Hot off the press, just in time for Passover 2012, arrived, “The New American Haggadah,” Edited by Jonathan Safran Foer with a new translation by Nathan Englander. Jews around the US rejoiced as they discovered this alternative anthology of readings and Hebrew scripture, which serves as a guide through the Passover Seder. The purpose of the traditional Haggadah is to tell the story of the Israelites’ liberation from Egyptian slavery, while clearly establishing the order of rituals and prayers in the Seder. (In Hebrew “Seder” literally means “order.”) What promises to be a thoughtful, progressive Haggadah for our time is merely a guise for a modern day plague, the plague of Dreadful Typography.
The design of this Haggadah is the kind of work you’d expect from an undergrad Freshman graphic design student. Although it looks like the first draft of an interesting design concept, it clearly needs many more revisions. Oded Ezer, the Israeli “typographic artist, logo and type designer... lecturer and typographic experimentalist” (odedezer.com) responsible for the design explains: “Jews have been designing Haggadahs for more than one hundred generations. Deliberately, or not, these designs have inevitably reflected the time in which they were made. The notion behind the design of this book was to merge, visually, the history of the Jewish nation with the traditional text of the Haggadah.” (odedezer.com) I don’t believe the design of this Haggadah reflects the time in which we live. On one hand, the typography of this Haggadah looks more like a Minimalist work gone wrong from the 1960’s and 70’s than something that reflects the contemporary. On the other hand, the typographic illustrations in this book are as varied as the opinions in any group of Jews, its like its arguing with itself and can’t decide what it is. The design presents chaos, disorganization - the opposite of order - which would be more appropriate for a Haggadah. The editor’s should have hired someone with more expertise to design the layout of this Haggadah.
The design of this Haggadah does not clearly establish the order of rituals and prayers in the Seder, which is its purpose. In the Haggadah layout, there is no clear hierarchy in the text, very few headings and no English transliterations. These design choices make it hard to follow along where you are in the Seder, which means this Haggadah is more appropriately designed for Israelis than for Americans, or at least for someone who is fluent in Hebrew. Despite its title, “The New American Haggadah,” this book is not accessible to the American Jews for whom it claims to be written. Ezer’s excuse? “Americans don’t read the Hebrew anyway; they only read the English”(Why Is This Haggadah Different from All Other Haggadot? by Ellen Shapiro - imprint/printmag.com) at the Passover Seder, which is not only an unfair generalization of American Jewish practice, but also a horrendous excuse for poor design and typography.
There is no logic to Ezer’s design. Sure, the typographic illustrations are interesting, artistic plays on the Hebrew text, but this just reiterates the fact Ezer really is a typographic artist and experimentalist, not a graphic designer. He simply shoved heavy blocks of type around his illustrations. Type should be logically laid out, it’s like wayfinding signage. He clearly didn’t use a grid which would have allowed the reader to easily navigate through and identify specific information. Artistic illustrations do not make up for poor typography.
Ezer continues, “It’s really three books within one book. I wanted people to turn their attention completely to the time line and then completely to the commentaries.” (Shapiro) The time line extends from 1500 BCE to the present. If Ezer wanted people to turn their attention to the time line, he could have done that without making people literally turn their oversized books around. The book is larger than most Haggadahs, which are small enough to sit on your place setting and not knock items off the table which is packed with wine goblets, dishes and food. This also makes me question why there are ready-made wine stains printed on the pages. They look inauthentic, and should appear by happenstance, after years of use at family Seders.
“If I touch the letters, I think and I hope that people will be touched by them.” (Shapiro) Says Ezer. Indeed, he has touched them… and mangled them, splattered them, and chopped them up to the point that the book no longer feels coherent. If it weren’t for the outstanding commentary by many progressive iconoclasts, this is a Haggadah I’d be happy to pass-over.
