{"id":28275,"date":"2018-03-23T03:26:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T10:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=28275"},"modified":"2018-03-23T11:42:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T18:42:23","slug":"a-few-pesach-songs-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/03\/23\/a-few-pesach-songs-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"A few Pesach songs\u2019 origins"},"content":{"rendered":"

An illustration by Russian artist El Lissitzky in the book Had Gadya<\/em>, 1919. (photo from getty.edu<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We sing them every year, but from where did Passover songs such as \u201cChad Gadya\u201d originate?<\/p>\n

\u201cChad Gadya<\/em><\/strong>\u201d or \u201cOne Little Goat\u201d is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew, sung at the end of the seder. According to Wikipedia, 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 to the traditional Passover seder liturgy.<\/p>\n

The Haggadah was a project that was initiated by the anshei Knesset Hagedola<\/em>, the members of the Great Assembly, the supreme council of sages that ruled during Temple times in Jerusalem. They were the first to compile and canonize many of the texts that we have today. The Haggadah, however, was only started during that era \u2013 it was not completed until much later.<\/p>\n

\u201cChad Gadya\u201d also only found its way into the Haggadah at a much later date. This is because the song was written in Aramaic, which was the vernacular of the Jews of Babylon, and not in Hebrew \u2013 at least not in Hebrew for the most part. The slaughterer, angel of death and Holy One Blessed Be He in the song are referred to in Hebrew.<\/p>\n

Some suggest that \u201cChad Gadya\u201d was written by Rabbi Eliezer Rokeach in the 12th century.<\/p>\n

According to some modern Jewish commentators, the song may be symbolic. One interpretation is that \u201cChad Gadya\u201d is about the different nations that have conquered the Land of Israel: the kid (goat) symbolizes the Jewish people; the cat, Assyria; the dog, Babylon; the stick, Persia; the fire, Macedonia; the water, the Roman Empire; the ox, the Saracens; the slaughterer, the Crusaders; the angel of death, the Turks. At the end, God returns to send the Jews back to Israel. The recurring refrain of two zuzim is a reference to the two stone tablets given to Moses on Mount Sinai, or refer to Moses and Aaron.<\/p>\n

Versions of the song exist in Ladino, Judeo-Italian and Judeo-Arabic.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

We know that the \u201cAvadim Hayinu<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (\u201cWe Were Slaves\u201d) section was written by Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol in the second century). It is an introduction to the formal narration of the Exodus from Egypt, based on the views of Samuel. Passages of unknown origin supplement the narration, stressing its importance.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cEchad Mi Yodea<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (\u201cWho Knows One\u201d) is another cumulative riddle with versions in Hebrew and Yiddish. The song relates the 13 basics of Judaism. After relating God\u2019s wonders and kindness and the events of the Exodus, it demonstrates how everything can and should relate to God.<\/p>\n

According to Encyclopedia Judaica<\/em>, this song is first found in Ashkenazi Haggadot of the 16th century. It is believed to have originated in Germany in the 15th century, possibly based on the German folk song \u201cGuter freund ich frage dich<\/em>,\u201d which means \u201cGood friend, I ask you.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cDayenu<\/strong>\u201d is a Hebrew song, traditionally sung during Passover. The word itself essentially means, \u201cIt would have been enough for us.\u201d Day is the Hebrew word for \u201cenough\u201d and the suffix enu means \u201cour.\u201d<\/p>\n

This traditional up-beat Passover song is more than 1,000 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The song goes through a series of gifts believed granted by God to the Israelites, such as Torah and Shabbat, proclaiming that any of them alone would have been sufficient. It is 15 verses long, sequentially recounting each divine intervention in the story of the Exodus. After each divine act, the chorus \u201c[If God had done only this,] it would have been enough for us\u201d is sung.<\/p>\n

Canadian journalist, author and social activist Michele Landsberg wrote \u201cThe Women\u2019s Dayenu\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Eve had been created in the image of God and not as a helper to Adam, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she had been created as Adam\u2019s equal and not been considered a temptress, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Lot\u2019s wife had been honoured for compassion for looking back at the fate of her family in Sodom, and had not been punished for it, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our mothers had been honoured for their daughters as well as for their sons, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our fathers had not pitted our mothers against each other, like Abraham with Sarah and Hagar, or Jacob with Leah and Rachel, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the just women in Egypt who caused our redemption had been given sufficient recognition, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Miriam were given her seat with Moses and Aaron in our legacy, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf women had written the Haggadah and placed our mothers where they belong in history, dayenu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf every generation of women together with every generation of men would continue to go out of Egypt, dayenu.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cAdir Hu<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (\u201cMighty is He\u201d) is a hymn naming the virtues of God in the order of the Hebrew alphabet, expressing hope that God will rebuild the Holy Temple speedily.<\/p>\n

The tune of \u201cAdir Hu\u201d has undergone several variations over the years, but the origin is from the German minnesinger period. The earliest extant music for the song is from the 1644 Rittangel Haggadah, the second form was in the 1677 Haggadah Zevach Pesach, and the third version can be found in the 1769 Selig Haggadah. In the Selig Haggadah, \u201cAdir Hu\u201d is also referred to, in German, as \u201cBaugesang<\/em>\u201d (the song of the rebuilding of the Temple).<\/p>\n

There are 24 short, simple lines, each beginning with an attribute of God. Most of the virtues of God are adjectives \u2013 for instance, holy (kadosh<\/em>) \u2013 however, a few are nouns, \u201cLord is He.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also a feminist variant of the song by Rabbi Jill Hammer of the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, New York. In it, God is feminine (She) and, quoting Hammer, the song \u201cemphasizes God\u2019s sharing in human joys and griefs, and God\u2019s ability to renew life through the strength of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sybil Kaplan<\/strong> is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer and food writer in Jerusalem. She created and leads the weekly English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda, she has compiled and edited nine kosher cookbooks, and is the author of <\/em>Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An illustration by Russian artist El Lissitzky in the book Had Gadya, 1919. (photo from getty.edu) We sing them every year, but from where did Passover songs such as \u201cChad Gadya\u201d originate? \u201cChad Gadya\u201d or \u201cOne Little Goat\u201d is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew, sung at the end of the seder. According […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[218,3036,400],"class_list":["post-28275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-judaism","tag-music","tag-passover"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}