“Possibly the most beautiful Haggadah of all times”
The National Library of Israel has received the original version of a modern masterpiece of Hebrew manuscript illumination.
©2024 David Moss courtesy Bet Alpha Editions.
Created by renowned Judaica artist David Moss, the Haggadah is a large-format, handwritten and hand-illuminated rendition of the classical Passover Seder liturgy in a traditional style was gifted by Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Robert Gottesman.
The volume headlined Sotheby’s recent sale of Important Judaica.
In his book, The Jewish Way, Rabbi Irving Greenberg, called the Moss Haggadah, “A magnificent work of art, possibly the most beautiful Haggadah of all times…” and Bible scholar, the late Rabbi Moshe Greenberg (z”l) wrote: “The illuminations of the Moss Haggadah are a stunning revelation of the layers of Jewish history present in the text…But it is quite impossible to convey the delight experienced by the eye and the mind at virtually every turn of the page of this magnificent manuscript, the creation of an artist steeped in Jewish lore and uniquely capable of suggesting its riches.”
Psalm 128 Pic: ©2024 David Moss courtesy Bet Alpha Editions.
Between 1980-1984, David Moss devoted three years on three continents to full-time work researching, conceiving, and executing a commissioned Haggadah. The Library has received the original manuscript, which includes calligraphy, micrography, numerous painted miniatures, and designs using gouaches, acrylics, egg tempera, inlaid mirrors, parchment-cuts, and burnished pure gold leaf on parchment sheets. Because at first Moss did not intend for the manuscript to be reproduced, the original has unique features produced using handcrafted techniques such as lacy cut-outs incised with a surgical scalpel.
In 1992, David Moss was awarded the Israel Museum’s Jesselson Prize for Contemporary Judaica for, among other works, his Haggadah. The Moss Haggadah has been exhibited at the New York Public Library, Yeshivah University Museum, Harvard University Libraries, and the Library of Congress, and facsimiles have been exhibited, or acquired, for the permanent collections of major museums, universities, and galleries in North America, the UK, and Israel. A copy was presented by President Ronald Reagan to President Chaim Herzog in 1987 as the official gift on the occasion of the first state visit of an Israeli president to the US.
Moss Haggadah presented to the National Library of Israel. Shown (L to R): National Library chairman Sallai Meridor, artist David Moss, with donors Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Bob Gottesman. Photo: Dor Pazuelo.
Dr. Raquel Ukeles, Head of Collections at the National Library of Israel, said, “We are beyond delighted to have received this important work. The Moss Haggadah represents a highpoint for contemporary Judaic artwork and the 20th century revival of Hebrew calligraphic arts, in which David Moss played – and continues to play – a pivotal role.”
Dr. Chaim Neria, Curator of the Haim and Hanna Solomon Judaica Collection at the National Library of Israel, added, “The Moss Haggadah is important exactly because it is a deeply researched, modern, visual interpretation of the traditional text. The Moss Haggadah has a dual significance: it is both a commentary on the traditional text and, at the same time, a commentary on our collective historical memory and its meaning.
NLI has the world’s largest collection of Hebraica and Judaica, including the world’s largest collection of haggadot. The original manuscript of the Moss Haggadah will have a place of honour among these treasures.”
David Moss said, “I began my Haggadah manuscript in 1980 with months of research in Jerusalem’s rich libraries. On completion, it was delivered abroad and reproduced in several beautifully printed editions. I’m exceptionally grateful the original is finally ‘coming home’ to Jerusalem, and its rightful place at the National Library where it will be reunited with its sources, preserved, studied, and, I hope, enjoyed for generations.”
