Here Comes Moshiach: Humor in the Miniatures Depicting Messiah at the Seder in the “Hileq and Bileq Haggadah” (Second Half of Fifteenth-century, South Germany)

Abstract

The subject of this article is an illustrated sheet from the Hileq and Bileq Haggadah (Paris, National Library of France, Ms Hébreu 1333, 2nd half of the 15th century) – fol. 24v. It depicts characters watching the arrival of the Mashiach and a man with a jug pouring liquid on the Maschiach and the person meeting him. Having examined these miniatures in the context of the iconography of the coming of the Mashiach to the Seder, prevailing by that time in Ashkenaz, I come to the conclusion that they bear evidence of how humor could be used in the ritual of waiting for the Mashiach during the 15th century Passover celebration. Textual sources of the 16th–17th centuries describe it as extremely serious, but the humorous nature of the images suggests that in the context of the Passover celebration, there were a number of possibilities for its perception and experience. The comic elements of the miniature actualize the arrival of the Mashiach for the audience, involving them in the image and are an example of a specifically Jewish approach to the use of humor for pedagogical purposes.