#bird haggadah

[adelethecrow]

a character from the pages of the Bird Haggadah - an ancient Jewish manuscript

[girlactionfigure]

[sheydgarden]

Any thoughts on the little fellows from the Bird's Head Haggadah?

delightful ask, thank you. huge fan of those fellows! i love how modern that kind of medieval cartooning can look sometimes. here's a pair enjoying some Jewish zines (was the haggadah the original Jewish zine? discuss) ♥

[mascamaiorum]

"Birds’ Head Haggadah", medieval jewish illuminated manuscript with avian figures. Scholars say the human face was masked to circumvent the prohibition on images.

[zoologica42]

Sad today, drew a little bird man in my notes.

Based on the little guys from the Bird’s Head Haggadah (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds%27_Head_Haggadah) and a smooth-billed ani. I saw smooth billed anis for the first time recently and learned they’re called “judío” in some places bcs of the big beak. Watching their antics reminded me of my family around the Seder table so maybe there’s more to the name.

[arthistoryanimalia]

A special #Feathersday for #ChagPesachSameach: The Bird's Head Hagaddah c. 1300, the oldest surviving illuminated Ashkenazi Passover Haggadah, named for its depiction of Jewish human figures with bird heads. In this scene they're baking matzo!

The Birds’ Head Haggadah South Germany c. 1300 Scribe: Menahem Handwritten on parchment; dark brown ink & tempera; square Ashkenazic script H: 27; W: 18.2 cm Israel Museum, Jerusalem B46.04.0912

"The name of this early Passover Haggadah derives from its depiction of human figures with pronounced birds’ heads. The enigmatic practice of drawing bird and animal heads in place of human faces is found in other Ashkenazi manuscripts of the 13th and 14th centuries and has been interpreted in various ways.

This is the first illustrated Haggadah known to be produced as an entity separate from the prayer book. It contains depictions with ritual and textual themes: the preparation of matzah and the various blessings over wine and food recited during the Seder; biblical scenes like the gathering of the manna or the giving of the Torah; and messianic images such as the rebuilt Jerusalem."

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

The bitter herbs bird is delightful.

To reiterate

Not enough of you know about the Birds Head Haggadah, and that

is a damn

shame

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

are otters or songbirds more jewish i have an argument to settle

Rating: Songbirds, but there's a makhloket

The majority opinion holds that songbirds are more Jewish than otters, as it is written, “Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself in which to set her young near Your altar, O LORD of hosts, my Sovereign and my God” (Psalms 84:4). There are many other texts that mention songbirds throughout the Tanakh; there are zero results for “otter” as referring to the animal on Sefaria in our sacred texts.* Thus, the simple answer is that songbirds are more important in Judaism, and therefore more Jewish, than otters. Additionally, medieval Jewish illumination such as the famous Bird's Head Haggadah depicts Jews with human bodies and the heads and beaks of birds, indicating a close connection between Jews and birds:

However, as is Jewish tradition, we preserve the following minority opinions as well: 

Otters are more Jewish than songbirds: Songbirds were created on the fifth day of creation, while otters, like humans, were created on the sixth day. Therefore, otters are closer to humanity, and Jews are part of humanity, so otters are more Jewish than songbirds. (Genesis 1:20-24) Furthermore, this photo from the Cincinnati Zoo speaks for itself:

Both otters and songbirds are equally Jewish: Psalms 50:10-11 reads “For Mine is every animal of the forest, the beasts on a thousand mountains I know every bird of the mountains, the creatures of the field are subject to Me.” Clearly, this covers both otters and songbirds, so both are equally Jewish. Furthermore, otters and songbirds both look extremely cute in yarmulkes, which may not be halakhically relevant but feels important to state nonetheless.

Neither otters nor songbirds are Jewish; however, they are righteous gentiles under the Noahide covenant: To be Jewish means to be bound by the Abrahamic covenant in relationship with the Holy One. As animals are neither descended from Jewish parents nor have the agency to choose to be bound by the covenant made between God and Abraham, as human converts do, neither otters nor songbirds are Jewish**. However, following the great flood, God said to Noah, “I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, and with every living thing that is with you—birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well—all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth. (Genesis 9:9-10). This covenant, symbolized by the rainbow, is God’s commitment to every living thing (clearly including both songbirds and otters) that God will never flood the Earth again-- something every one of us can support.

*(okay, there are three results: one is a typo for “utter” as in “our otter ruin” and the other two are German). 

** My cat, however, is definitely Jewish.

[determinate-negation]

Birds' Head Haggadah, Southern Germany, 14th century

This Haggadah is believed to be the earliest known Haggadah printed as its own book, separate from the Jewish prayer book. The use of birds heads has been interpreted in a variety of ways, mostly to do with the prohibition on graven images.

[sashayed]

thinking about Them (hardworking little guys from the Bird's Head Haggadah)

[mortimer]

They put a fish in that shin!!!

