Herschel Hepler

Every Passover, Jewish families around the world open a Haggadah and read the same ancient story of the journey from slavery to freedom. The Sarajevo Haggadah has its own journey to tell.  Created in medieval Barcelona around 1350, it traveled with Jews into exile when they were expelled from Spain in 1492. It survived the Inquisition, crossed borders, and eventually found a home in Sarajevo, where it was purchased by the National Museum in 1894. In 1941, during the Nazi occupation, a German officer came to seize it. Museum director Jozo Petrović and curator Derviš Korkut risked everything to keep the book secret. Hidden in a village mosque on Mount Bjelašnica, tucked among Qurans, it survived the war. In the 1950s, when another attempt was made to seize the Haggadah, museum staff stepped in again to save it.  The Sarajevo Haggadah has survived the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and the longest siege of a city in modern history. At every turn, it was saved by a broad community that transcended religious or ethnic identity. It is a 700-year-old testament to what solidarity looks like.  In the weeks leading up to this Passover, that message traveled to Washington. On March 24, BiH Presidency Chairman Denis Bećirović and Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković joined members of the U.S. Congress, Senate, and diplomatic community for a Congressional Passover Seder on Capitol Hill, dedicated to the Sarajevo Haggadah and the values it has carried for seven centuries.   Chag Sameach.

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What is the greatest character entrance into a scene? I’ll start: