Haggadah Sees Shift in Sales

By COLlive reporter

Kol Menachem publishers have made a strategic decision in 2008 to print The Slager Edition Haggadah in two versions, making it available to the Chabad community and the general frum world.

The idea has paid off.

While both featured the same crystal-clear commentary from the Rebbe and beautiful typeset with gold-leaf like margin designs, Nusach Arizal has sold extremely well when first published (21,000 copies sold in 2009) and Nusach Ashkenaz had a slow start.

But the tides have turned since. Over the last 2 years, it seems like the Torah-observant demographic has discovered this gem and majority of the Haggadah sales in Flatbush, Boro Park, Baltimore and Monsey were of Nusach Ashkenaz.

“I think this is unprecedented,” says Rabbi Chaim Miller of Crown Heights, author of the Haggadah and other noted publications known for disseminating deep Kabbalistic and chassidic philosophies in common language.

“One clear measure of the huge impact that this book has made is that almost half the Haggados we sell are Nusach Ashkenaz,” Miller said. “That means you have thousands of people who are decidedly not Chabad affiliates, but wish to use a Haggadah with insights from the Rebbe.”

The book’s success of late may be attributed to a couple of factors, a source at Kol Menachem says.

Chief among them was the Haggadah winning the national and prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award in June 2009 for the best-designed book – “Interior Design-1-2 Color.”

Later, in March 2010, the Jewish Chronicle of London featured the Kol Menachem Haggadah as “Book of the Month” and the Yeshiva University Commentator called it an “important and monumental Haggadah worthy to be used at any seder table.”

And then came the rave reviews from influential leaders and figures in modern orthodox Jewry.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, a psychotherapist and the Executive Vice President Emeritus of the Orthodox Union (OU), stated: “If there is a Haggadah for everyman, this is it.”

“The commentary is the true tour de force of this work,” he wrote. “I heartily recommend this Haggadah to all who wish to be enlightened by the Rebbe’s precious insights, and who wish to promote their own spiritual development and education of their inner selves.”

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, Chancellor of Yeshiva University, pointed out how “many have heard of the late Rebbe and his proactive outreach to the entire Jewish community, but unfortunately not enough have taken advantage of the publications of his various commentaries and insights to sharpen their own minds and expand their own hearts.

“This Haggadah is an especially good introduction to the treasury of his creativity. The citations enhance the age-old narrative of slavery and freedom, oppression and joy — a gateway to the world of Hasidism, especially on the tradition of Lubavitch.”

The Kol Menachem Haggadah – Slager Edition, The Gutnick Library of Jewish Classics, Compiled by Rabbi Chaim Miller. Now on sale at KolMenachem.com