Bidspirit auction | A Non-Traditional Haggadah - Haggadat

A Non-Traditional Haggadah - Haggadat Aviv VePesach, Alumot Group [1940] - ”Haggadat Aviv VePesach”, Alumot Group. Published with the assistance of the Department for Youth and HeHalutz Affairs. Stencil-printed with illustrations. Alumot Group, [C. 1940]. Rare. A Haggadah independently prepared for the members of the Alumot Group - a small collective that founded Kibbutz Alumot in 1942 after years of perseverance, following the establishment of the group in 1936. Seeking to infuse the traditional holiday with pioneering, agricultural, and national ideals, the texts were adapted to reflect the history of the group itself. The title page is illustrated with the figure of a fellah standing in a field holding sheaves of grain, alongside floral decorations of wheat stalks, wildflowers, and pomegranates, emphasizing Passover as the Festival of Spring and the renewal of nature in the Land of Israel. Following several spring-themed passages accompanied by illustrations of the Land of Israel, the Haggadah turns to the members of the group: ”Why is our group different from all other groups? Because all the other groups number fewer than ten, while we are more than thirty. Because all the other groups ascended Masada during the Fifth Aliyah, while we have only now. Because all the other groups wish to complete their training, while we wish to escape from it. Because in all the other groups there are more bachelors than married members, whereas with us it is the opposite...”. The ”Four Sons” section is transformed into a parody featuring members of the group themselves - Boja, Yudka, Elzo, and Adiel. The Ten Plagues of Egypt are recast as the ten plagues that befell the group - the plague of reclaiming the wasteland at Hatzerim, the plague of departures, the plague of Yudka's excessive talkativeness, and others. The song ”Dayenu” is adapted to reflect the struggles involved in establishing the kibbutz: ”Had He only completed Hatzerim for us, but not united us with the Haifa group - Dayenu...” Later appear ”Zion, Will You Not Inquire, ” ”Pour Out Your Wrath, ” ”When Our Children Weep Beneath the Shadow of Axes, ” ”O Earth, Cover Not Their Blood, for We Were Wasteful, ” and others. ”Who Knows One?” is likewise transformed into a parody about the members of the group themselves. At the conclusion of the Haggadah, in place of the traditional ”Next Year in Jerusalem, ” original expressions of hope appear, expressing the aspiration to complete their pioneering enterprise by future Passover festivals. The Alumot Group is closely connected with the story of the well-known Kibbutz Alumot in the Lower Galilee, overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan Valley. The founding group was established in 1936 by a group of young members of the HaNoar HaOved movement. The members initially formed an independent collective and underwent agricultural training in various settlements before ascending to their permanent site at Ramat Poriya in 1942, where they founded the kibbutz. Over the years, particularly during the 1940s and 1950s, the kibbutz and the movement absorbed additional pioneering youth groups, both from the Land of Israel and from the Diaspora, which were named after the original settlement enterprise. An extremely rare Haggadah. Not recorded in the National Library of Israel. To the best of our knowledge, it has never appeared at auction. 9 pages. 33 cm. Fold mark. Good condition.