Passover songs

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Passover songs are songs from the seder, the festive meal associated with the Jewish festival of Passover.

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Songs before the meal

Songs before the meal include:

Ma Nishtanah

"Ma Nishtanah" (the "Four Questions") is the four questions sung at the Passover seder by the youngest child at the table who is able. The questions are asked as part of the haggadah, after the Yachatz (יחץ), as part of the Maggid (מגיד).

Dayenu

"Dayenu" is a Hebrew song, traditionally sung during the celebration of Passover. The word itself essentially means "It would have been enough for us." "Day" is the Hebrew word for "enough" and the suffix "enu" means "our".

The song goes through a series of gifts believed granted by God to the Israelites (such as Torah or Shabbat), proclaiming that any of them alone would have been sufficient, to express greater appreciation for them as a whole.

It is 15 verses long, sequentially recounting each divine intervention in the story of the Exodus. After each divine act, the chorus "(if God had done only this) it would have been enough for us" is sung.

Songs after the meal

Eliyahu HaNavi

"Eliyahu HaNavi" (Elijah the Prophet) entreats the prophet Elijah, an invited guest at the Passover meal, to return soon with the messiah. Of unknown authorship, the refrain is based on First Kings 17:1. This is often sung at the opening of the door for Elijah, upon pouring the fourth cup. This song is also part of the traditional Saturday night Havdalah service. The refrain is:

TransliterationEnglish Translation

Eliyahu haNavi
Eliyahu haTishbi,
Eliyahu haGil'adi

Bim'hera v'yameinu yavoh eleinu,
im mashiach ben David. (x2)

Elijah the prophet
Elijah the Tishbite,
Elijah the Giladite

In haste and in our days may he come to us
with the messiah, son of David. (x2)

The full song has nine verses recounting the courageous and saintly deeds of Elijah, each beginning with אִישׁ (ish) – "The man (who)". followed by a word in an alphabetic acrostic; then the quotation of Malachi 3:23–24, and then concluding with "Happy is he who has seen his [Elijah's] face in a dream". [1]

Songs of the Nirtzah

The following are traditionally sung in the Nirtzah, the last of the 15 sections of the seder, devoted almost exclusively to singing.

L'shana Haba'ah

"L'Shana haba'ah bi'Yerushalayim": The whole line means "Next year in Jerusalem!" In Israel, many have started to recite "L'Shana haba'ah bi'Yerurshalayim habenuyah" ("Next year in rebuilt Jerusalem"). This line is used both as the conclusion of the Passover Seder and after the Ne'ila (Concluding) service on Yom Kippur. [2]

Ki Lo Naeh

Ki Lo Naeh (also known as Adir Bimlukha): This song makes no mention of Passover but recites, in each stanza, two majestic descriptions of God, followed by the designation of a multitude (scholars, the faithful, the angels, etc.) who praise Him, the three lines being in a continuing alphabet acrostic, with the refrain, "Thine and thine, thine yes thine, thine only thine. Thine, Lord, is the kingship." And the stanza concludes with כִּי לוֹ נָאֶה, כִּי לוֹ יָאֶה׃ – (ki lo no'eh, ki lo yo'eh) – "For Him praise is due, for Him praise is fitting." The song apparently is inspired by Psalm 74:16 ("Yours is the day, Yours is the night") and by a Midrashic passage (Genesis Rabbah 6:2) which enlarges on those words. The authorship and date of composition are unknown, it was originally sung year-round at meals, it was not part of the Seder in the 11th century but came to be part of the Seder by the time of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg in the 13th century. [3]

Adir Hu

"Adir Hu" (Mighty is He): a hymn naming the virtues of God in order of the Hebrew alphabet, expressing hope that God will rebuild the Holy Temple speedily. Most of the virtues of God are adjectives (for instance, Holy (Kadosh) is he); however, a few are nouns (for instance, Lord is he). The traditional melody is a bouncy, major one. [4] Other melodies, however, have been composed for the alphabetical song. [5] There is also a feminist variant of the song by Rabbi Jill Hammer which calls God "She" and, quoting Rabbi Hammer, "emphasizes God’s sharing in human joys and griefs, and God’s ability to renew life through the strength of the earth." [6]

Echad Mi Yodea

"Echad Mi Yodea" (Who Knows One?): Starting at one and going up to thirteen, each verse describes a different religious or worldly concept associated with its number. For example, the fifth verse is about the five books of the Torah whereas the ninth verse describes the nine months of pregnancy. After singing each new verse, all the preceding verses are repeated in decreasing order back down to one.

