The life and times of a treasured book read by generations of Jewish families at the seder tableEvery year at Passover, Jews around the world gather for the seder, a festive meal where family and friends come together to sing, pray, and enjoy traditional food while retelling the biblical story of the Exodus. The Passover Haggadah provides the s

"Vanessa Ochs answers the question, 'Why is this night different from all others?' with another question, 'Why is this Haggadah different from all others?' The Passover Haggadah, her lively, engaging survey of the many thousands of Haggadot invented, illustrated, and cherished across the ages, offers an answer. A guide to the past, present, and future of this annual dinner theater in Jewish homes, this book speaks to today's Jews. The Passover Haggadah belongs on every family's bookshelf right next to their stack of wine-stained, crumb-filled Haggadot."—Pamela S. Nadell, author of America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today"Vanessa Ochs is the only person who could have written this engaging, feisty, and brilliant biography of the Haggadah. Here, she shows us not a staid or fixed text, but a text patinaed with wine, a book that both comforts and unsettles, that remembers and interprets and challenges. Ochs has done the remarkable: she has written a book about the Haggadah that is as delightful as the Haggadah itself."—Lauren F. Winner, Duke Divinity School"Vanessa Ochs demonstrates that one of the core texts of Jewish life—the Haggadah—was as much a product of its times as it was a blueprint for social action. She trains her eye on the storied and panoramic life of this beloved book, moving from its textual bricolage in the ancient world to its contemporary moment."—Maya Balakirsky Katz, author of Drawing the Iron Curtain: Jews and the Golden Age of Soviet Animation"This readable, engaging, and thought-provoking book deftly balances breadth and depth—it is also fun to read."—Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg, coauthor of The Bible in the American Short Story