This is a photograph of two pages from the Sarajevo Haggadah, created in Spain in the mid-fourteenth century. On these pages there are four illustrations of the biblical story of Jacob using vivid colours and gold leaf.
The first picture (top-right) depicts, on the right, Rebecca giving birth to Jacob and Esau assisted by her midwife and on the left, the twins as young men with Esau, the hunter, aiming his bow and arrow at two birds sitting in a tree, and Jacob, a scholar, sitting inside the tent.
The second picture (bottom-right) shows Jacob receiving his father, Isaac’s, blessing. Isaac is touching Jacob with one hand to check whether his skin is hairy and resting his other hand on Jacob’s head, giving him the blessing. Rebecca is standing in the doorway, holding what is probably Jacob’s clothing, as Jacob is wearing Esau’s clothes in order to make his short-sighted father believe him to be his brother.
In the third picture (top-left), Esau is returning from the field where he was hunting food for his father. The animal that he has caught is still on his shoulders. Isaac raises his hands in a movement that may symbolise his surprise and the realisation that he has given the blessing intended for Esau to Jacob.
Finally, the fourth picture (bottom-left) depicts Jacob’s dream of the ladder. Jacob is depicted wearing red clothing and sleeping with his head resting on a rock. The ladder that appears in Jacob’s dream is drawn diagonally across the illustration. The bottom of the ladder is on the ground and the top reaches the heavens. Two angels are going up and down the ladder. On the left-hand side Jacob is pictured erecting a monument to mark the place of his dream and anointing it with oil.
These paintings are part of a series of 34 illustrated pages of Torah stories, beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the death of Moses and the succession of Joshua, which are included in the Sarajevo Haggadah. The beautiful Sarajevo Haggadah was written in Catalonia, Spain around 1350 and is believed to have been taken to Italy after the Jews’ expulsion from Spain. The haggadah was sold to the National Library of Sarejevo in the nineteenth century and was subsequently saved by non-Jews during the Nazi occupation of Bosnia. The ancient book survived the 1992 siege of Sarajevo and is currently on display at the Sarajevo National Museum. It is considered one of the oldest surviving haggadot.
Would You Like to Know More?
Sarajevo Haggadah – The Sarajevo Haggadah was created in Spain in the middle of the fourteenth century. The original owner and the artist are unknown, although it is conjectured that it was created as a wedding present for a marriage between two prominent families. The haggadah comprises 142 pages of parchment. The first 34 pages contain illustrations of Torah stories, from the creation of the world to the death of Moses and the succession of Joshua. The next 50 pages contain the traditional text of the haggadah with colourful illuminations. The final section of the haggadah consists of piyyutim (liturgical poems). The journey of the Sarajevo Haggadah is not entirely known, but historians believe that it left Spain along with the Jews during the expulsion of 1492. The next indication of its location is a note in the haggadah written in Italy in 1609, testifying that it did not contain any material directed against the Catholic Church. It subsequently appeared in 1894, when it was sold to the National Museum in Sarajevo by a man named Joseph Kohen, although it is not clear how the haggadah came into Kohen’s possession. The haggadah was in danger during two subsequent wars in Bosnia, and both times it was saved by non-Jews. During the Nazi occupation of Bosnia in 1941, the Nazis demanded that the haggadah be turned over to them. The director and curator of the museum defied the order and had it hidden outside of the museum, possibly in a mosque in a Muslim village. The haggadah also survived the 1992 siege of Sarajevo by being stored in an underground vault. The story of the Sarajevo Haggadah is a proud chapter in Bosnia’s history, demonstrating cooperation between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Its history has been fictionalized by author Geraldine Brooks in her novel People of the Book.
Haggadah - While Jews scattered around the world have adapted to changing times and different places, adopting independent languages and customs, the annual telling of the Haggadah – the story of the Exodus from Egypt– remained unchanged, taking place every year on the eve of Passover eve during the Seder:
And you shall tell your son on that day, saying: It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.
Though this core message persists, the Haggadah itself has evolved, adapting in form and content to local cultures and influences.
The Jewish Community of Bosnia – The Jewish community in Bosnia was first founded by Sephardi Jews who had been expelled from Spain. Bosnia was under Ottoman rule at the time, and the Jews were welcomed to the country. The first Ashkenazi Jews arrived from Hungary at the end of the seventeenth century. The community prospered and lived peacefully with their Muslim neighbours. A famous figure in the community was Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, known as a proto-Zionist who lay the ideological foundations for the Zionist movement of the nineteenth century. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Bosnia became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Despite bringing another influx of Ashkenazi Jews to the country, most of the community remained Sephardi, speaking Ladino and observing specific Sephardi traditions. With the post-World War I collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bosnia was included in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Jews continued to prosper. Before World War II and the Nazi occupation of the country, there were approximately 20,000 Jews in Bosnia, most of whom lived in Sarajevo. In 1941 Bosnia was controlled by Croatia, which was governed by an anti-Semitic political party. In September 1941 deportations of Jews began, mostly to Auschwitz or to concentration camps in Croatia. By the end of World War II, 10,000 Bosnian Jews had been murdered. Despite this huge number, it is important to note that many Bosnians helped the Jews; in fact, 42 Bosnians were honoured by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. The Jewish community was revived after the Holocaust, but most of the survivors chose to immigrate to Israel. The Bosnian War of the 1990s also affected the Jewish community. Throughout the war the Sarajevo Jewish Humanitarian Society, La Benevolencija, supported thousands of people of all religions, providing food, medicine, medical aid, and radio communication. La Benevolencija also organised the evacuation of Sarajevo residents (only a third of them Jewish) with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Today, with the independence of Bosnia, the Jewish community numbers around 1,000. Community life is centred around La Benevolencija, which runs a community centre and a synagogue.
