Amsterdam Haggadah of 1662

In the second half of the 17th century, Amsterdam became one of the European centers for Jewish publications — the Jewish printing and publishing business was flourishing. The beautifully illuminated Haggadah presented here is also to be seen in this context. It was printed in 1662 by Uri Phoebus ben Aaron Halevi, making it the first Haggadah ever printed in Amsterdam. Halevi based his work on the Venice Haggadah of 1601, which is why the Amsterdam print also contains the order of the Seder in Judeo-Italian, Ladino, and Yiddish. However, this seems reasonable given that there was both a large Ashkenazi and a large Sephardic community in Amsterdam at the time of its creation. In addition, the comments by Rabbi Josef of Padua and Rabbi Moshe Alshek, as well as the 137 striking woodcut illuminations, were taken from the model. They were complemented by an elaborate title page. A significant milestone in the history of Haggadah printing!