Gift of
Temerlin-McClain,
The James Madison Council,
& Library Purchase

The First American Haggadah

Service for the Two First Nights of the Passover in Hebrew and English, According to the Custom of the German & Spanish Jews ... First American Edition (New York, S.H. Jackson, 1837). The first American haggadah was published in 1837 by S.H. Jackson in New York. The haggadah—a Hebrew liturgical text that is recited in the home at the festive meal of Passover—is Judaism’s most beloved of books. It has appeared in more than 3,000 printed editions since its first printing in the late 15th century. Wherever Jews settled, wherever a press was established, indeed, wherever Jews called home, an edition of the haggadah quickly appeared. The first American haggadah which was published in 1837 signals this settling-in—no longer a sojourner but a full-fledged citizen.