Passover Haggadah

The Haggadah - both manuscripts and printed - is the most commonly and richly illustrated book in the Hebrew book tradition. This Haggadah was produced for an Indian Jewish community. The text is in Marathi, an indication that the book belonged to a member of the Bnei Israel community. The Bnei Israel (Children of Israel) was the largest of three distinct historical Jewish communities in India. After centuries of living in isolation in small, scattered villages, in the late 19th century the Bnei Israel moved to Bombay and Poona. This Haggadah, edited by Moshe Yaakov Telker and Aharon Daniel Telker, was produced during this new phase in the community’s history and it shows that, in spite of the traditional isolation, Bnei Israel maintained the central customs of biblical Judaism, of which Passover is a key element.