“Go Forth and Learn”
Visual Exegesis in the Medieval Haggadah
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21322326 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Abby Kornfeld (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 143-168 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Gesta (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-920X • E-ISSN: 2169-3099 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/731526 |
| OpenAlex | W4403284671 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
The folios of the Barcelona, Kaufmann, and Sassoon Haggadahs (London, British Library, MS Add. 14761; Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Science, Kaufmann Collection, MS A 422; Jerusalem, Israel Museum MS 181/41) are full of illuminations that facilitate the understanding and exploration of the text. Word images push participants in the Passover seder to discover the text’s riches by highlighting key terms and passages, exposing the literal meaning of idiomatic expressions, illuminating biblical verses, wrenching words out of context to reveal their interconnections and subtext, juxtaposing Hebrew—the sacred language—with the visual vernacular, and enlivening the gathering with pictorial puns. Some images gloss the text, while others expand its interpretive possibilities. Some images open onto a range of associations, while others redouble the text at hand. The addition of illumination to these haggadahs enriches the text’s interpretive possibilities and structures fresh responses to its biblical story. In so doing, the imagery advances the main objective of the seder: to elaborate upon the story of God delivering the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt such that all participants in the celebration are deserving of praise. Densely freighted and multivalent, the interplay of word and image mediates the religious experience of the participants, imbuing these haggadahs with tremendous intellectual, religio-historical, and creative force
Art · Art history · Exegesis · Literature · Visual arts · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Social Movements and Cultural Identity · Visual Culture and Art Theory
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |