Objects

Seder (Hebrew: order) is a ceremonial dinner that Jews partake in on the first evening of the Passover holiday (two evenings in the diaspora). During this meal, special dishes and symbolic beverages are served on a festive table setting. These include, among others, four cups of wine representing the four expressions of redemption mentioned in the Book of Exodus (6:6-7), a decorative wine cup for the prophet Elijah, and kosher, dry vodka known as "Passover Slivovitz", typically made from plums (see A. Unterman, Żydzi. Wiara i życie, Lodz 1989, pp. 228–232; Judaica in the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, edited by E. Martyna, Warsaw 1993, p. 302–303). During the holiday feast, vodka is consumed from silver or glass shot glasses, sometimes shaped like mugs, with the engraved or embossed word "Pesach". The Seder glass from the collection of the District Museum in Leszno was made of thick glass of a slight celadon colour. It has a conical, upward-sloping shape, with a distinctly thickened collar. The surface is adorned with cast patterns of two pairs of intersecting branches and a polished hexagram (Star of David).

The item was purchased in 2011 from pr. Szczepan Jan Szymandera from Pruśce near Rogoźno Wielkopolskie, who bought it at an online auction from a woman living in Piaseczno. According to the oral account of the former owner, the object came from eastern Poland.

Dariusz Czwojdrak