This document provides an overview and commentary on Ya’akov Boussidan's artistic Passover Haggadah. The Haggadah took Boussidan seven years to complete with the help of 30 students. It uses etching techniques to interpret the stories and themes of Passover, from the ten plagues to the Exodus from Egypt. The Haggadah received international acclaim and has been exhibited in museums around the world. Boussidan is a renowned Israeli painter, printer, and calligrapher who has received several awards for his work in Judaica art.

1. H
A
G
Ya’akov Boussidan
G
ADAH

2. The Kid
“…The
beginning of
this Haggadah
stems from a
childhood
memory,
the origin of
which is
rooted in my
community
and my family
in Egypt… “

3. Locust

4. The Death of the Firstborns

5. Lice

6. Boils
The stories that
we grew up with
from the
Haggadah - the
Passover sacrifice
and the Exodus
from Egypt -
became real

7. Frogs
The evident
homogeneity of these
pages absorbs the
force of its
conviction from
formalistic
heterogeneity, and
the bolt which
fastens the pages
together is the
unique artistic
personality of their
creator.
Binyamin Tammuz,
introduction to the Haggadah

8. Frogs

9. Darkness
In the etching
of the plague
of darkness,
the darkness
is interpreted
as an internal
blindness, not
external.

10. Blood
“The more
rooted and
complex
the art is -
the more
universal its
content….”

11. Hail
Boussidan
interprets
freedom, which
is the very
essence of the
Haggadah, as an
inclusive
freedom. It
includes the
freedom not to
feel oneself
bound to any
viewpoints
where others
may have set
limits…

12. The Wicked Son

13. The Covenant
Preparatory Drypoint

14. Boussidan worked on this Haggadah for seven years,
along with 30 students who worked in shifts around the clock.
The Covenant

15. Chad Gadya
Chad Gadya

16. An artistic
masterpiece, it
includes various
strands of
philosophical
thought
Bereshit (In the Beginning)

17. Creation of Waters
The Passover
Haggadah,
as Boussidan
sees it,
is the
narrative
of the birth
of the world

18. Creation of Fish
The first etchings
are related to the
six days of creation,
in which the
likeness of people
and landscapes and
animals are
captured, so to
speak, in their
primeval state.
Death is the first
state, as is the kid,
the fish and the
fowl.

19. Creation of Adam

20. Chad Gadya

21. Jerusalem the Golden

22. Boussidan’s Haggadah received international acclaim. Mentioned in
“Encyclopedia Judaica”, it has been exhibited worldwide – from the New
York Public Library and the London Jewish Museum,
to Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Ya’akov Boussidan is a painter, printer and calligrapher.
Received several awards, among them the Jesselson Prize for
Judaica from the Israel Museum and an honorary prize
at the Biennale in Monte Carlo.
Ya'akov Boussidan
8 Ha’afarsemon st.
Tzur Hadassah
Israel
boussidanart@gmail.com
www.boussidan-y.com
Copyright, 2011: Ya’akov Boussidan