The Chief Rabbi’s Haggadah combines the traditional texts for Passover with wide-ranging and extensive essays and commentary by one of today’s greatest religious thinkers, the first time this highly respected author and thinker has created a book for active religious use.

The Hebrew text and accompanying English translation are carefully arranged so as to be easy to use at the seder table, and the Chief Rabbi’s commentary is positioned with the relevant text. This book makes an ideal companion for use at the Passover meal.

But the significant insights of the commentary – and the far-ranging and at times radical thoughts of many of the essays – open up tremendous potential for thoughtful preparation and further reading. With titles as diverse as ‘Pesach, Freud and Jewish Identity’ and ‘Pesach and the Rebirth of Israel’, there are essays looking at the contrasting natures of ancient Egypt and nascent Israel on the one hand or a unique afternoon in modern Jerusalem on the other. The part played by Judaism and Jews in the building of modern civilisation is a recurring theme.

There are also essays springing from particular passages, bringing insights on ‘Women and the Exodus’ and ‘The sages at Bnei Brak’ or addressing ‘The Unasked Question’. In every instance Jonathan Sacks’ sensible, sensitive approach uncovers new meaning in the very areas most written about and discussed, whether within the Haggadah itself or in the impact of its message on the wider world we live in.  Hardcover, isbn 9789653016538