The history of this Haggadah reaches back many years. I brought the boxes Jay had labeled "Passover" and "Haggadah" home to Poway in 1989. In them were Haggadot and other materials Dad had collected beginning in the early '50's. Some of those tidbits have been included, other materials are buds of ideas that may bloom in a different Haggadah. This text has moved on. Dad's garden was so fertile; his presence still hovers over this Haggadah. Actually, it might never have existed were it not for the HHH (Hurvitz's Humanist Haggadah). When I last skimmed that work (now many years back) I noticed little of it still apparent in this one (at this point, hardly even the Neertza). Mom's last typescript of Dad's last edition is dated 1968.
While I was not involved in the preparation of the first (1970) Jewish Radical Community Haggadah, I was an active participant in the Seder: "From Goshen to the Ocean to the Wilderness" and still have the unopened bottle of Kirschwasser that was to have been poured on the barbecuing lamb (recently noticed that it seems to be evaporating even though it has never been opened). Ever since then "So far..." has been a personal statement. I have produced a Haggadah in one form or another almost every succeeding year. Through this period many other Haggadot have offered ideas for expanding my awareness of how to realize the values of Pesach through the experience of the Seder. To give credit where it is due (in chronological order of publication though not necessarily how I came to know or learn from them):
I keep copies of each of my earlier editions and can trace borrowings and transformations. I have explored many more Haggadot, but they have not (yet?) touched me as have these. All the words are now my own. Through this process I have accumulated many Haggadot and met others who share this interest. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to keep a bibliography of my collection current and on the Web. This has led to some interesting encounters. I find very little of interest to me in what has recently been published, but I am aware of an increasing number of family Haggadot prepared. I focus my own collecting on these: they depict a fascinating phenomenon in contemporary Jewish life. Some of these (a cluster produced by families in the Portland, OR area) have served as the basis for AvigailÕs thesis at Reed and have encouraged renewed thinking. If you come upon this and you are the editor of one of these, please send me a copy. You have my address.
When I first started the project in this form (a "family" rather than a "community" Haggadah) Annie was a little girl and the only child regularly at the Seder. My approach was to adults. Anne now returns to her family Seder as an adult (and may even organize a Seder for friends in Colorado this year). Avigail, Noam, and Nora and Rebecca are more than old enough to ask the four questions (a new generation has begun to take their place). Eitan and Nadav probably do as well. And Shana Amorˇ, Aura and Hila are about ready to ask. Avigail contributed a cinquain which she wrote during Seder in 1991. Seven years ago, as I did the paste-up she asked if she could help. Both she and Noam pasted in most of the graphics that year. A growing Haggadah grows in different ways. By now and for many years, since the entire Haggadah is on the computer, IÕve done everything myself. Now, Avigail and Noam ask different questions that grow out of the text. Some of the new changes are responses to them. Noam has done the work to arrange for an ISBNumber which I had hoped might facilitate distribution. Avigail used this text as the basis for a Haggadah used by students at Reed in 2003. This year she will host her own Seder. Noam has the text in electronic form for his use at Hampshire, though heÕll be at Broome Street.
The Seder here in Poway became vegetarian when both Avigail and Noam became vegetarians a number of years ago, making our home vegetarian as well. We no longer have a Zeroa.
Different core groups gather at each Seder. It begins on Broome Street (this is the final year there) and picks up in Columbus.
Now standard, the cover of the Haggadah has a title and my name on it. Also on the cover is the name of the artist whose work appears there and throughout the text. The Littman family joins us for Seder each year. We continue to grow in our lives together. Gail encouraged me to pursue a more book-like appearance for the Haggadah. Her skill, as the Haggadah "grows" helped to unify the Haggadah visually. It is a pleasure to have her beautiful illustrations enhance this work. Marshall's flute adds its own special quality and now Rebecca is away at school.
I have standardized the "orchestration" of readings. Hebrew errors were corrected thanks to the careful editorial efforts of Rabbi Marianne Luijken Gevirtz (zichrona l'vrachah), to whom I owe much. I identify copyrights as much as possible as indicated in the notes. Once again, more people use the Haggadah this year, and in more different settings, than ever before. After seventeen (!) years, the Broome Street is no longer "our's" but one of "our family's" Seders. Sally uses the Haggadah with the boys in Palo Alto. Debbie edited the Haggadah and a community Seder version has been printed for use again at Temple Adat Shalom of Poway and at the Congregational Seder of Etz Chaim of Ramona. "Subscribers" in Manhattan, Montclair, Teaneck and Los Angeles receive their copies. Families in Rancho Bernarndo/Poway who bought the 1989 and 1990 editions, are using them again this year and more people here in town are asking for this year's edition. People who found the Haggadah on the WWW purchased copiesacross the U.S. and even in Australia. The year 5761 saw unknown thousands of "hits" to the Web Site to visit the Haggadah. When you "Google" "Haggadah" this is one of the first listings. I hope to learn from you who use it what areas need further work.
