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Acknowledgments One of my earliest childhood memories is that of the Passover seder in my parent's home. The uniqueness of that evening has always inspired me with thoughts of our people's past and our future redemption. Thus it was more than a fortuitous accident that caused me to devote my doctoral studies to the history of the Passover eve ceremony. An article by S. Stein had recently appeared that focused attention on the relationship between festive meals among the Greeks and Romans, especially those meals that revolved around food and drink on the one hand and scholarly discussions on the other hand and on the Passover eve ritual. This inspired me to examine classical literature that describes those meals, in an attempt to discover how much the Greek and Roman culture had affected the development of the seder. My mentor, Professor I. D. Gilat (of blessed memory), encouraged me in this study, guiding and helping me in many ways, and I am always grateful to him. My dissertation was approved in 1978. My involvement in the scholarly study of the history of this ceremony continued throughout the years, stimulated by the need to give annual public lectures about the subject while I served as rabbi of lZibbutz Be'erot Yitzchak and the Dati Leumi Synagogue of Har Nof in Jerusalem. My research into this subject reached its peak with the publication of my book Pesach Dorot (Passover Throughout the Generations) in 1996. This is considered a successful book, and it is now in its fourth printing. Still, the book dealt with the history ofthe ritual, and very little ofit was devoted to the history of the text ofthe haggadah. Thus I am very grateful to Dr. Ellen Frankel, CEO and editor-in-chiefofthe Jewish Publication Society, who asked me to write an introduction to the projected JPS Haggadah. This was eventually expanded into a translation of the text and a commentary. This gave me an opportunity both to present the results of my research to an English-speaking audience and to expand my research into wider issues ofthe history and development ofthe text itself. I am also grateful to the staffofJPS, Carol Hupping, Janet Liss, and Julia Oestreich for their great help in improving this work. I wish to thank my friend George London; my brother, Rabbi Binyamin Tabory; and my nephew, Rabbi Noam Himelstein, who read early drafts ofthe introduction. Their comments have been helpful to me in presenting, I hope, an improved work. My grandchildren, Oshrit Rachel, Yedidyah Zvi, Netanel Aryeh, Hodayah Devorah, and Talyah, have instructed me about other aspects of the seder and the importance of these other aspects in the transmission of culture. Above all, my thanks to my wife, Judy, my partner both in studying the history of the seder and in performing it. XIX ...

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