Open up the page of the Four Sons in any illuminated Haggada – be it medieval or modern – and you’ll almost surely be viewing a commentary on the Jews of that period through the lens of these figures
By FERN ALLENThe Four Sons, from the ‘Eliyahu Sidi Haggadah,’ 2007.(photo credit: ELIYAHU SIDI)
Open up the page of the Four Sons in any illuminated Haggada – be it medieval or modern – and you’ll almost surely be viewing a commentary on the Jews of that period through the lens of these figures.Scholars, soldiers, Israeli pioneers, assimilated Jews, workmen, Communist leaders, revolutionaries, jesters, sports fans merchants and innocent-looking children have all played a part in telling the story of these four archetypes.The Four Sons will be the focus of an Illuminated Haggada Fair, sponsored by the Kol HaOt organization, to be held at Jerusalem’s Inbal Hotel on Monday, April 6, Hol Hamoed, from 5 to 10 p.m. Throughout the free event, special facilitators will describe and elucidate reproductions of the Four Sons from historic medieval, as well as contemporary, Haggadot.“The wicked son is one of the most interesting depictions in the Haggada,” emphasizes Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin, president of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies and editor of over 100 illustrations in The Schechter Haggada, which he co-authored with Dr. Joshua Kulp.For instance, in the magnificent Barcelona Haggada, produced in Spain during the second half of the 14th century, the illuminator created a chilling scene that encapsulates the predicament of the Jews during that period of Christian rule. The soldier, brandishing a long spear, grabs the beard of a Jew with one hand while aiming his weapon at the heart of his victim with the other.Fast-forward to the 20th century to artist Mark Podwal’s 1972 Let My People Go Haggada, where a caricature of the menacing- looking former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, clad in military garb, lights a fat cigar from a menorah. In the scene, the other three sons stare at him with tentative, wary expressions, capturing the mood of Soviet Jews trapped in the Soviet Union during that period.Books also play an important role in illuminations of the Four Sons; for instance, the wise son is often shown reading or holding a book. Contemporary Judaica artist David Moss expanded on that theme in his acclaimed Moss Haggada, which will be featured at the fair. He depicts on playing cards how each son relates to a book and, by extension, to Jewish tradition. The wise son reads the book; the wicked son sits on the book; the simple son simply holds the book; and the son who doesn’t know how to ask steps on the book.According to Golinkin, an illustration of “The Ages of Man” from an 11th-century manuscript became the model for the Four Sons in subsequent Haggadot. “These illuminations can lead us to another explanation of the Four Sons: They do not represent four types of children, but four stages in the life of the same child,” he says.Contemporary Haggadot are now including women and girls in the illustrations – a reflection of the inclusion of women in Judaism over the past 20 to 30 years, asserts Golinkin. Matthew Berkowitz, illuminator of the Lovell Haggada (2008), is the first to portray the Four Sons as both men and women from the Bible.The wise daughter is Deborah; the wicked son is King Ahab; the simple son is Lot; and the son and daughter who do not know how to ask are Adam and Eve.“The visual and performing arts are a magical way to forge a connection to Jewish texts, ideas and history,” notes executive director Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz. “We passionately believe that the arts can give all Jews – no matter their age or level of Jewish knowledge – a more intimate understanding of our rich heritage.” ■For more information about the organization and its activities: www.kolhaot.com
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