The Tel Aviv Haggadah, Scribe: Netanel ben Aaron Segel, [Hamburg]:1771

20 leaves (11 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 286 x 185 mm), lacking two, possibly three, leaves between ff. 15v-16r. Written and illustrated in black ink on parchment; main titles, headings and text in square Hebrew script with nikud, Yiddish instructions in Ashkenazic semicursive "wayber-taytsh" script, Hebrew instructions in "Rashi" script. Illustrated title page, twelve miniature text illustrations (ff. 3v, 4v, 5v, 6r, 7v, 8v, 9r, 9v, 10r, 10v, 11r, 18r), and two decorated initial words accomplished in ribbon letters (ff 3r, 17v ; modern pagination in pencil; owners' inscriptions on paper flyleaves. Soiling and smudging; some ink flaking. some water damage to images on 10v-11r. Marbled endpapers. Contemporary red paste paper with gilt tooled central device, edged in vellum, spine gilt-stamped vellum. Soiled, worn and battered. Housed in a modern blue buckram tri-fold chemise and matching slipcase, morocco spine, lettered in gilt.

Probably written for Hirsch Nathan Bendix (1740-1798), a Court Jew in Hamburg and subsequently owned by various members of the Bendix family including: Elkind Bendix, who used the haggadah between 1800-1860; his daughter Bella Mannheimer and her husband Martin Mannheimer; their son Robert Mannheimer; his cousin, Max Bendix; his son Paul Bendix; by descent to Hedwig Bendix, the last member of thye family to own the haggadah before WW II and who had it in the Lodz ghetto in 1942. The haggadah was among the books recovered from the ghetto by Jacob Zvi Joskowicz, ca. 1946; purchased by Dr. Alfred Moldovan ca. 1968; sold by him to the family of the present owner.

The Tel Aviv Haggadah (Facsimile edition) with introduction by Tovia Preschel, Orphan Hospital Ward of Israel, 1971; Isaac Rivkind, "Passover Supplement" to HaDoar, New York: April 1963; Marvin J. Heller, "Mars and Minerva on the Hebrew Title-Page," Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Vol. 98, No. 3: 2004, pp. 269-292.

The eighteenth century witnessed a remarkable revival in the production of Hebrew illuminated and decorated manuscripts.  This renaissance began in Vienna and gradually spread to Bohemia, Moravia and throughout Western Europe.

The scribe-artist of the present manuscript Nathaniel, son of Aaron Segal, was a Sofer Stam, a writer of Torah scrolls, mezzuzot and tefillin.  Based on the dates of the six signed and dated manuscripts which remain extant (four haggadot, and two Mohel books), we can determine that Nathaniel was active between 1757 and 1772, and that he worked in the triple communities of Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbeck, collectively referred to by the acronym AH”U. The present lot was honored with the creation of a facsimile edition in 1971 on the 200th anniversary of its 1771 creation.

As is the case with a great many of the illustrated haggadot produced during this time period, the illustrations are based on the extremely popular printed Amsterdam haggadot of 1695 and 1712. The decorative elements within this manuscript consist of a decorated title-page, two decorated initial words in ribbon lettering and twelve text illustrations:

Fol. 1r:  Title-page. Text set within an architectural framework flanked on the right and left by two figures. The specific iconograpic depiction used here is in imitation of the many printed books (Jewish and non-Jewish alike) which portrayed the Greek mythological characters imbued with great prowess at war (Mars) and great wisdom (Minerva). Here, the accomplished Hebrew scribe/artist of thie manuscript, Netanel ben Aaron, has recast these heroic figures in a decidedly Jewish reinterpretation reflecting Jewish tradition, as King David, the quintessential warrior, and King Solomon, the personification of human wisdom.

Fol. 3v:  The Rabbis at Bnei Brak.  

Fol. 4r:  The Four sons.

Fol. 5v:  Abram destroying the idols of his father Terah. 

Fol. 6r:  Abraham greeting the three angels.  

Fol. 7v:  Moses slays the Egyptian, as the Israelites build Pithom and Ramses.

Fol. 8v:  Pharaoh’s daughter rescuing Moses from the Nile River.

Fol. 9r:  Plague of Frogs.

Fol. 9v:  The Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea as the Israelites watch from the shore.

Fol. 10r: The Exodus

Fol. 10v: The Revelation at Sinai.

Fol. 11r:  Sharing the Paschal lamb.

Fol. 18r: The Temple in Jerusalem. 

The two decorated initial words are on fols.3r and 17v.

Unique among Jewish scribe/artists of the late 18th century, Netanel’s renditions of these well-known and beloved haggadah illustrations are remarkable for the animated expressions of his deftly-drawn figures.

Sotheby's is grateful to Shimon Steinmetz for providing information which aided in the cataloging of this lot.