"In Every Generation One Has to See Oneself as If He Got Out of Egypt"

Representations of Zionism and Israeli Identity in the Passover Haggadah

Abstract

The Passover Haggadah is an ancient text that has been used by the Israeli state to authenticate the notion of an ancient Jewish nation with an inexorable link to the homeland. It is a text read within the family, according to the commandment “ve-higadeta le-binha” (and you shall tell your son). In this paper I focus on a variety of Passover Haggadahs published after the establishment of Israel in 1948. As I show, these Haggadahs have remained loyal to the original text, however, the meanings of the text have been transformed in hidden or blatant ways to correspond to the changing agendas of Zionist ideology. These changes were enabled using insertions of prologues, paintings, decorations and interpretations that represent the changing ethos of Zionism and Israeli society. In the first part of the paper I trace the bonds between the ancient text and the Zionist ethos. In the second part I examine the interrelationship between changes in the Haggadahs since 1948 and changes in Israeli society and values. I argue that the Haggadah project is unique because more than constructing the nation it was constructed by it. Thus, the final part examines different or various methods of integrating national symbols into the Passover Haggadahs and, more important, how these symbols were interpreted and reinterpreted by various groups in Israeli society.