The UJA (or UJC) no longer distributes a "Matzah of Hope"; they now send out a reading called "The Matzah of Unity" to read at the Yachatz; Elat Chaim suggests serving the salad at Karpas-it seems like ideas the time for which has finally arrived (this year again I'll serve marinated cucumbers and mushrooms as well as asparagus at this point in the Seder). In 1998 R. Lee Bycel (after receiving numerous editions of this Haggadah) published a lovely colorful Family Haggadah which (on the back page) picks up on the idea of having participants sign their Haggadah (introduced here in 1991). It seems like ideas the time for which has finally arrived.
In 1996 I finally reconceived the Haggadah. I began to make it into a hypertext, a few years earlier, but I didn't have the time and the tools available did not handle Hebrew. I have begun to work on my translation/interpretation of Hallel. Miriam's Well has begun to be picked up by others, though not in the manner I have developed. I want to begin the counting of the Omer so I've added a chart. The voice has changed. Instead of didactic, I have achieved narrative.
I take for granted that all the Hebrew has been typed in a normal fashion: from right to left. This is due to the serendipitous nature of Yeda Computer in Israel (the software arm, Daniel Pohoryles', now "Panergy") recognizing the value of Nisus as a word processor and my presence at Nisus Software, Inc. to further enable and reap the benefits of its development.
While I started to put the Haggadah on disk as soon as we got our Macintosh, I felt the constraints of our own Mac 512E in 1989. I now help people write using the computer, most specifically with Nisus Writer "Powerful word processor for the Apple Macintosh." I learned how to use the program by reading the Haggadah into version 1.01 just after Pesach 1989. Since then, I tested the footnotes capability of Nisus 2.0 using the Haggadah's preface. The new features of Nisus 3.0 (still in development when the Haggadah was printed that year) were tested in the 1990 edition. In 1991 I used it to test the then soon-to-be-released Hebrew Nisus. In 1992 I had the opportunity to show Nisus to the linguistics, religious studies and other faculties at Stanford University shortly before Pesach. There I met a recent Russian immigrant who entered the text for Faraonu. In 1993 the Haggadah introduced the Forced Justify Tab (which I used for a while to display the English version of the plagues/signs). 1994 saw the Four Questions in Yiddish use a ßeta version of Yiddish fonts which now appear in Y-Gitele. Using Nisus Writer and the various Language Kits, I can enter text in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and the languages of the Indian subcontinent, but I do not know how the Jews of those countries observe Pesach. A few years ago, someone bought the Haggadah who has a daughter-in-law from Japan-she entered the text for the Questions in Japanese. I typed the questions in Russian. I used the autonumbering tools to fool the notes to appear other than at the foot or the end of the document, and I used the Table Tool to redisplay the word search puzzles. All the graphics have been scanned and added in using Color It! and Publish and Subscribe. The Omer Table was to be an OpenDoc part, but.... The Haggadah has no paper paste-up.
In a sense, this Haggadah is a showcase for the capabilities of Nisus Writer (Classic). I am indebted to Jerzy and Jolanta Lewak, owners of Nisus Software, Inc. for enabling this Haggadah to see the light of day. Over the years, everyone at Nisus has gotten a copy of the Haggadah and someone from the company has attended Seder each year. In 1990 Edwina Riblet (Director of Marketing, who has been my primary reader) came with her husband Roy and daughter Abigail. She continues to test read much of my new writings. In 1996 Joe Kissell joined us with his wife and son Benaiah. Joe arranged for me to have a Web Site where much of this appeared in hypertext form with the ability to order copies online. Since then I have secured my own domain where the Haggadah now resides.
Debbie's 1987 deed of editing and proofing the whole text (except for this) was repeated again in 1990 and in certain areas again in 1992. As always, her taste is impeccable.
Heavy-handedness of ideas, clumsiness of language, or errors that appear here are still mine alone.
As I write I mix metaphors. I write two Haggadot at once: one on line and one on paper. I almost swim in the text as though it begins to take on a life of its own.
I am at home in Poway and throughout San Diego County.
I count the days to Shavuot.
The online version was prepared in 1996 using Nisus Writer as I began to learn
HTML. In order to get the frame and the beautiful Aridi backgrounds and buttons in 1997 I produced
the online version in PageMill 2.0 and edited it in Nisus Writer. As I continue to edit the text, I transfer it to Nisus Writer 2001. The online version consists of 157 files (1.1MB on disk).