JVN Blog

As we approach Passover and Seder night, and we follow a service from the comfort of our dining table, family members often including several generations read and relive the sort of the Exodus through ritual and through the eternal Jewish story book, the Haggadah.

This year our Seder will be even more meaningful as I introduce a beautiful facsimile of the famous Sarajevo Haggadah to our family. The original Haggadah is now in the National Museum in Sarajevo in its own glass showcase. It is undoubtedly one of the most priceless Jewish books in the world today and its story is unbelievable. The Haggadah takes on a life force of its own as its preservation and safeguarding tell the story of amazing people.

One such person, who I have never met but feel I know, is probably one of the most remarkable Jews alive today Jakob Finci, the leader of the now diminished Jewish Community in Sarajevo, who has written an abridged history of the Haggadah in the facsimile copy. Jakob is a truly remarkable human being – he answered the Pesach clarion call “All who are hungry, come and eat; all who are needy, come and celebrate Passover” through developing the Benevolencja charity, originally established to  support Sarajevo’s Jewish elderly and their needs, as he recreated the charity to provide full medical and other assistance to over 40% of those living in the city of Sarajevo under its siege in the 1990s.

Jacob’s story is itself worth telling. As a former Bosnian Ambassador to Switzerland, Jacob continues his lifelong volunteering journey to promote faith equality in his country and support those in need around him, irrespective of faith, gender and age.

Add this short story to your Seder this year.

Chag Sameach,

Leonie Lewis, JVN Director.

Jacob writes…

The astonishing and unique Sarajevo Haggadah was created in the middle of the 14th century, the golden age of Spain though  we do not know the exact date and place of the book’s creation or the name of the artist who illuminated it.

We do, however, know the Haggadah changed hands. There is a note, dated 1609, stating that the book does not speak against the Church, which saved it from being burned by the Spanish Inquisition. We know nothing further about it until it is mentioned in 1894. It is assumed that the manuscript came to Bosnia and Herzegovina either as part of a dowry or as a bribe, or simply as the property of those seeking sanctuary in Sarajevo, the “European Jerusalem”, where Jews have lived alongside other faiths since 1565. It was in this city that the Jewish cultural, educational and humanitarian society, “La Benevolencia”, was established in 1892, and when a certain Josef Cohen offered to sell it to the society, they found that it was too expensive. What is its market value today? The estimates have been as high as 700 million US$, but this was probably a misprint for 7 million. It was bought for 150 Crowns (the equivalent of around $10,000) by the National Museum in Sarajevo.

The Haggadah was never publicly displayed. It was always kept in a special place and was available for viewing only to the select few. It was not seen, yet everyone knew about it. One of the first objects that the German forces demanded after entering Sarajevo in 1941 was the Sarajevo Haggadah. Thanks to the ingenuity of Mr Jozo Petrović, the director, and Mr Derviš Korkut, the curator of the National Museum, the Haggadah was not handed over, the book was saved, while the lives of its former owners and many of its enthusiastic readers ended in Jasenovac, Auschwitz, Gradiška, Jadovno and other concentration camps. The Haggadah survived, but no one now knows where or how. According to one version, it was hidden under the threshold of a mosque in a village at the foot of Mt Bjelašnica.

After the liberation in 1945, the Haggadah was back in the National Museum and remained in Sarajevo awaiting the coming war. This time, it was saved in a dramatic fashion. The hero was Dr Enver Imamović, the director of the Museum, who, together with several brave policemen and members of the territorial guard, rescued the Haggadah from the Museum, which was on the front line, and transferred it to the vault of the National Bank.

While the war raged in Bosnia and Herzegovina several newspaper articles abroad speculated that the Haggadah had been destroyed or even that the Government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina had sold it and used the funds to buy arms, all of which was untrue. By the beginning 1995 the plight of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo was no longer high on the agenda for media around the world. This gave rise to the idea of refocusing international attention on Sarajevo by using the Haggadah. US Senator Lieberman declared that he would come to Sarajevo for Passover if the Sarajevo Haggadah were on the table. President Izetbegović and Prime Minister Silajdžić accepted the idea and the Haggadah was brought to the Jewish Community building for Passover in 1995 under extremely tight security. The event was reported by news agencies around the world and quite a few sent their reporters to Sarajevo especially for the occasion. It was breaking news on CNN, though Senator Lieberman did not make it to Sarajevo because of the siege and the closing of the airport.

Thus, the Haggadah was presented to the public once again. It proved that we, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, cared for cultural values created in milieux other than our own, and at the same time we achieved our aim of drawing world attention to Sarajevo and to the Haggadah.. The following year 12 million American viewers saw a programme on ABC Night Line dedicated to this priceless manuscript.

Through the joint efforts of the UN Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, our Jewish Community, the National Museum and several donors, in 2002 a room with special security was opened so that the Haggadah could finally be on permanent public display.

Jakob Finci

President of the Jewish Community of Bosnia & Herzegovina

Sarajevo