Illustration for Passover Haggadah
Passover Haggadah
The Project
Every year, Asufa - Israel's leading independent design store, commissions a new edition of the Passover Haggadah. Each spread is handed to a different Israeli illustrator, with complete creative freedom to interpret the traditional text however they see fit. The 2019 edition included 45 illustrators. I was one of them.
My Haggadah text
My assigned section was "Ki Lo Na'eh, Ki Lo Ya'eh" - a liturgical poem sung at the end of the Seder. Each verse describes heavenly hosts gathering from all directions to praise. The refrain repeats like a chant. The central image of the poem is assembly: a crowd converging around a single point, singing in unison.
The Illustration
I took that convergence literally. A desert night, a massive bonfire at the center, figures gathered around it with their arms raised. The ancient setting felt right for a text that hasn't changed in centuries - familiar enough to feel sacred, strange enough to feel alive.
Shalita Font
The illustration commission for Asufa's 2019 Passover Haggadah didn't end with just a spread. The typography I developed for the piece - based on Mugrabi by Alef Alef Alef, redrawn with more ancient, biblical energy, caught the attention of type designer Avraham Cornfeld (Alef Alef Alef's Founder).
What started as a visual direction for one double-page spread became a full collaboration. In 2023, we released Shlita through Fontimonim: an expressive Hebrew display typeface with two weights, stylistic alternates, swashes, and unique ligatures.