Doing my final reserarch paper for school on jewish illuminated manuscripts and fuck they are so cool and beautiful. bad bitches of the book

[yiddishlore]

Girls don’t want boys, girls want a facsimile edition of the “Birds’ Head Haggadah” (Southern Germany, c. 1300)

Image from the Israel Museum: https://www.imj.org.il/en/collections/199815-0

[pluckysidekick]

Is this the week? Maybe, maybe not. No one seems to know when we’re getting a Nancy Drew s4 trailer, but the Nancy Drew Writers, while busy picketing for fair wages for all writers, are gathering fan questions to answer - past seasons are fair game, no serious S4 spoilers should be expected, and don’t ask them about the trailer 😂. Get thee to the bird app if you want in on the action!

In the meantime they dropped the tiniest hints in the form of some of the writers’ answers to “what are they most excited to see in S4.” It was part of the celebration of AAPI Heritage month, highlighting Asian American and Pacific Islander writers on Nancy Drew. Melinda Hsu Taylor, Exec. Producer of ND, is most looking forward to “Epic star-crossed romance”. Same!

Lisa Bao, Co-producer, is “excited for fans to see George come into her own and make some important life decisions.” I am SO looking forward to seeing where George goes with her life - career, family, love life - all of it! Absolutely stellar character played expertly by Leah Lewis. We always talk about Ace’s classic lines, but really George has some of the best ones (“So go help that person!”)

Leilani Terrell shared a few miscellaneous words: Nansplain, Walk, Crew, Triangle, Motzo, Fork, Teeth.

Um…what? OK. “Nansplain” explains itself - does Nancy get called out for her sometimes condescending over explaining (we love Nancy but…)? So can I call George with coining the term? It sounds very George. “Enough with the Nansplaining, Drew, let’s go fight some ghosts!”

Walk - a romantic walk for Nancy and Ace? Maybe IRL this time? My heart is beating faster at just the thought!

Crew - expecting the Drew Crew to all come together to solve the big mystery this season.

Triangle - could Horseshoe Bay have a Bermuda Triangle situation? There seems to be a boat/water theme in S4, and we know Birdie is returning for two episodes - could the Fire Souls of Moonstone Island be involved somehow?

Motzo - well, I shared Anthony Natale’s (Ace’s father) pic of the whole cast and Melinda (and one mystery guest) sitting down to a traditional Jewish meal on Thanksgiving, complete with booklets that appear to be entitled “Family Hanukkah Haggadah” (used at Passover). I am HERE for the Hardy family holiday drama!!

Fork and Teeth - Kennedy shared emojis for Salad and Tooth as S4 hints before. I’m really rooting against vampires 🧛🏻‍♀️. Also, read @likestosolvethepuzzle’s Salad Bar series (v. NSFW, tons of fun)!

Finally, Minh Ngyuen, Showrunner’s assistant, is excited to see “how the fans react to all of the twists and turns of this season.”

I am expecting all the twists and turns - we all think we know what S4 is about, but we really know very little. I personally can’t wait to be surprised and delighted - and I’m sure sometimes infuriated! Bring it on!

[insidemyfavoritemanuscript]

Episode 4: Michelle Margolis on Studious Women, Colorful Margins, and a Curious Bath

Folio 37v (not 40r!), men and women studying together.

In Episode 4 of Inside My Favorite Manuscript, Lindsey and Dot talk to Michelle Margolis about a 15th century Haggadah manuscript from Germany. We spend some time talking about how many women are present in the illustrations, and why that might be. We look at some of the other illustrations, which include a hunt, and a very interesting bathing scene. Finally we discuss the signs of use in the manuscript, including ones that you’ll only see in a book used at the dinner table.

Listen here, or wherever you find your podcasts.

Join our mailing list to receive weekly updates about the IMFM pod!

Below the cut are photos of some of the specific things we discuss in this episode.

University of Darmstadt, Cod-Or-8, Israel ben Meir, Pessach-Haggada. Heidelberg, [ca. 1430]

Folio 37v (not 40r!), men and women studying together.

Folio 5r, the blessing of the wine

Folio 25v, with two initial letters

Folio 10v, the one with all the colorful critters

Folio 10v, close-up of the one that “looks like a bat that is also a flower”

Folio 10v, close up. Is this a page (a boy) or a woman?

Folio 56v, the colophon, aka where the scribe, Israel ben Meir, wrote his name

Folio 57v, the hunt

Folio 58r, bathing

Folio 51v, with birds and lions

Folio 30r, which has been spilled upon

Folio 29v, which faces 30r and has also been spilled upon

Article about a project to analyze stains in manuscripts: Campagnolo, Alberto; Connelly, Erin; and Wacha, Heather (2019) "Labeculæ Vivæ: Building a Reference Library of Stains for Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts," Manuscript Studies: Vol. 4: Iss. 2, Article 7.

Emma Stanford, “Booksquashing.” The Bodleian Libraries, July 31, 2018

Folio 37r, the other side, 37v, shown at the top of this post.

Folio 10r, the other side, 10v, shown further up in this post.

Front pastedown, inside front cover, with writing that has been erased.

