Yudlov 1348 Haggadah Paris 1869

Yudlov 1348 Haggadah Paris 1869

Author: L. Blum

Publisher: Guerin/ L. Blum

Seal of Gaston Oppenheimer

On the opening page of this 1869 Paris Haggadah is an oval ink seal reading:

Gaston Oppenheimer
Gardien du Temple
44, Rue de la Victoire

The title Gardien du Temple means custodian or caretaker of the synagogue, and 44 Rue de la Victoire is the address of the Grande Synagogue de Paris, one of the central institutions of French Jewish life.

The seal therefore gives this Haggadah a direct and tangible connection to the synagogue itself, through Gaston Oppenheimer in his official role there. More than a simple ownership mark, it places the book within the everyday working life of a great Jewish institution — a place of prayer, communal gathering, and continuity.

The stamp does not tell us whether the Haggadah was Oppenheimer’s personal copy, property of the synagogue, or a volume that passed through his hands in the course of his duties.

An Haggadah printed in Paris in 1869 survived with the mark of a man whose work was to care for one of Paris’s principal synagogues. His name, title, and address remain pressed into the paper more than a century later.