Anyone venturing into the shuk or even a local supermarket in Israel this week could be forgiven for thinking that the country was about to run out of food. Shoppers laden with huge nylon bags of every kind of produce, fish, meat and bread may be seen staggering under the weight of their purchases, secure in the knowledge that they have sufficient provisions for the two days when stores close for the holiday.

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In contrast, many Israelis living below the poverty line will be relying on the abundance of organizations serving those in need for their basic holiday supplies.

Certain foods are traditional to eat on Rosh Hashanah and the markets are full of the most beautiful pomegranates, succulent dates and crisp apples. Almost all the produce is local – pomegranate trees grow everywhere, even in private gardens; dates are from the Jordan Valley and apples from the Golan.

For some, the two-day Jerusalem shutdown of entertainment and shopping is a little much. One of my more secular neighbors informed me she's running off to a hotel in Tel Aviv for the duration. Tel Aviv's beaches are generally packed on every holy day.

Other secular Israelis, however, are intrigued by the pre-Rosh Hashanah traditions. Nightly selichot tours take place in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, the Bukharan Quarter, Nachlat Shiva and Nachlaot neighborhoods. Swarms of Israelis who generally spend as little time as possible in any synagogue suddenly get nostalgic about the sights and sounds of other faithful Jews who crowd into the quaint synagogues of these old Jerusalem neighborhoods to butter up God before the High Holidays with late-night prayers. It's the Sephardic congregations that host the most melodic recitations of penitential prayers and poetry in the month before Yom Kippur.

Over the past decade or so, concerts of the penitential poetry have soared in popularity. On any given night between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, many of Israel's most popular singers may be found in sold-out venues all over the country, reviving the ancient melodies from all corners of the Jewish world.

Turn on any radio station any time in the weeks between the day the school year starts and Yom Kippur, and it's a sure bet that you'll hear a version of Adon Haselichot ("Master of Forgiveness"), a traditional prayer of repentance with a particularly catchy Sephardi melody. You can even download it as a ringtone.

Newspaper polls report that only 47 percent of Israelis plan on attending synagogue services to pray during Rosh Hashanah, but hotels all over the country are reporting high occupancy rates. The traffic jams generated by all that coming and going are truly monumental. In the hours leading up to the leyl Rosh Hashanah family dinners, it seems as if the entire country is on the roads.

Roads anywhere near shopping centers have been packed for days now, so we should be used to it.

A uniquely Israeli tradition is the "haramat cosit," literally, "lifting of the glass," in honor of the New Year. Government ministries, corporations and municipal offices all host New Year toasts where wine and good cheer flow.

The fleet of diplomatic vehicles double-parked outside the official presidential residence is an indication that President Isaac Herzog is hosting the diplomatic corps for the traditional New Year bash. No doubt the foreign emissaries were discussing the tensions of the day, which this year, once again, include Iran's nuclear development, instability in the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas and Hezbollah threatening our borders.

Forget about trying to get any workers to come to fix or deliver anything. "Acharei HaChagim" – after the holidays – is the standard refrain, which means that you won't be seeing anything done until the day after Simchat Torah, the final day of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles.

So, as we prepare for a few days of introspection and stocktaking, we take this opportunity to wish readers and their families a Shanah Tovah, a year of peace, health, fulfillment and success.

 Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Veteran Haggadah collector Ariel Winer was delighted when he learned that National Library of Israel (NLI) is making some of the world's most important and exquisite Haggadot available for download at no cost. "They should have done it a long time ago," Winer told Jewish News Syndicate from his home in Lima, Peru.

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The NLI's holdings include both traditional and non-traditional versions of the story of the Exodus from Egypt that is recounted at the annual Passover seder. Among the collection are hand-written manuscripts with stunning illustrations, rare and early printings, as well as modern adaptations.

While the NLI with 15,000 Haggadot has the world's largest collection, Winer has amassed some 1,500 Haggadot himself and is happy to share them on his website.

He is enthusiastic about them, saying they are a special way to look back into Jewish history. "It's the same book that has been written and read for thousands of years, but at the same time each one can tell a completely different story," he said. "It gets you involved in what Jews were going through at any particular time."

"Every Haggadah tells a story; we don't need to focus just on the rare ones," explained Winer. "Our story becomes their story and the story of the whole Jewish people; we're connected through time and through the Haggadah. Each Haggadah will mean something to somebody. It doesn't have to be special because the paper's nice or because it's so old; each one is special to someone because of the personal connection."

Winer uses some of his Haggadot in presentations at one of the local Jewish schools in Lima. He recounts how he tells the students to look at one from 1557: "I tell them that the Incas were around when this was printed. They're gone, but our story is still the same. It's an amazingly powerful teaching tool."

Holocaust Haggadot are particularly moving, noted Winer.

In fact, that's how he and the author of this story connected. Winer posted online some pages from the Gurs Haggadah he recently acquired and offered to share them with anyone interested. The Haggadah was written from memory by a rabbi interned at the Gurs Camp in southwestern France and used during Passover 1941. That was the penultimate Passover my maternal grandparents celebrated before they were sent from Gurs via Drancy to their deaths in Auschwitz in September 1942. It's a Haggadah that has a special place at my family seder table.

'Connected to the Exodus from Egypt'

One of the Haggadot available for download on the NLI website had been in the hands of the Rothschild family in northern Italy since the 15th century. Stolen by the Nazis during the Holocaust, it disappeared for many years and was eventually returned to the Rothschilds who donated it to the National Library.

Winer believes that collecting and showing the various Haggadot in his and the NLI collections makes Passover a much more meaningful and real experience. "Knowing that Jews have on their table something that's been in use by Jews for so many generations keeps us connected to the Exodus from Egypt," he said.

Winer's paternal grandfather was a survivor who lost many family members in the Holocaust and eventually made his way to Bolivia. His maternal grandmother, who died several years ago, survived Auschwitz and was the last survivor in Bolivia. "Sometimes, it's enough to be connected to your grandparents through the Haggadah," he reflected.

Winer's collection started decades ago when he organized an impromptu seder and realized that he had no Haggadot. A search on eBay to buy them for the next year found an Israel Defense Forces Haggadah from 1973 for $5. "It was nothing special, but I thought it was fantastic. It gave me such a feeling of connection that I bought one more and another – and here we are," he exclaimed.

Winer keeps his collection at home in a climate-controlled storage cabinet.

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Among the Haggadot available for download at the NLI site are the 1556 Prague Haggadah, an early printed version of the classic text of which only two copies have survived; the colorfully illustrated 1738 Amsterdam Haggadah; and an 18th-century Haggadah printed in Hamburg with Yiddish translation.

Dr. Yoel Finkelman, the curator of the Haim and Salomon Judaica Collection, said: "The National Library of Israel works tirelessly to make sure that our vast collection gets out of the ivory tower and out into the public. Making these Haggadot freely available for use at anybody's seder, the NLI fulfills its mission as the Library of the State of Israel and the Jewish people."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Rare finds online: Haggadot link Jews to Passover, family history appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.