"To Faraway Fields, to Labor", Non-Traditional Haggadah – The Ra'anana "HaChugim" Group – Maoz Chaim, 1938

"LeSadot Rechokim, LeAmal" [To Faraway Fields, to Labor]. Passover Seder, The Ra'anana "HaChugim" Group. [Chomat Maoz / Maoz Chaim], Nissan 1938.
Non-traditional Haggadah of Kibbutz Maoz Chaim (previously: Chomat Maoz) in the Beit She'an Valley, which was established by members of the Ra'anana "HaChugim" Group. Illustrated; mimeographed.
The central axis around which the texts and the illustrations revolve is the ethos of labor and the transition from a "nation of merchants" enclosed in ghettos to the new Jew, who labors and fights. Noteworthy are the buildings featured in the illustrations, which unlike buildings depicted in other non-traditional Haggadahs, and except for one illustration dealing with the enterprise of "Choma u'Migdal" (Tower and Stockade), are depicted in the spirit of international style. The entire text is non-traditional, although several passages refer to the traditional Haggadah.
The Haggadah is divided into three sections. The first section, "Our forefathers in Canaan were farmers", includes bible quotes dealing with agriculture and the product of the land, alongside an illustration of a pottery fragment listing the farming seasons found in the Gezer excavations. The second section, "They were plucked up out of their land", contains texts dealing with the Diaspora and the degeneration of the nation. On leaf 8 is a quote by Berdyczewski: "The street of the Jews is the symbol of our downfall […] do not seek a blossoming tree, a layer of grass, the singing of birds […] we have secrets and combinations – yet, in the face of nature we close our eyes". The third section, "Your children shall come back again to their own border", deals with the return to Palestine and its building. The text celebrates hard work, with its hardships and demands, and the transition from the Diaspora to the redemption of the country: on leaf 12, alongside a farmer, it is written: "To us the ripe grain has never whispered […] from our father's house we did not bring the weapons with which you can build a nation and conquer the land. Desperate when we came – we have become, nevertheless, creators". On leaf 14, alongside an international-style building and a eucalyptus tree, a worn-out farmer can be seen, and the text announces: "Not in several years will the sons of a nation of merchants turn into working people, but rather in generations. Since work demands man's marrow, sucks up all his vigor, and gives back but a little". On leaf 17, a map of Palestine is spread out under the wheels of a tractor which is working its land, and the text deals with the "vision of a kibbutz of farmers […] which will settle the homeland".
[1] front cover, 17 leaves. 26.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tears and small open tears to the edges of several leaves. The front cover is partly detached and reinforced in its margins with thick tape mounted to its verso. The Haggadah has an additional paper cover (blank), the back of which is detached.
Not in OCLC.