The-Ave.US

THERE IS NOW A COPY OF THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY HAGGADAH ON THE AVE.

Every Passover, Jews read the story of the liberation from Egypt.  The holiday of Passover is probably older than Judaism, combing nomadic ritual sacrifices of the new lambs with Canaani traditions . The story itself, built around the story of the Exodus with Moses as the bringer of the Torah, is as old as Judaism itself, perhaps 3500 years.  Some believe the alphabet was created by the first Jews to pass this story on.

The version of the story read on Passover is called the Haggadah.  No one knows how long Jews have been reading the Haggadah,   The traditional text, based on manuscripts that are now about 1000  years old, must have been based on texts written after 170 CE because it contains references to a rabbi who lived at that time.  One theory is that it was written by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi around 200 CE.That text is at the center of Jewish idealism.  Imagine reading about the cruelty of slavery and quest for freedom every year of your life.  In the last century, there have been many efforts to bring the Haggadah up to date, to incorporate not only  the stories of the Holocaust and the founding of Israel. but the American civil right revolution and national liberation movements in India and South Africa.  A propos of South Africa’s effort at reconciliation, the Haggadah prohibits Jews from celebrating when our enemies suffer, a lesson that the Israelis and the Palestinians could share at this time.

Our family version dates to 1969, when Arthur Waskow published a new Haggadah in Ramparts magazine. This Haggadah, motivated by the death of Martin Luther King,  incorporated centuries of Jewish striving for freedom with the contemporary struggle. We adopted this Haggadah and, over the years, have tried to add to Waskow’s work by adding words from new struggles, deleting some parts that no longer seem relevant, and returning many of the traditional elements Waskow had left out.

Now on THE-AVE, we expect this Haggadah to continue to evolve. Comments and suggestions for changes will always be welcome.

Please fee free to copy and modify.  All we ask is a link back to the original.