A
Haggadah is a ritual Jewish text containing prayers, hymns,
Midrashic statements, and commentary on the story of
Passover – the liberation of the
Israelites from slavery in
ancient Egypt – and is recited by participants at a
Passover Seder. The Birds' Head is the oldest surviving
illuminated manuscript of a
Ashkenazi Haggadah, dated to the beginning of the 14th century, Illuminated manuscripts of the Haggadah began appearing in the 13th century, and printed Haggadahs began to be published in the 15th century. The style and coloring of the figures reflects that of other illuminated manuscripts from the Upper Rhine region of Southern Germany in that era, perhaps from the vicinity of
Würzburg, and the architectural backgrounds are sufficiently detailed to date and locate the manuscript. The Birds' Head Haggadah is believed to be the first illustrated Haggadah produced in its own binding, distinct from the
Jewish prayer book. The manuscript measures long by wide. It is believed to have originally contained about 50 pages, gathered into five bindings of eight pages each and one binding of 10 pages. In its current condition, it contains 47 pages.
Text The text was copied by a scribe named Menahem; the letters of his Hebrew name, מנחם, are graphically accentuated in the similarly-spelled Hebrew word מֻנָּחִים (
Munahim) in the Haggadah text,
revealing his signature. The scribe Menahem is also credited with copying the
Machzor (
High Holy Days prayerbook) of
Leipzig around the same time; he encoded his name in that illuminated manuscript in a "decorated text panel". Each page of the Birds' Head Haggadah contains 12 rows of text, copied in block calligraphy. The calligraphy and illustrations were executed in dark brown ink and
tempera on parchment. The extant manuscript shows smaller, densely packed script written in the margins of some pages, detailing instructions for conducting the Seder and fulfilling the
laws pertaining to Passover. "Captions" have also been appended to certain illustrations. According to Epstein, these glosses and captions were added by unknown owners of the Haggadah over the centuries.
Illustrations s in preparation for baking The manuscript contains two full-page
miniatures. The first, placed at the beginning, depicts a husband and wife seated at their Seder table. The second, appearing at the end of the Haggadah, depicts a vision of a rebuilt Jerusalem in the messianic era. In addition to the full-page miniatures, 33 pages in the manuscript have illustrations in the margins. These illustrations, which closely follow the text, depict Jewish men and women performing Passover and Seder practices, and also reenacting events in Jewish history. The Passover and Seder-themed reenactments include the roasting of the
Paschal lamb; the baking of
matzos; grinding the
bitter herbs; eating the bitter herbs with
charoset; leaning on one's left side at the Seder;
breaking the middle matzo, and so on. Historical depictions include the
Binding of Isaac; the Jewish people hurriedly leaving Egypt with their matzos, which did not have time to rise; Pharaoh and his army pursuing the Jewish nation to the
Red Sea;
Moses receiving the two
Tablets of Stone from heaven and giving over the
Pentateuch to the Jewish people; and the Jews receiving
manna from heaven during their wanderings in the desert. The Jewish characters are dressed in medieval German-Jewish clothing, and the pointed "
Jewish hat" mandated by the Church beginning in the 13th century is seen on Jewish leaders and teachers, including
Moses. Yet while the Jewish characters all have human bodies, and some also have human hair and beards, and wear helmets or women's
snoods, their faces are those of "sharp-beaked and sharp-eyed birds". A large beak occupies the place where the nose and mouth should be.
Epstein notes that the birds' heads are not uniform, but individualized according to the "age, sex, and status" of the character. Some characters have pigs' ears as well. The faces of non-Jewish characters, in contrast – such as Pharaoh and the ancient Egyptians – and non-human characters such as angels, the sun, and the moon, are blank or blurred. An unknown artist subsequently added facial features to the Egyptian soldiers, but these additions either faded or were rubbed out. : bird-headed Jews bake
matzos for the journey and leave Egypt with their possessions (left-hand page); a blank-faced Pharaoh and Egyptian soldiers pursue the Jewish nation (right-hand page) ==Interpretations==