Chad Gadya

"Chad Gadya" ("One Kid" 'i.e., baby goat]) is an Aramaic song describing the consuming of each entity by the next, from a goat, through a cat, dog, a stick, fire, water, an ox, a butcher, and the angel of death, all the way up to God. Many think it metaphorically tells the history of the Jews from their beginning to the future Messianic time.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passover Seder</span> Ritual feast that marks the beginning of Passover

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haggadah</span> Text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dayenu</span> Song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover

Dayenu is a song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The word "dayenu" means approximately "it would have been enough", "it would have been sufficient", or "it would have sufficed". This traditional up-beat Passover song is over one thousand years old. The earliest full text of the song occurs in the first medieval haggadah, which is part of the ninth-century Seder Rav Amram. The song is about being grateful to God for all of the gifts given to the Jewish people, such as taking them out of slavery, giving them the Torah and Shabbat, and had God only given one of the gifts, it would have still been enough. This is to show much greater appreciation for all of them as a whole. The song appears in the haggadah after the telling of the story of the exodus and just before the explanation of Passover, matzah, and the maror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passover Seder plate</span> Plate of symbolic food for Passover

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Adir Hu is a hymn sung by Ashkenazi Jews worldwide at the Passover Seder. It switches rapidly between saying the virtues of God in an alphabet format, and expressing hope that God will "rebuild the Holy Temple speedily." Most of the virtues of God are adjectives ; however, a few are nouns..

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akdamut</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chad Gadya</span> Passover song

Chad GadyaorHad Gadya is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew. It is sung at the end of the Passover Seder, the Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The melody may have its roots in Medieval German folk music. It first appeared in a Haggadah printed in Prague in 1590, which makes it the most recent inclusion in the traditional Passover seder liturgy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ma Nishtana</span> First words of each of Four Questions in the Seder observance

Ma Nishtana It is a section at the beginning of the Passover Haggadah known as TheFour Kushiyot, The Four Questions or "Why is this night different from all other nights?", traditionally asked via song by the youngest capable child attending Passover Seder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perek Shira</span> Ancient Jewish text

Perek Shira is an ancient Jewish text. There are a number of versions extant, some associated with the Ashkenazic tradition, some with the Sephardic, and some with the Mizrahi Jews tradition. It was first printed, with a commentary, in Moses ben Joseph de Trani's Bet Elohim (1576), but it is mentioned as early as the 10th century. It contains 85 sections, in each of which elements of creation, beginning with the celestial and ending with dogs, use biblical and rabbinic verses in order to sing God's praises. Use of Perek Shira used to be prevalent in the daily liturgy and medieval philosopher Joseph Albo wrote that whoever recites Perek Shira is guaranteed a place in the World to Come.

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L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim, lit. "to a year to come in Jerusalem" but most often rendered "Next year in Jerusalem", is a phrase that is often sung at the end of the Passover Seder and at the end of the Ne'ila service on Yom Kippur. Its use during Passover was first recorded by Isaac Tyrnau in his 15th century CE book cataloging the accepted tradition (minhaggim) of various Ashkenazi communities.

HaAderet v'HaEmunah, commonly referred to as LeChai Olamim, is a piyyut, or Jewish liturgical poem, sung or recited during Shacharit of Yom Kippur in virtually all Ashkenazic communities, and on Shabbat mornings in Chassidic communities.

References

  1. B. S. Jacobson, The Sabbath Service (1981, Tel Aviv, Sinai Publishing) pages 411–412 and 417–420; Nosson Scherman, Zemiros and Bircas Hamazon (1990, Brooklyn, Mesorah Publ'ns Ltd) pages 252–257; Macy Nulman, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson Inc.) page 124.
  2. Macy Nulman, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson Inc.) page 228.
  3. Heinrich Guggenheimer, The Scholar's Haggadah (1995, NJ, Jason Aronson Inc.) pages 385–386; Nahum N. Glatzer, ed., The Passover Haggadah (1953, NYC, Schocken Books Inc.) pages 94–97; Macy Nulman, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson Inc.) page 5.
  4. Standard version of Adir Hu
  5. Adir Hu in 5/4 Archived 2007-03-22 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Orah Hi: A New Passover Hymn". telshemesh.org. 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2015-04-14.