The Passover Haggadah could hardly be more different from the Torah. A Torah scroll is housed in a synagogue. The types of parchment, ink and pen used by the scribe are mandated. The layout of text and the style of calligraphy are uniform. The Torah is a document of constancy, of what’s eternal at the core of Jewish communal worship.
By contrast, the Passover Haggadah is a measure of Jewish diversity and change. It’s a household possession, and its pages may be marred by the occasional wine stain. One famous edition served the added purpose of flogging Maxwell House coffee; a contemporary Haggadah might be gender-neutral, feminist, vegetarian, environmentalist, or one family’s edited compilation of its favorite readings, prayers and songs.
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