Haggadah (« Narration »)

HAGGADAH (« Narration »). - Jewish ceremonial for the celebration of the evening of Passover.

The texts are ancient and are found, with variants, in the liturgical compositions of the Gaonic period (v. GE'ONIM); their origins go back to the preceding period. The ceremony begins with four questions asked by a child about the reason for unusual things and rites. There follows the historical evocation of the exodus from Egypt, the remembrance of the prodigies performed by Moses at God's command, psalms of praise (131-18) or hallēl (v.); the supper with the consumption of unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the blessing over the food, the second part of the psalms of praise (cf. Mt. 26:30; Mk. 14:26). The various narrative texts are already contained in Talmudic literature. There are then recited Ps. 134-36 (the "great" hallēl) and the magnificent hymn The Soul of Every Living Being, a hymn that in the Middle Ages was considered to have been composed by the apostle Peter. Later, various poetic compositions were added at the end of the h. The illustrated editions of the h. are often of the highest artistic value for their woodcuts.

H. designates, in a general sense, the sayings and homiletic writings intended to edify with examples and stories, as opposed to the halakhah (v.); while the halakhah forms the essence of the Mishnah, the h. is fundamental in the Midrash (v.).

Eugenio Zolli