Non-Traditional Haggada. Kibbutz Tel Yosef [1938]

Non-Traditional Haggada. Kibbutz Tel Yosef [1938]

Non-traditional Haggada, stencil print with illustrations. Vivid depiction of events of the time. 

In addition to original texts regarding the bringing of the Omer and spring songs, there are texts relating to this critical year [1938] in which the situation of European Jewry plummeted drastically due to the rise of the Nazi government. Includes a take-off of the "Mah Nishtana": "How are these days different than all other days? In all other days, the world sits in peace with some emergency hours, but in these days everything is emergency. In all other days, some Jewish tribes in the Diaspora live in peace and some are persecuted, but this year everybody is in misfortune. In all other days, the days are for work and the nights for rest, but now our days and nights are guarded....it is a year of emergency for the entire world, a year of emergency for nations and states, a year of nightmare for humanity and all cultured nations. Because the government of wickedness is proud - the government of threat has risen. From the ends of the world...bursts forth the depressed and tortured person....rivers of blood flow without rest in different sections of the world.....Destruction, loss and decimation. There is nothing stopping this, no way to put the brakes on the wicked one's yearning for conquest, because the nations are startled and have drawn back in the face of this rising power...."

Includes a detailed description of the Nazi abuse of the Jews: "Jewish assets have been plundered, Jews have been thrown out of their homes, their source of income has been stolen...not by the rabble, not by some secret order...but by the government itself, without hiding their intentions, straightforwardly and in the open. Destruction now faces Austrian Jewry, German Jewry quivers, Polish Jewry sighs, Romania...." The haggada also discusses the terrible situation in Palestine at the time: "Terror still reigns here. The murders haven't stopped, the battles on the roads and in Jewish settlements. Precious souls are lost every time and new sacrifices are added, either individually or in groups. And the gates have been locked in the faces of the tens of thousands who search for refuge...." Also includes a poem titled "Our nights are under blockade" that describes the fear that reigned in Palestine in face of the Arab enemy. Some passages express bravery: "You will not overcome us, with our heads we will destroy the iron bars. The new mines that you place for our feet will not make us stumble....the exchange of the Balfour Declaration for a declaration of blood and perversion....for us this is just passing dust...."

Kibbutz Tel Yosef was built in Emek Charod. It was established in 1921 by the Plugat Gedud HaAvoda Ein Charod, on the place of the first settlement near the Charod Springs. The kibbutz was named for Yosef Trumpeldor, a founder of the Jewish Brigades and leader of the Russian pioneering movement. 

[19] leaves. 21x17 cm. The front and back jackets are illustrated. Minimal stains. Fine condition.