Rothschild Haggadah

Rothschild Haggadah of the National Library of Israel, Haggadah according to Ashkenazi custom, Italy, ca. 1450

Handwritten and illuminated on parchment

This magnificent Haggadah was copied by a scribe named Yehuda and illuminated by Yoel ben Shimon, one of the most creative, prolific and distinguished Hebrew manuscript illuminators of the Renaissance period. Researchers have identified about 20 illuminated manuscripts attributed to him, 13 of which are signed. The heroes of his Haggadah are portrayed as 15th-century Italian Jews, in the spirit of Rabban Gamliel's famous statement: "In every generation, each person is obligated to see themselves as if they personally went out of Egypt." The Haggadah was owned by the Rothschild family until it was looted by the Nazis and disappeared. In 1980 it was rediscovered and returned to its owners, who donated it to the National Library in Jerusalem.

Donated by Dorothy de Rothschild, 1980 Jerusalem, National Library of Israel, Ms. Heb. 340 6130