Israel Matzav: The Jonathan Pollard Haggadah

The Jonathan Pollard Haggadah

A new Haggadah has been issued, which is dedicated to Jonathan Pollard, who has now spent 25 years in a US prison for spying for Israel. The Haggadah is being sold door-to-door in Israel. Unfortunately, something tells me that means it's not going to be sold outside Judea, Samaria and certain neighborhoods in some of Israel's large cities - if someone can get me one, please let me know, as my neighborhood is unlikely to be one in which it is sold. Some 20,000 copies have been printed and they say they will print more if necessary. The price is NIS 10 - about $2.75 at today's exchange rates. You can order 50 or more by sending an email to hagada770@gmail.com.

The Haggadah was edited by Rabbi Gabi Kadosh, the rabbi of the northern Negev town Shomriyah, where several dozens expelled Gush Katif families have made their home; he was the rabbi of the Gush Katif community of Ganei Tal for many years. Rabbi Kadosh compiled what many rabbis and public figures have said about Pollard, as well as Torah thoughts on the tremendous importance in Judaism of Redemption of Captives.

Passover was traditionally a time when extra efforts were made to redeem captives. The Book of Our Heritage, by Rabbi Eliyahu Ki-Tov, cites a traditional practice in many Jewish communities “that on the morning of Passover eve, the leaders of the community would go to the jails in and around their town, checking to see if there were any Jewish prisoners, whom they would then attempt to free.”

Asked why no English edition is available, Mivtzari explained that the first priority in the campaign to free Pollard is Israel, where it is hoped that public pressure will be exerted on the government to work for his release. “In addition, the entire project was done amazingly quickly and there was no time to think of adding anything else,” Mivtzari said.

The name of the new publication is “Freedom Haggadah: Let's not 'pass over' our brother Jonathan.” Volunteers will sell it door-to-door, and copies can be ordered at www.freepollard.net.

I went to that web site, which is how I eventually found that email address.

Something tells me that if they did this with an English translation, they could sell it for several times as much and raise some money to campaign for Pollard's release. Just a thought.

Israel Matzav: The Jonathan Pollard Haggadah