The Haggadah is the text used for the seder, the ritual meal usually held at home on the first two nights of Pesach(Passover). The word Haggadah means “narration” or “telling,” and it refers to the commandment in Exodus 13:8: “and you shall tell your child” about the liberation from slavery. One of the duties of Pesach is to pass down the story of the Exodus from one generation to the next. According to the rabbis, this storytelling must take place while the Pesach meal—featuring matzah and bitter herbs—is set before us on the table.
The present-day Haggadah derives from a very ancient midrash, parts of which date back to the first or second century BCE. Over the centuries, the Haggadah evolved and developed until the invention of the printing press brought this process to a halt, leading to the standardization of the text. The Haggadah became one of the most frequently printed Jewish books; collectors of rare Haggadot own thousands of editions. It is also the classic of Jewish literature that has been most widely illustrated, both in illuminated manuscripts and in the wide variety of printed editions, old and new.
While verbatim recitation of the Haggadah became the norm in many traditional families, the text is also ideally meant to serve as a starting point for discussion around the seder table. In order to fulfill the commandment of “telling,” children must be included in the conversation, so that the memory of persecution, exile, and liberation becomes meaningful and important to them.