Four cups and five Haggadot

In addition to Good Friday, today also brings us (at sundown) the beginning of Passover. If you’re in need of an extra Haggadah, it turns out that I have five of them:

They all have the Seder story in Hebrew, of course, but two of them are also in English, two in French (including one with commentary by Elie Wiesel) and one—Haggadah from the Four Corners of the Earth—has English, French, Spanish and Russian wrapped around the Hebrew on each page.

I find it interesting that German isn’t one of the languages of the four corners of the earth.

Also, one of the English ones has really beautiful illustrations, almost illuminations:

What these books remind me of (in addition to Seders I have been part of) is a long weekend in Paris and buying so many books that I had to take a taxi back to the Gare du Nord to get home. (Yes, I bought all of the Haggadot—including the English ones—in France. Along with a shedload of other books.) Because if I’d gone via the Métro, I’d have had to change lines and lug the damned things through long corridors and up and down steps.

I always forget about logistics when it comes to buying books, and looking at these beautiful things, I’m glad I didn’t when they crossed my path.

And if you need a Haggadah for the next few days, I've got some to spare.