Tag: Haggadah

This lavishly illustrated Haggadah, the beloved Jewish book read around the Seder table on Passover eve, celebrates the creative legacy of the Ghetto of Venice. Founded in 1516 to confine the Jews, the Ghetto became the home of a vibrant community of people from Italy, Germany, Spain and the Levant. It made Venice the capital of Jewish publishing, with the first complete Talmud, Torah commentaries, mysticism and, in 1609, a famous Haggadah printed in several languages reflecting the diversity of the Ghetto’s Jewish communities. To mark the Ghetto quincentennial, Beit Venezia, the international center for Jewish Studies in Venice, invited eight Jewish artists from all over the world to design a new Venice Haggadah, after a full immersion in the city and a residency at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica. The twenty-four beautiful etchings, first exhibited at the Jewish Museum of Venice, offer a unique visual commentary on the Hebrew text, accompanied by a new English translation intended to invite discussion and interpretation. The New Venice Haggadah is informed by the spirit of the “original” while being consummately fresh, contemporary and innovative.