The Szyk Haggadah is a

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

Haggadah The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...

that was illustrated by the Polish-Jewish artist

Arthur Szyk Arthur Szyk (Polish: �artur ʃɪk June 16, 1894 – September 13, 1951) was a Polish artist who worked primarily as a book illustrator and political artist throughout his career. Arthur Szyk was born into a prosperous middle-class Jewish fami ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

between 1934 and 1936. Szyk's visual commentary on the ancient story of

uses the vocabulary and format of an

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

; each of his 48 full-page

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

and gouache illuminations contains the traditional text of the Haggadah (in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined ...

), which is clarified and interpreted by the images and symbols on the same page. Szyk first looked for a publisher for his Haggadah in mainland

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in the mid-1930s but found that his contemporary telling of the Haggadah was met with skepticism. Publishers in

, for example, were reluctant to publicize a book that drew a direct parallel between the contemporary policies of Nazi Germany and the genocidal tactics of the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

of the biblical

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through ...

. (Szyk did take the partial step of painting out the more obvious political references, such as the swastikas on the armbands of the ancient Egyptians who oversaw the Hebrew slaves. Other details, such as the

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

moustache on the Wicked Son of "The Four Sons", remained.) Ultimately, the publishing house Beaconsfield Press was founded in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1937 for the express purpose of publishing The Szyk Haggadah. Szyk moved from

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of ca ...

, Poland, to London to supervise every aspect of the book's production. Upon official release of the 1940 vellum edition, which was limited to 250 numbered copies and sold for US$500, The Szyk Haggadah was cited by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' of London as "worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has produced". The Haggadah was dedicated to

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

of the United Kingdom, who received one of the first copies. The Szyk Haggadah has been reproduced in popular trade editions in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and elsewhere since 1956. A new luxury limited edition, produced by digital printing and with an updated translation and commentary by

Byron Sherwin Rabbi Byron Lee Sherwin (February 18, 1946 – May 22, 2015) was a Jewish scholar and author with expertise in theology, inter-religious dialogue, mysticism and Jewish ethics. Background and career A rabbi in the Conservative Judaism movement, he ...

, was edited by

Irvin Ungar Irvin Ungar (born 1948) is an American former pulpit rabbi and antiquarian bookseller, considered the foremost expert on the artist Arthur Szyk. Ungar is credited as “the man behind the Szyk renaissance” who pulled Szyk “out of obscurity” ...

and published in 2008 by Historicana in Burlingame, California. The

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

"In Every Generation: Understanding The Szyk Haggadah", directed by James Ruxin, documents the history of The Szyk Haggadah and its contemporary remaking. In 2011, Ungar collaborated with

Abrams Books Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), is an American publisher of art and illustrated books, children's books, and stationery. The enterprise is a subsidiary of the French publisher La Martinière Groupe. Run by President and CEO Michael ...

to publish trade copies of ''The Szyk Haggadah'' (Historicana, 2008) in hardcover and paperback. In 2014, the

Contemporary Jewish Museum The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) is a non-collecting museum at 736 Mission Street at Yerba Buena Lane in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The museum, which was founded in 1984, is located in the historic ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

displayed all 48 of Arthur Szyk's original Haggadah paintings (together for the first time in sixty years) in an exhibition entitled "Arthur Szyk and the Art of the Haggadah."

References

External links

"Arthur Szyk and the Art of the Haggadah" at the Contemporary Jewish Museum''The Szyk Haggadah'' (Abrams)The New Edition of The Szyk Haggadah (Historicana, April 15, 2008)''The New York Sun'', "The Szyk Haggadah, Revived and Illuminated", Gabrielle Birkner, April 18, 2008''The Jewish Journal (of Greater Los Angeles)''. "The classic Szyk Haggadah becomes a modern masterpiece of the digital age", Tom Tugend, April 17, 2008
* ttp://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649981467&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull ''The Jerusalem Post'', "Drawing on Experience", Tom Tugend, April 11, 2008br>''Amphora'', "The Szyk Haggadah", Rollin Milroy, October 2007''Forward'', "Illuminated Tales", March 23, 2007The Beauty & Anti-Nazi Message of Artur Szyk’s Haggadah
{{Passover Footer Haggadah of Pesach Jewish illuminated manuscripts World War II propaganda