A Haggadah is the script for the seder ritual on the first nights of Passover. The word means “telling,” and the seder is a ritual for the telling of the Passover story—the Exodus from Egypt—in a particular rabbinic fashion. 

This modest-sized Haggadah is beautiful testimony to the lives of Jews in Iraq in the 19^th century. It is written in a common journal-book, one that would have been available for purchase in a local store, with simple but beautiful decoration and fine Hebrew writing. It was written by a private individual for their own use at their seder table. 

The page in front of you shows the steps of the seder, as well as the first rituals to be performed—recitation of kiddush, washing the hands, and the first dipping of a vegetable. Notably, the directions for how to perform the rituals are in “Judeo-Arabic,” that is, Arabic written in Hebrew letters. As was typical for Jews throughout history, Jews in this setting spoke the language of their neighbors.