Close up of erased section

Back pastedown, inside back cover.

Folio 48v

Folio 48v, close-ups. Woman surrounded by men looking at the reader, and a man who is very excited about his book.

[thepomegranatewitch]

tu bshvat 5784

Welcome to the new tradition around here, sharing my family's tu bshvat table! Pictures imperfect because we needed to sit and eat!

Image description. Three photos of a table set with a meal, described below. One from overhead, the other two from just over tableheight at two different angles.

The whole table! This is a secondhand dropleaf table that I fixed up a bit with oilcloth, but I'd love to have one of those old country kitchen wooden tables that serve as prep table, dining table, and ad hoc operating table for La Résistance. The kids keep grabbing onto the edge and trying to swing off this, and you can imagine that will one day soon end very poorly.

Since I live an actually not aesthetically cottagecore life, we have nothing but the finest dollar store plain white dishware for us adults, and metal sets for the kids. I haven't finished making all the colour coded napkins, but eagle eyed individuals will notice each blue gingham napkin has a flower embroidered in the corner in each of our colour coding scheme, from top left clockwise that's red, yellow, green, orange. Each setting has a bowl on a plate, a fork and spoon on a blue napkin, and a haggadah with a pomegranate branch on blue circle. Adult settings also have a butter knife and a stemmed port glass, and the kid settings have two small square sticker sheets and a turkish teaglass.

The table has, from top left clockwise, an adult place setting, a fruit plate on glass, a child setting, a red plate with four servings of melanzane alla parmigiana, an adult place setting, a paper packet of parsley seeds, a small glass jar with cardamom pods, a glass bowl of wash water with three star anise floating in it, a gray towel with white stripes, and a child setting. Down the center of the table from left to right is a bowl of fruit and nut studded barley, a bottle of white and a bottle of red wine, a square container with mixed roasted vegetables, a half gallon mason jar with water, a pecan pie with circular pattern, and a plate of homemade thick matzah. Yes, I made matzah because I thought it would be easier than making bread. Yes, my oven hasn't been cleaned in a while and so started smoking. Yes, the smoke alarms went off multiple times. Yes, I did have to stand there facing the street while it rained pumping the side door while all the windows were open to get all the steam and smoke particles out of the air. Holiday adventures with Sahar!

Image description. Four close up shots of foods, described below. All are birds eye except the barley, which is at an angle to show the careful mounding.

the fruit plate! Our minhag is at least twelve tree fruits so we piled most of them on the tasting plate. From the ramekin going clockwise, that's a ramekin of pomegranate arils, a chunk of pomegranate, segmented tangerine slices, dried apricots, almonds, dried figs, golden raisins (the baby calls them 'ravens'), extra-dark chocolate chunks (cacao is a tree fruit, it's what the ancestors would want), a ramekin of pitted kalamata olives, and some dried medjool dates. Bonus: the kids ate the plate remnants as a serve-yourself breakfast the next morning. Always wonderful when a holiday yields some batch cooking and child autonomy.

a pecan pie. We use the King Arthur Flour Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie recipe because corn syrup tastes off to me. The changes we made this time are making a savory not sweet pie crust (my spouse makes it with iced water and vodka), cream instead of milk, toasting the filling nuts just shy of burnt, and cream instead of milk. It worked really well to reduce the sweetness from 'sickening' to 'very.' It's our traditional dessert and we eat it only once a year because it's so sweet. I like laying the pecans flat side up in rings on the top for full coverage and so it looks a little like tree rings.

The washwater bowl. It's just a glass mixing bowl with water, but I dropped in some orange blossom water and floated some star anise to make it pretty, and I liked it. Will have to repeat the anise for pesach, but skip the orange blossom water - the anise completely overpowered it.

The barley. We cooked it plain and then added walnuts, pine nuts, dried cherries, fresh pomegranate, and a lot of olive oil. We didn't salt it, which was fine, because we let the kids salt the eggplant before we roasted it, which was not fine. Together they taste great. For those keeping count, the barley dish rounds out the tree fruits to thirteen, and with the whole-wheat matzah that makes all seven species! Side note on the matzah, keep your eyes peeled around pesach for my recipe. Once I learned how to make it, I'm never going back to store matzah. Mine is delicious and oil rich, and we eat it as a pleasant flatbread, not just the bread of affliction.

Image description. Two photos of amanita mushrooms from overhead angles.

As a final bit, please enjoy these amanita mushrooms from the JCC. The groundskeeper is in a months-long battle with this patch that just keeps coming back. He keeps knocking over all but one so the preschoolers can safely enjoy looking only, and they keep popping up. I'm delighted - I thought these were mythical and didn't realize they grew where I live now!

If you'd like to support my work, you can buy a copy of my tu bshvat haggadah here, and the two tu bshvat stickers here and here.

[veliseraptor]

cannot believe no one is printing a facsimile of the birds' head haggadah. what is a jew (me) to do. is it so much for a jew (me) to ask for my own personal copy to bring to every seder I go to for the rest of my life