HEBREW 255 and HDS 1641 The Passover Haggadah

Faculty: David Stern
Location: TBA
Time: W 3:00pm-5:45pm

The Passover Haggadah is the Jewish book of redemption par excellence. As the script for the seder (the ritual banquet on the first night(s) of Passover), the Haggadah has changed and developed as the Jews have moved from one diasporic center to another from Late Antiquity until the present day. In this course we will study the history and development of both the seder and the Haggadah-- as a ritual, as a text, and as a physical book. Readings will be drawn from the Bible, Mishnah, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, the New Testament and early Christian writers, medieval Haggadah manuscripts and early printed editions, as well as more recent versions of the Haggadah from both Israel and America (including non-traditional haggadot). We will deal extensively with the tradition of Haggadah illustration, and will utilize Harvard’s extensive collection of Haggadot in both Widener and Houghton Library. The focus of the course will be on the reading and analysis of primary sources. No previous experience with Passover is required, but students should have at least two years of Hebrew (Biblical or modern) and be prepared to read texts in Hebrew. Any student with questions about their Hebrew competence should contact Professor Stern.