Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Replicas Of 600-Year-Old Haggadah Being Sold

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina - It survived the Spanish Inquisition, Nazi invaders, the Bosnian war and the ravages of time. Now, for the first time, replicas of the 600-year-old Sarajevo Haggadah are being sold to the public.
Some 613 replicas of the original, handwritten document - which is housed at Sarajevo's National Museum - have been printed and put up for sale, said Jakob Finci, the head of Bosnia's Jewish community. "We decided to print 613 replicas, as there are 613 mitzvot." Finci said after bringing the first copy to Sarajevo. The printing took about 18 months.

Written in Hebrew on bleached calfskin, the manuscript dates to the once-thriving Jewish community in Spain. The 109-page text known as the Sarajevo Haggadah was presented as a wedding gift in the 14th century to a young couple in Barcelona, Spain.
A small wine stain on one of the pages may have come from a glass raised at a Seder dinner. On another page, a small child tried out some handwriting.
The replicas took 18 months to make, and - printed on pergament, or calfskin, with leather covers - they look exactly the same as the original, Finci said.
The community already has received orders for more than 100 of the copies, at a price of $1475 each, he said.