Favorite Haggadot

[dauer]

Pesach's approaching.

What are your favorite haggadot? How do you generally piece together your pesach seder?


My favorite hagaddah is Maxwell House! (just kidding. ) Actually, my favs are the breslov hagaddah, an interlinear hagaddah I own (unfortunately with next-to-no commentary, but that's not why I love it,) and this year I finally got a new hagaddah I've been drooling for the past couple years, the Holistic Hagaddah, written by a guy who considers himself unorthodox and orthopractic. I also like the open-source hagaddah. I think it's a very awesome project that will only get better with each year:

http://www.opensourcehaggadah.com/index.php

This will be my first year leading a seder myself, and I think I will probably be using the holistic hagaddah as a base and once I've had a chance to read it over and pick the commentary out I like, supplement with other sources. I'm also going to have to find vegan substitutes for some of the stuff I don't eat now. That should be a lot of fun, although it will make the rest of pesach palpably more restrictive. I probably won't worry about kitniyot. I will miss the salt water and egg soup. I think I was the only reason my grandmother ever made it. Nobody else liked it much. Oh, and chopped liver. mmmm.


Dauer

Haggadot mentioned in this post besides open source and the interlinear (I'm too lazy to get up and check who made it, but there are a few interlinears out there.)

http://www.amazon.com/Breslov-Haggad.../dp/0930213351

http://www.amazon.com/Holistic-Hagga...4499931&sr=1-1


BB, is there a sefardic haggadah you can suggest? It's not something I will be able to get this year but it would be a welcome addition in another year.


Dauer

[bananabrain]

i've got the "ben ish hai" haggadah, but it's not actually that great - most of the kabbalistic stuff has been expurgated, unfortunately, in favour of midrash-style hagiographic aren't-gedolim-fab kind of pap. i can't be doing with that. i saw the breslov one a couple of years back and was *most* taken with it. a mate of mine who's doing sephardi semicha at the moment has got me a copy of the new haggadah by one of the dayanim of the sephardi beit din which is supposed to be good, so i'll go with that for the moment. the one i grew up with was "a feast of history" which i still think is a good haggadah despite the excruciating translations.

the salient features of my seder tend to be the addition of judeo-spanish versions of "had gadya" and "ehad mi yodeya" (both of which can be found on my band's first album) and the australian-authored "ma nishtana blues", to say nothing of the family minhag of sticking a corner of massah in the egg and "swimming" it around the bowl of salt water to represent a red sea shark!

this may also be of interest:

Midrash Pesah Page

b'shalom

bananabrain

[dauer]

BB,

Ooh, ladino. The only ladino song I know is bendigamos, but I think it's a widely underappreciated language that offers a window into Jewish History.

Dauer

[bananabrain]

i'll pop you over the references by PM.

b'shalom

bananabrain

[dauer]

Thanks BB! Awesome stuff.

I just got my holistic hagadah and it rocks. The traditional hebrew text plus translations probably makes up only 1/2 to 1/3 of the book, and most of the commentary really isn't as new agey as the name would suggest. The intro which relates the Jewish cycle of the year to the yin yang is another matter. It actually works really well to demonstrate some things, like hanukkah as the light in the winter and Tisha B'Av as the dark in the summer, as well as other things and going into more depth. And I'm glad that he included Tu B'Av in his explanation.

More about the Holistic Haggadah

Okay, some of it's a little New Agey. lol. *makes teensy weensy sign with thumb and forefinger*

Dauer

[Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine]

Originally Posted by bananabrain

i'll pop you over the references by PM.

b'shalom

bananabrain

Would you be so kind as to pop some over to me, too? *holds one of the CR :kitty: delegation as an incentive and also an article of trade*

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

[bananabrain]

will do...

b'shalom

bananabrain

[pohaikawahine]

I got my first haggadot recently .... it is called Passover Haggadah for All Generations, A Modern Midrash....it is a four year haggadah set up to refresh each years reading with a different set of commentaries and addition of favorite commentaries by families .... it is a good start for one who still has much to learn .... aloha nui, poh

[wil]

So interesting, until attending my first Seder this week...I knew nothing about what this thread was discussing!!

Had I followed a couple of links I'd have learned more. The family I was with went into a Haggodot discussion prior to the meal...pulling out all they were familiar with as kids...(a couple diffferent choices) and then the hosts indicating they wanted to use the new ones they purchased for the kids, which had their names on them, brand new and somewhat modernized.

Then it was told that my friend (a father in the middle generation) was to lead...he had no qualms about leading, but did have issues with their being only four books and twelve people...their family being used to having a haggodot for every person...and it being something he hadn't seen...and it not having the leader/response format he was used to...all interesting discussion.

During the process while there were many descriptions and nuances that folks liked about it, at times the old ones were grabbed as they provided the more comfortable information and methodology...

What a lovely experience...your traditions are truly wonderful.