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Friday April 10, 1998

Haggadot collection spans globe and time

ABIGAIL PICKUS
Chicago JUF News

CHICAGO (JTA) -- Stephen Durchslag reaches up to his Haggadah-lined shelves and pulls out his oldest one -- from Soncino, Italy, printed in 1486. It is the second-oldest printed Haggadah in the world.

"These are friends of mine," he says, smiling in the direction of the 4,500 haggadot that fill shelves -- and shelves behind the shelves -- in his home study.

The collection is a veritable treasure trove of Jewish history. In his 15 years of collecting, Durchslag has amassed haggadot from Jewish communities past and present, across Europe, Africa, Israel, the former Soviet Union, South America, North America and Asia.

These haggadot, all arranged in chronological order, range in size from one as small as the palm of a child's hand to another as large and dense as a fat volume of the Talmud.

Durchslag is not only a friend to his voluminous collection. He is also, with his encyclopedic knowledge, its chief historian.

One volume was printed on a Dutch farm in April 1940 -- a month before the Nazi invasion -- by a group of young Zionists who fled Nazi persecution in Germany and elsewhere. It includes a lithograph of German soldiers burning Jewish homes.

Each Haggadah is, in itself, a living testament to the Passover story. For in the retelling of Israel's slavery and redemption, the authors of the Haggadah also tell of their own circumstances. Occasionally, they lived amid freedom and privilege, like the Jews of Venice in the 1600s.

More often, they lived in the shadow of fear, like the Soviet Jews in the 1970s, whose haggadot were wrapped in heavy plastic and buried deep within their coat pockets. Or they had barely escaped persecution, like the Spanish Jews who included in their Haggadah a blessing to say in memory of those killed during the Inquisition.

The Durchslag home is like a museum: Open and airy, with a grand staircase, it is filled with free-standing sculptures and with modern art, often commissioned by Durchslag and his wife.

But it is the Jewish element of their home that Durchslag, a Chicago attorney, wants to impress upon his guests -- from the mezuzah at the front door that welcomes newcomers in Hebrew, to the east-facing front room where he says his morning prayers, to the cabinet filled with ceremonial objects.

"A lot of our house reflects Jewish values," he said.

And his Haggadah collection, besides offering him a comprehensive view of Jewish history, brings him back to his own Jewish roots.

"Passover has always been a magic holiday to me, filled with family memories. It really hits deep in my soul," he said.

Part of what appeals to him about haggadot is the way they conjure up evocative images.

"The thing that moves me about the haggadot is that they were used by the community; everyone used them at the table and they represent a communal experience," he said. "You can sometimes tell where a meal begins because the pages are stained."

So far, Northwestern University and a few local synagogues have exhibited some of his haggadot, and Durchslag offers lectures to Jewish groups in Chicago.

"My collection is one of the treasures of the Jewish world in this area, and I feel that I have a responsibility to share these books with the community," he said. "They aren't mine alone."

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