The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina has decided to donate the income from the sale of the publication Sarajevo Haggadah – Art and History, as well as the revenue from tickets to see the Sarajevo Haggadah, “to Palestine,” sparking outrage from various Jewish groups.
The Sarajevo Haggadah is a famous medieval manuscript containing an illustrated version of the Passover Seder text, dated to around 1350 and believed to be from Barcelona. It is one of several Spanish-Provençal Sephardi Haggadahs, and is one of the oldest of its kind. It is also included in the UNESCO Memory of the World registry.
The museum has made a new edition of the manuscript available, accompanied by a commentary by Prof. Shalom Sabar. It is being sold for around $60 for the Bosnian language version, and nearly $90 for the English one.
However, the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that all the proceeds are now to be given to “the people of Palestine who suffer systematic, calculated, and cold-blooded terror, directly by the State of Israel, and indirectly by all those who support and/or justify it in its shameless actions.”
The museum said that as an institution that “deals with the protection of cultural-historical and natural heritage,” it is “obliged to warn [that] the targeted erasure of the cultural and religious identity, primarily of the Muslims and Christians of Palestine, is taking place.”
This, it added, is occurring through a “demolition or takeover,” or by “making it impossible to use religious buildings and historical locations, as well as land and cultivated areas, which should be common, universal, and the protected heritage of civilization.”
B’nai B’rith International “deplored” the announcement in a statement on Saturday.
“We deplore the announcement by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina that it has chosen to politicize the Sarajevo Haggadah – a Jewish cultural treasure – by falsely accusing Israel of genocide and diverting proceeds from its publication and exhibit to fund donations to a non‑existent Palestinian state.”
“The Haggadah tells the story of Jewish endurance in the face of persecution; using it as a weapon against the Jewish state twists its very meaning,” the organization added.
As Jewish history, the Haggadah 'should never be used' against Israel
It said that the Sarajevo Haggadah is part of the Jewish story and “should never be turned into a tool for hatred of Israel.”
Rabbi Isaac Choua of the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America, a museum curator himself, tweeted that “if this were about solidarity with the suffering, the museum would donate all of its proceeds, not just something emblematic of Jewish life.”
“That choice speaks volumes,” he added.
The Anti-Defamation League said it was “horrified” that the text was being politicized.
“There is nothing subtle about this. Exploiting a treasured Jewish text to demonstrate contempt and anger with the Jewish State of Israel is disgraceful, disrespectful, and downright offensive.”
Bosnian-Serb President Milorad Dodik strongly condemned the museum’s decision, calling it a “political misuse of Jewish cultural heritage, carrying a clear symbolic message – one directed against the State of Israel.”
He added that his state, Republika Srpska, “firmly distances itself from this act, which follows shortly after the ban on the Conference of European Rabbis in Sarajevo.”
“This is not an isolated gesture, but part of a continuing pattern of hostility toward Jews. The Sarajevo Haggadah is not a tool for political confrontation – it is a testament to the history and culture of a people who have endured persecution,” he said.
“To use the Haggadah as a symbolic statement against Israel is a profound affront to those who understand its significance to the Jewish people.”
“Should he decide to purchase a copy of the publication Sarajevo Haggadah – History and Art, the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina guarantees that the proceeds will not be directed toward aid for the people of Palestine, but instead used to print a second edition of the cited publication, given that the first edition is nearly sold out,” it tweeted in response to Dodik’s statement.
It invited Dodik to visit the museum “so that he can personally witness the condition, protection efforts, and presentation of the Sarajevo Haggadah, as well as the Jewish, and more broadly, the cultural-historical and natural heritage of the other peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which he has expressed concern.”
As Dodik referenced in his statement, another incident took place in Sarajevo in June this year. The city rescinded its invitation to host a high-level meeting of the Conference of European Rabbis just a week ahead of the event.
The initial invitation aimed at recovering the image of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina as places of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between religions after the explosion of antisemitism in the Muslim parts of the multiethnic confederation following Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
However, after the local press recently publicized the planned rabbinical conference, presenting it as a solidarity event with the State of Israel, local authorities caved to growing pressure and threats to cancel the event.