Moshal Haggadah
What emerged from that meeting is the Moshal Haggadah, a manuscript of monumental proportions which took five years to complete. Weiss is an artist and Hebrew calligrapher on a par with the best artists of the Renaissance. He is also a practising Orthodox Jew whose imagery connects deeply to the story of the Passover and will resonate with many generations to come.
The Seder Plate and Order of the Service
Their vision was to create in painstaking detail a unique manuscript which would combine Judaism’s past with its most recent history. Platinum and many shades of gold leaf were applied by hand to the delicate illustrations. The English translation chosen by Moshal is used by millions of English speakers around the world and one that Moshal’s father would use at the Seder table.
Ma Nishtanah – Why is this night distinguished from all other nights – the first of the Four Questions
From his atelier, with views over Jerusalem’s hills, Weiss produced a unique work of art. Written in both English and Hebrew, each page is a testament to this extraordinary artist’s craftsmanship. The detail and the delicacy of the colours are beyond the scope of any other Haggadah we have seen. A parallel English translation sits alongside the Hebrew text.
Creating the manuscript took Weiss five years of intense concentration. If it is difficult to imagine the dedication, patience and skill required to not only teach oneself all the required skills, including qualifying as a Sofer Stam, but also to remain dedicated to the task for so many years, this short (two and a half minutes), slow video will give you some idea.
Weiss sits at his desk in his Jerusalem studio where the only sounds he hears are the birds singing outside his window and the hum of traffic in the distant background. The machines you see behind him are some of the many antique lathes, drill presses and other devices that Weiss has bought, refurbished and taught himself to use. Not only is he a master scribe and illuminator, but he has also become an accomplished and fine engineer and leatherworker.
“… in every generation some have risen against us”. This central theme of the Haggadah is illustrated by medallions depicting 18 seminal events in Jewish history.
Four of the ten plagues. Each one is depicted in a half-page etching inspired by Napoleon’s encyclopaedic Description de l’Égypte.
THE FACSIMILE
As the Haggadah neared completion, Facsimile Editions was asked to consider reproducing it as an exact copy. The prospect was daunting. The quantity and fine detail of the many illustrations and the abundant use of gold and platinum leaf all combined to present a challenge of extreme complication that would require us to draw on all the skills and techniques we had acquired in the past 44 years, and add a couple of new ones along the way.
Sophisticated cameras and software were used to image the manuscript at the British Library, London
Colour separation, the process of separating the photographic image (usually by laser scanning) into its constituent colours requires the skilled eye of specialists who, nowadays, are becoming few and far between.
Our printer and colour specialists spent days in London to ensure that the proofs matched the original manuscript as closely as possible. Several sets of proofs were made and compared in natural daylight against the original before we were ready to print.
The painstakingly slow process of checking every detail of every page must be carried out in daylight conditions. Linda Falter spent many, many hours with with the manuscript checking and noting details page by page.
At the press – numerous tests were made and carefully checked against the proofs before Linda Falter approved each sheet for final printing.
Our fourth generation Milanese printer with whom we have worked for more than 40 years did not have some of the very specialised machinery needed to make this Haggadah. So he introduced us to another printer who did and who had been printing even longer, for over six generations!
It took two years to complete the facsimile edition, the crowning glory of, so far, more than four decades making facsimiles.
Lago Maggiore, the Borromean Islands and the Swiss Alps
Many long days were spent printing on huge multicolour presses by the shore of Lago Maggiore in a most beautiful part of Italy. We were impressed by the dedication of the printers who were always willing to reprint a sheet in order to achieve perfection whenever they spotted even the minutest detail that had been missed – this resulted in nearly 25% of the entire manuscript being reprinted.
The facsimile is printed on a 200 gsm pH neutral fine paper
GILDING
Enlarge to view the intricate, detailed work.
“I am totally inspired by your unrelenting unwavering dedication to the pursuit of perfection. It shows in every page”
Roni Weiss
Nothing we have ever seen in any manuscript compares to the intricacy of Weiss’ work. The gilding is spectacular. While reproducing the various metals which are raised and debossed in varying degrees and is the most challenging work we have ever encountered, it was, nonetheless, achieved with absolute accuracy and gained the praise and delight of the artist himself!
List in Hebrew of the Ten Plagues
Two of the Ten Plagues – Lice and Noxious Beasts
Had Gadya, Only One Kid, is traditionally sung at the end of the Passover Meal
One should mention three things: Passover, Unleavened Bread and Bitter Herbs
BINDING
Creating a binding from scratch is a daunting task. We strove to conceive a design that mirrored the lavish manuscript and the significance of the text in a traditional fine binding that would be treasured for many generations.
