’The Copenhagen Haggadah’

Link to the digital facsimile edition

The most well-known manuscript in the manuscript collection of the Jewish Community of Copenhagen is the so-called Copenhagen Haggadah, written and illuminated in 1739 by Uri Feibush (see further below). The background for its appellation seems twofold: it belongs to the Copenhagen community, and two of the panels show what has been perceived as Danish motifs, i.e. the two wild men (fol. 4a), known from e.g. the Danish Royal Coat of Arms and the heavenly Jerusalem (fol. 31a), which is generally perceived to be very similar to Rosenborg Castle (even if both motifs are known from other European contexts).

The manuscript has been made available in a printed facsimile edition (1986-87; repr. 1998), accompanied by an extensive commentary, which also discusses the different motifs of the illuminated panels.

Finally it should be mentioned that the community’s collection also contains another illuminated haggadah from 1741 (MT8). Further, a haggadah in the collections of Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, Darmstadt (Cod. Or. 7) was written and illuminated in Copenhagen in 1769 by Juda Leib ha-Kohen Lissa (availble as facsimile). 

Contents
‘The Copenhagen Haggadah’ contains the following parts:
- the traditional text of the Pesach haggadah, in Hebrew and Aramaic
- the commentary on the haggadah by Isaac ben Jehuda Abrabanel (1437-1508)
- a short Kabbalistic (mystical) commentary
- translations and explanations in Yiddish and Ladino
- Eḥad mi yode'a (trad. song)

Scribe/illuminator
Uri Feibush ben Isak Eisik Segal was born in 1719, and worked as a scribe in the so-called triple-community (‘Dreigemeinde’) Hamburg-Altona-Wandsbeck. Sometimes between 1751 and 1755, he moved to Copenhagen, where he remained until his death in 1795. 

Apart from the present manuscript, there are other manuscripts by his hand:

Mohel books (circumcision liturgies, often including lists of circumcisions performed):
- 1741-1783 (Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati 599)
- 1749 (Jerusalem; privately owned)
- 1750 (formerly The Sholem Asch Collection, present whereabouts unknown)
- 1755: (The Jewish Community collection, Copenhagen, dep. with the Royal Library, shelf mark MT Add. 1, later id. as Allony no. 325 = M.T. 19 (57ג) )
- 1756 (The Royal Library, Copenhagen; the Judaica Collection; Cod. Heb. Add. 102 (description in Danish))
- 1785 (The Danish Jewish Museum, item no. JDK116X1)

Pesach haggadot
- 1741 (The Jewish Community collection, Copenhagen , dep. with the Royal Library; shelf mark MT8; presumably by Uri Feibush)
- 1751 Pesach haggadah (Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, MS Levy 22)

Other:
- a copy of The Wisdom of Solomon” (Amsterdam, Rosenthaliana 543/Ros. 24 i Cat. Fuks)

Pereq Shira (Jerusalem, JNUL Ms. Heb. 8° 4295), is assumed to be written, if not illuminated, by Uri Feibush. 

Illuminations
For a detailed analysis of the illuminations’ motifs, style and historical background, please consult the introduction, by Chava Benjanim, to the facsimile editions (the introduction cannot be made available online for copyright reasons).

Provenance
The manuscript was bequeathed to The Jewish Community by Martin Sander (1857-1928), in memory of his father Leopold Sander (1827-1880).

Physical description
Size: 38 x 23 cm
Extent: 34 fols.
Textblock: 17 folded sheets of thick parchment, heavily chalked on both sides.
Binding: calf
For more about the preservation process, see the report from the Preservations Department (in Danish), written in connection with the preservation of the manuscript by Marianne Lund Petersen, The Preservations Department, The Royal Library, 2008-2009. There are also some pictures from the preservation process available. The preservation was made possible though finicial support from the Jewish Community.

References
Facsimile editions
The Copenhagen Haggadah : Altona-Hamburg, 1739 / the artist: Uri Pheibush son of Isac Eisik Segal ; introduction by Chaya Benjamin. - New York : Rizzoli, 1987 / Tel Aviv: Nahar Publishing House, 1986 (1987)

סדר הדעה של פסח - הגדת קופנהגן. The Copenhagen Haggada. Introduction by Chaya Benjamin. Tel Aviv: Miskal - Yedioth Ahronoth Books/Chemed Books 1998. Available in the shop of the Danish Jewish Museum.

Further reading
Fishof, Iris: Jüdische Buchmalerei in Hamburg und Altona: zur Geschichte der Illumination hebräischer Handschriften im 18. Jahrhundert / bearb. von Andreas Brämer; mit einem Vorwort von Bezalel Narkiss; aus dem Hebräischen übersetzt von Dina Herz und Smadar Rahveh-Klemke. [Hamburger Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Juden; 21] Hamburg: Christians, 1999

Perek shira : songs of praise for the Creator : Chapter of song : Chapitre de chant : Capitulo de canto : Kapitel des Liedes / Introduction/Avant-propos/Prólogo/Vorwort: Malachi Beit-Arié = פרק שירה. - Facsimile edition of an illustrated manuscript. - Collection of the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem; MS. Heb. oct. 4295. - Jerusalem : Jewish National and University Library, 1990