Wednesday, January 16, 2008

This Post Doesn't Make Sense Unless You Know Hebrew

While listening to the story of the Exodus this past Shabbat, I started thinking about the Fantasy Haggadah. Among other things, I was thinking about what to call it. There's a sort of formula for Hebrew titles of Jewish holy books. They tend to be short phrases -- often from the Bible or another traditional Jewish text -- usually consisting of two nouns in construct or a noun modified by an adjective. The title can have something to do with the content of the book, or it can be based on the author's name. For example, since my Hebrew name is Chaya, DH occasionally refers to my imaginary book of Jewish philosophy as ספר חית השדה.*

Anyway, as we moved through the Torah portion, I scanned for good names for a Haggadah. The first that came to mind was הגדת ליל שמורים, but that seemed kind of bland, and I figured it was probably taken (it is). Then I came up with a number that almost certainly aren't taken:
הגדת לב מצרים
הגדת צעקה גדולה
הגדת שבעת ימים (because that's how long it'll take to get through the seder)
הגדת שה תמים (maybe better for a Christian haggadah?)
הגדת המול כל זכר
הגדת מה זאת (my current favorite)

Opinions?

*It was really funny the first time he said it. I guess you had to be there.

3 comments:

Shira Salamone said...

Haggadah Mah Zot (The "What's This" Haggadah)--I love it! :)

Shira Salamone said...

On the other hand, I fear that the reference will be completely lost on the "tam (simple? folk)"--the beginners/newbies and/or young children--to whom that quote refers.

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

don't listen to DH (he's a d--k head...ok, that was childish...sorry..) you should call your book נפש חיה almost like nefesh hachayim...