We used as a model a spectacular binding created in the 1950’s by our Italian binder’s father. It was beautiful but not exactly what we had in mind and over the course of many months and numerous prototypes, we refined the design to arrive at a binding that contains design elements from within the manuscript and introduces, on the inside front and back covers, the religious narrative attached to the Passover story.
Dyed and tanned skins drying
Preparing the skin
The skins are not just dyed on the surface but all the way through
Ready for the bindery!
TANNING THE GOATSKIN
The complicated binding design was difficult to make and consists of inlays in goat- and calfskin on both inside and outside front and back covers which require ultra-precise cutting. The 400 goatskins were prepared by one of the UK’s finest tanneries located in an area with a history of leather tanning going back to the 13th century (and where, it is recorded, King John purchased a pair of leather riding boots for the sum of nine old pence – just over 5 US cents!). We visited the tannery several times to achieve the precise colour and grain required of the Morocco goatskins. The soft, dark blue calfskin was tanned in Tuscany in a town 200 miles from Milan that has also been renowned for its leather making since the 14th century.
SEWING and CONSTRUCTION of the BINDING
Sewing the individual leaves was particularly challenging. Weiss only uses one side of the parchment which he then folds over resulting in double-thickness pages which, if sewn in a conventional manner produces a book that will not easily open flat. We devised a special construction to enable the Haggadah to open perfectly flat and be fully enjoyed. The result is a unique, fine binding, truly worthy of the Haggadah.
Play the animation to see how the spine rolls over as the book is opened enabling the pages of each spread to lay flat.
Binding the facsimiles and commentary volumes is a long, detail intensive process which starts with selecting the leather, designing the structure, sewing the book block, rounding and backing the spine, creating the covers, precision-cutting the leather elements for assembly on the front, back, inside and outside covers, gilding and blind-tooling the covers and board edges with hand-cut bronzes and then, finally, combining everything into a finished book.
A similar but less complicated process is followed for the commentary volume. The solander box is a miniature feat of engineering with its intricate and unseen internal structure designed to be strong enough to protect its contents and delicate and smooth enough in its working to enable the commentary drawer to glide in and out effortlessly.
Before the facsimile and commentary are wrapped and placed in the solander case, they all undergo detailed quality control checks. Once passed, the facsimile is hand numbered with miniature steel dies and a numbered certificate attesting to the copy number and edition size is placed in the commentary volume. The set is then ready to be packed for shipping in specially designed protective cartons.
The binder adds the finishing touches
Linda Falter makes the final check
Steel dies, certificates and a hammer!
Passed!
Michael Falter personally hand-numbers every copy.
COMMENTARY VOLUME and PRESENTATION
Editorial meeting (l to r Michael and Linda Falter, Roni Weiss, Emile Schrijver
Commentary volume binding, antique Papier Flammé and calfskin
Commentary volume – the text and illustrations are described in detail page by page
The solander case contains the facsimile, commentary volume and a ‘secret’ compartment!
The letters of the solander case’s title are individually cut from gold goatskin.
This contemporary manuscript’s history, the details and background to Martin Moshal’s concept, Roni Weiss’ ideas behind the imagery, the creation of the manuscript and the production of the facsimile are all discussed in the illustrated commentary volume written by Professor Dr Emile Schrijver and edited by Professor Jeremy Schonfield.
The commentary volume is quarter-bound in calfskin and a hand-made, vintage Italian Papier Flammé on Ingrès paper produced around 1950. It is delicately-tooled with the Moshal shield on the spine.
The Haggadah is large and valuable and the solander presentation case has been designed to protect it so that it can be enjoyed by many generations to come. The gilded letters on the spine are individually cut from gold goatskin. Within the box lies the commentary volume and a secret hidden compartment where crumbs of matza and tiny souvenirs can be stored either for the afikomen or for future generations to find.
180 copies are numbered 1- 180
18 Personal copies are numbered MM 1-18
The facsimile is printed on a fine 200 gsm neutral pH paper. Page size 32.8 x 45.8cm.
The commentary volume is printed on 160 gsm neutral pH paper.
** All images on this site are of the facsimile and are Copyright © 2024
PACKAGING
The protective packaging is robust and elegant with every detail carefully considered.
PRESS
Jewish Chronicle
18 April 2024