First Haggadah in the World with French Translation!
Metz, 1818
Pesach Haggadah according to Ashkenazi and Sephardic customs translated entirely into French, by David Derach, with the Hebrew text on one side of the page and the French translation on the other.
This is the first Haggadah in the world to be printed with a French translation!
In Otzar HaHaggados, approximately 120 Haggados with a French translation are recorded as having been printed until 1960. This is the first among them!
At the beginning of the Haggadah there is an approbation from the Rabbanim of France and the heads of the "Central Consistory of the Jews of France", the main institution responsible for Jewish religious life in France, established by Napoleon in 1808. The approbation is signed by Rabbi Abraham Di Cologna, President of the Consistory, Rabbi Manlein Deutz, and Rabbi Zeligman Michel.
In their approbation, the Rabbanim address the notable lack of a French translation for the Haggadah which had not existed before the present Haggadah, in contrast to translations into other languages, such as German and English, that had been available in earlier times.
Metz, 1818. Rare.
Page count: [7], 127, [1] leaves.
Size: 18.5 cm.
Condition: Good, typical usage stains. Handsome new leather binding.
Provenance: William Gross Collection, Tel Aviv.
Bibliography: Otzar HaHaggados No. 598.
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In their aforementioned approbation, the Rabbanim refer to the religious independence of France during the reign of King Louis XVIII, who ruled after the exile of Napoleon:
"Blessed is the Almighty who has kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this moment, who has put it into the hearts of all the kings of the earth to look upon us favorably, and especially in the land of France, for G-d has granted us favor in the eyes of the king, may he be exalted, and has given us our freedom…"
