Passover Haggadah "Am Yisrael Chai" – The National Revival as a Modern-Day Exodus from Egypt – a copy dedicated by ...

Passover Haggadah "Am Yisrael Chai" – The National Revival as a Modern-Day Exodus from Egypt – a copy dedicated by the author to Yitzhak Rabin

Passover Haggadah "Am Yisrael Chai". Arranged by Elchanan-Shlomo-Chaim Fedler, together with his son, the artist David-Noach (Dov) Fedler. A copy dedicated and signed by the author to Yitzhak Rabin during his first term as Prime Minister of Israel, and to all members of the 16th government: "To the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Knesset members – a present of my work, with respect and admiration, from A. Sh. Fedler 'The Young Typesetter'. 18 Kislev 5737, 10.12.1976." Published by S. Fedler Printing House, Johannesburg, 1976. Hebrew and English on facing pages (the English column is printed over a background of the State of Israel emblem – the Menorah).

A non-traditional Zionist Haggadah, in which the author sought to intertwine the Zionist narrative with the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The Haggadah is accompanied throughout by illustrations, photographs, and passages referencing the Jewish people's struggle for an independent state and its realization. As a story of fulfillment whose end is rooted in its beginning, it features the famous group photograph of the delegates to the First Zionist Congress in Basel, 1897, alongside the iconic image of Ben-Gurion declaring the independence of the State of Israel on 5 Iyar 1948. The narrative traces the path through the heroes of the Zionist revolution from its inception – Theodor Herzl, Albert Einstein, Hannah Szenes – to the leaders of the state: Menachem Begin, Golda Meir, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, and many others.

Alongside the traditional passages, the story of the modern Jewish revival is interwoven. In a surprising analogy to the classic segment describing our sages who sat in Bnei Brak recounting the Exodus from Egypt all through the night until their students came to rouse them, Theodor Herzl, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizmann, Zalman Shazar, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Ephraim Katzir, and David Ben-Gurion appear as “our sages”, whose students implore them: “The time of liberation has arrived…”.

Later in the Haggadah, following traditional passages, the author includes a section titled “Memorial for the Martyrs of the Holocaust”, composed by Rufus Learsi, which he wished to be recited in every Jewish home on Passover night as part of the traditional Haggadah. This section is accompanied by a photograph of Jews being led to execution in the Warsaw Ghetto. Also included is a photograph from the annual memorial rally held in Johannesburg in memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust.

Following the Partisan’s Song, an illustration appears of the military cemetery on Mount Herzl, a photograph of immigrants arriving in the Land of Israel, Independence Day dances, a Prayer for the Peace of the State of Israel, and a photo of the celebrations following the successful Entebbe Operation to rescue the Israeli hostages.

[8], 60, [16] pages. Light stains on some of the leaves. The Haggadah is bound in an additional hard protective cover, to which the publisher affixed the errata leaf. Good – very good condition.