Baghdad Haggadah

Hagadah shel Pesaḥ ʻim tsiyurim ṿe-targum ʻArvi ke-minhag Bagdad.
Livorno: Eliyahu ben Amuzag, [5]647 [1887]. (BRA1851)

Haggadot are among the only liturgical books entrusted to the intimacy of a family meal. Read aloud at the Passover Seder on a night that is “different from all other nights,” the Haggadah is the telling of the story of Jewish exodus from Egyptian bondage. The text is a rich mosaic of passages from the Bible, Mishnah, and Midrash, including Psalms, parables, prayers, blessings, and songs. Printed in Livorno, Italy, this Haggadah consists of readings according to the Baghdad rite and was intended for Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa. It features a Judeo-Arabic translation of the traditional text in Hebrew characters and is illustrated with four introductory woodcuts and twenty historiated initials. The publisher, Eliyahu ben Amuzag (1822–1900), was a prolific scholar who served as rabbi in Livorno.