Obj. ID: 39950  Haggadah shel Pesach, Eretz Israel, 1946

This text was prepared by William Gross:

The celebration of the Passover in the Kibbutzim in the first half century of their existence took on a form different from that of the religious holiday. The holiday was celebrated in various degrees of the regular traditions of the Haggadah, but special prominence was given to the theme of the coming of spring and the honoring of that event. Additional significance was awarded to concepts found in the Haggadah that were central to the early kibbutz pioneers' ideology: national freedom and socialist ideals.
The staggering number of kibbutz Haggadot (an estimated 1,000 different versions) can be attributed to the fact that few were actually printed; most of those produced in the 1930's and 40's were mimeographed in small numbers, to be used in a particular year by a particular kibbutz. These publications often contain striking graphics which were drawn by members of the Kibbutz, many of whose names were not recorded. It was only later that official kibbutz federations published standard versions of the Haggadah for the kibbutz population. Taken together, these kibbutz Haggadot – their revised texts and innovative illustrations - offer a fascinating perspective on this still evolving social movement.
This edition from Tenu'at ha-No'ar ha-Lomed includes a "Yizkor" section for those who perished in the Holocaust, ghetto fighters and partisans in the forests, and a four-page Hebrew version of the Partisans Song.