Created in Spain in the fourteenth century as a prayer book for celebrating the Passover, the Sarajevo Haggadah is extraordinary: an illuminated manuscript, almost unheard of in the Jewish faith. Somehow it survived the Spanish Inquisition, was saved from burnings, and was smuggled under a Nazi officer’s nose. Fifty years later, the war in Bosnia nearly claimed the book again until a Muslim librarian rescued it.


The oldest such Haggadah known, the Sarajevo Haggadah has been appraised at hundreds of millions of dollars. This facsimile, created with the authority of the National Museum, Sarajevo, is the only reproduction of the complete work authorized for publication in America. Its 288 pages of brilliant colors and exquisite lettering hold centuries of markings— wine that was spilled, notes that were made, hand after hand that touched and hoped. Perhaps what is most beautiful is its story of religious freedom, regardless of faith. No wonder it has endured.