among equals.” The Nishmat Kol Chai prayer is replaced with a call to workers: “Awaken!” The hymn Vayehi Bechatzi HaLayla is replaced with a poem calling on humanity to cease committing murder, and Echad Mi Yodea is reimagined in socialist spirit: “Six times a week, a worker is squeezed dry, ” “Thirteen I know... the capitalist system is enough for thirteen thousand villages...”. 

The Chad Gadya hymn is replaced by Chad Ovadya, a satirical version criticizing inequality through a distorted chain of events beginning with the burning of a banker, continuing with the consumption of a lender, and passing through the naïve laborer, and more.

In 1894, a Yiddish newspaper titled Dos Abend Blatt was launched, a socialist Yiddish daily in New York that developed out of the weekly Di Arbeter Tzaytung. Likewise, the publisher of Arbeiter Zeitung issued additional Yiddish socialist/labor-oriented newspapers operating in New York.

The Haggadah is bound together with several other rare early Yiddish pamphlets printed in New York at the end of the 19th century. Each publication has its own separate title page:

וואס הייסט נשמה אדער ... דער חלום... מאת י. ל. פרץ,

פראצענטניק אדער דיא וועלט קעהרט זיך איבער מאת יעקב טער,

דער פארשטע לטער חתן אדער החתונה אויף א גילעכטער איין זייער אינטריסאנטער ראמאן,

דער יודישער מוזשיק מאת מ. ספעקטער,

אידישער מיניסטער ליפפאלר,

קלוג אונד משוגע אדער דער אבגענארטער חתן,

גליקליכע פער אדער דיא כלה האט א טעות געמאכט,

רייכער חתן אדער דיא פערלאזענע כלה,

It is extremely rare to find a non-traditional Haggadah in this spirit already in the 19th century. This Haggadah does not appear in the National Library of Israel.

15 [1] pages. Lightly brittle brown paper. Good condition.