Next Year in Jerusalem
Post date: Apr 02, 2023 9:21:16 PM
I have written in the past about the addition of "rebuilt" to the yearly cry: "Next Year in Rebuilt Jerusalem". If you have missed that post, you can read about it HERE.
In this post, I would like to take one step back further and ask the question who was the first to translate this cry into English. Although in 1841 Lord Salisbury already published a "Memorandum to Protestant Monarchs of Europe for the restoration of the Jews to Palestine" in the Colonial Times (February, 22), the year 1897 is traditionally considered to be the start of practical Zionism. This means that Zionism did not play a role during the Pioneer’s Era (Haggadot from 1770-1880).
Still, longings for the Land of Israel have always been present in Jewish culture and prayer. The cry “Next Year in Jerusalem” is added every year to the prayer on the holiest day in the Jewish Calendar; Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and can also be found at the end of the Haggadah.
Professor J.D. Sarna has written a fascinating article about this in the Segula Journal, Issue 64, March 2023.
There is quite a lot to say about this but let me point out a few factual mistakes in his article:
The first British translator to use "Next Year in Jerusalem" was not Roth in 1930 but rather Maurice Myers in 1916 (Yudlov #2655): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B68i90NoRGmnNVdQMjRSTWw1bWc/view?usp=share_link&resourcekey=0-HwPeSrERSA3RF74cTlZ9Ig (see page 77 or 94 in the pdf)
The first American Haggadah using this phrase was not Maurice Meyer in 1942 but rather Abraham Regelson in the first Haggadah with illustrations by Forst in 1941 (Yudlov #3861): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vm7w2QhdpuP-ueWydPEB2CREvc6RmD6t/view?usp=sharing (see page 18)
On the whole, I REALLY liked this article. He could have pointed out Lillie Cowen's translation for 9 as well, which is another example of her bowdlerization. More on her Haggadah here: https://sites.google.com/site/jewishdigitalhumanities/Downhome/Topic4/hanukkahinthehaggadah
More on the translation of Beshana Haba'ah BeJerushalayim Hebenuya HERE: https://sites.google.com/site/jewishdigitalhumanities/Downhome/Topic4/nextyearinjerusalemhabenuya