Darmstadt Pessach Haggadah - Codex Orientalis 8

Darmstadt Pessach Haggadah – Codex Orientalis 8

Like most Haggadot, the Darmstadt Haggadah was made for a private use and despite the sumptuousness of its artistic furnishings, it was not merely a display piece and has evidence of regular use at Passover. It appears to have remained in private ownership until 1805, when it became part of the Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek Darmstadt as part of the collection of Baron Hüpsch, an antiquarian collector in Cologne. Before that it was probably in the possession of Simon von Geldern (1720–1774), a German traveler, author, and great uncle to the famous poet Heinrich Heine (1797–1865) who spent extensive time in North Africa and the Middle East.

Defying Jewish Gender Norms

The enigmatic imagery of this unique work has been the source of numerous debates concerning gender, the collective body of Jewish religious laws known as Halakha, and medieval Jewish culture. Men and women are depicted holding books together and engaged in conversation under Gothic vaults and arches. For a Passover Haggadah, not only are the hunting scene and the Fountain of Youth depicting naked men and women completely unusual, but so are the multitude of depictions of women without head coverings or veils reading religious scripture in pilpul scenes that are unseemly for women. Male teachers were forbidden from instructing women and this equal and harmonious portrayal of men and women in a building that seems to be a beth midrash or “house of learning” where religious texts are interpreted would have been unacceptable to medieval Ashkenazi.

Inspiration for the Unique Illumination

There is no parallel in medieval Jewish art for these images of unchaste interactions between the sexes and the unkosher killing of animals for sport. It likely draws on a tradition going back to Rabbi Eleazar of Worms (ca. 1176–1238) but also reflects the contemporary tastes of the Christian nobility. The wealthy patron of this manuscript doubtless wanted secular texts and themes incorporated into the nominally religious manuscript. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the genre encompassing depictions of courtship, hunts, dances, feasts, battles, games, and baths was extremely popular among the nobility and the growing burgher class that imitated them. Judging by the masterful depiction of these secular and courtly scenes, it is believed that a gentile artist was given the commission for illuminating the Hebrew text written by the scribe Israel ben Meir.

A Glimpse of Paradise

While the inclusion of the hunting scene is easier to explain as simply being en vogue, the miniatures of men and women reading, debating, and bathing one another are more layered. Since it is improbable that a medieval Ashkenazi patron, most likely a man, would pay the large sum of money that this manuscript must have cost for depictions of sinful men and rebellious women, there must be a deeper explanation. An answer might be found in the olam ha-ba or “world to come”, one of the most important texts in Judaism, which concerns paradise and the afterlife. Eleazar of Worms linked the recitation of the Haggadah with the olam ha-ba: “Anyone who retells the story of the Exodus and is happy about it is welcome to celebrate the festival of joy with divine spirit in the olam ha-ba”. In the next life, the distinctions between men and women are eliminated, there are no temptations between the sexes, and therefore no reason to separate them. Thus, the joint recitation of the story of Exodus is a reminder of the joyful celebration in Paradise to come. Whoever the sophisticated patron of the manuscript was, they were able to have it both ways: a magnificently illuminated manuscript that was both fashionable and a proper representation of God's glory.