Bordeaux Haggadah

For his brother's wedding in 1813, the scribe and illuminator Jacob Zoreph created an elaborate Haggadah manuscript in which he combined ancient traditions with the art of the Napoleonic era to create a unique codex: the Bordeaux Haggadah. In keeping with the occasion for its creation, it contains not only the texts for the Seder, but also those for other holidays, such as the Sheva Brachot, the seven blessings for the marriage of a couple. The traditional Haggadah text is also accompanied by a complete French translation by the Jewish scholar Mardochée Venture – six years before the first French-language Haggadah was even printed. The Bordeaux Haggadah derives its particular historical significance from the fact that it is the first and only handwritten Haggadah of the 19th century in France. In addition, Zoreph took great liberties with the traditional Haggadah illumination, which had been primarily based on the famous Amsterdam Haggadah in Europe since the 18th century. While he did incorporate individual details of it, he primarily drew on the classicist Empire style to create a completely new picture program without parallel.