The Join-In, Participate, Sing-Along Hagadah
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Preview SPS Preview SPS The Join-In, Participate, Sing-Along Hagadah הַ ּגָדָ ה שֶׁ ל ּפֶסַ ח Preview SPS Preview SPS The Join-In, Participate, Sing-Along Hagadah הַ ּגָדָ ה שֶׁ ל ּפֶסַ ח A Hagadah for Irreverent People at Different Levels of Hebrew Literacy by Irrev. Dr.Preview Joe Lewis Prepared by The Singlish™ Publication Society 14140 Sherwood, Oak Park, MI 48237 248.842.5563 [email protected] www.singlishps.com SPS Copyright and Acknowledgements Cover art by Howard Fridson Digitized by Steve Klaper Additional art by Aaron Lewis Clip art © 1996 The Learning Company, Inc. and its licensors Fifth Edition ISBN 1-888822-44-1 Copyright © 2014 The Singlish™ Publication Society 14140 Sherwood • Oak Park, MI 48237 [email protected] • www.singlishps.com No part of this book may be copied in any form without our express written permission, but you may read and sing it to your heart’s content! Preview SPS In loving memory of Betty Lewis and Minnie Naidoff Would that they had seen our children grow! תם ולא נשלם Preview SPS Preview SPS _______________________ Preface to the Fifth Edition _______________________ We’ve reset all the type to make it easier to read found that little needed to be changed. A careful and to show when the text comes from Torah or eye corrected typos and made the text more egali- Tanach, and we’ve reconsidered some of the trans- tarian and less sexist than before. Where notes and lations, but basically this is still the same jolly references were missing, they were added. guide to a Seder that everyone can enjoy. Howev- And so, this book is a completely different size er, the page numbers are not quite the same as in and shape than the previous edition. The book is previous editions. Sorry if this makes for confu- now in an entirely new format, which I hope will sion at your Seder table. be convenient for all readers. The three-column format allows for more expansive notes and com- Preface to the Third and Fourth Editions mentary but results in a sleeker, though slightly A few minor changes in punctuation, a few typos wider book, in shape closer than ever to a piece of corrected, a blessing restored to its rightful place matzah. on page 65 … these editions retain the page num- Joking aside, the one thing that’s missing is bers of the second edition, so the two editions will hearty thanks to all who have encouraged these be compatible at the same Seder table. Thanks to efforts over the past few years. You are too many the Hagadah-buying public for buying up the sec- to name, and that’s not just marketing hype. ond and third editions! I believe that Jewish people yearn to participate Preface to the Second Edition in Jewish tradition, to feel that they’re doing the Who could have predicted that the first edition right thing to reflect their rich heritage. They face would be a wild success, with hundreds of copies barriers of unfamiliar language (in both English snapped up by eager buyers? And could I ever and Hebrew) and complicated rituals. If I can low- have anticipated the warm satisfaction—it courses er those barriers, making the quest easier and its through my veins even now like a revivifying fulfillment more enjoyable, I am grateful for the distillation—of the need for a second edition? opportunity. Preview As I prepared this edition for the printer, I Three Columns for Easy Participation English translations are in bold when in Hebrew is clear and set in Transliteration lines up with He- “Singlish”—singable English that fits the logical phrases. brew, so everyone keeps the same tune for the Hebrew. place on the page. Illu hotzi’anu miMitzrayim אִ לּ וּ הוֹצִ יאָנוּ מִ מִּ צְ רַ ִ י ם ,Had God saved us, saved us, saved us (Velo asah vahem shefatim (2 וְ � א עָ שָׂ ה בָ הֶ ם שְׁ פָ טִ י ם Saved us from the nasty ’Gyptians Dayenu דַּ ֵיּ נ וּ ,Without giving them conniptions DayenuSPS Preview SPS ___________________________Table of Contents___________________________ WHY THIS HAGADAH IS DIFFERENT ............................ XII STRUCTURE OF THE HAGADAH......................................XV PREPARING FOR PESACH.............................................. XVI PESACH COOKING ...................................................... XXIV PREPARING THE SEDER TABLE .................................. XXV HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE? ................................... XXVIII ADDITIONS ................................................................... XXIX BEFORE YOU BEGIN ......................................................... 1 SIT DOWN AND BEGIN ...................................................... 1 6 ................................... מַ גִ י ד MAGGID: TELL THE STORY 39 ................................................... הַ לֵ ל (HALLEL (PART 1 BLESSINGS TO BEGIN THE MEAL .................................. 43 46 ................ בִּ רְ ַ כּ ת הַ מָּ ז ֹ ו ן CUP 3: GRACE AFTER MEALS 59 ................................. הַ לֵ ל CUP 4: HALLEL CONTINUES 78 ................................................................. שִׁ י רִ י ם SONGS BOOKS FOUND USEFUL FOR THIS HAGADAH ............... 95 The Plague of Blood Preview SPS xi _____________________ Why this Hagadah is Different _____________________ This Hagadah is designed so that nobody needs to ning and ending songs of Grace After Meals (pag- be left out. Like most families, our extended fami- es 48 and 58). They are good examples of the ly includes people with varying levels of ability in method—fairly close translations in rhyme, which Hebrew. For years, we used transliterated song- will fit the popular tune used for the Hebrew. sheets; then we began to add English renderings The English translation is deliberately collo- that would fit the tune we use. Finally, we decided quial; the words are generally as plain as I could to go all the way and finish up the rest of the Ha- make them. Lofty as are its themes, the story is gadah, with Hebrew, English, and a transliteration. told in plain words—ordinary people speaking in An edition of Hagadot from around the world, simple terms to ordinary people. Even the words used by Allen Wolf and Mandy Garver, also of God are not beyond the comprehension of a prompted this book. Some of these were reproduc- simple mortal. What is surprising, and humbling to tions of handwritten texts. If the ancients could find, is that some of the Hebrew portions are so copy their own, why (I wondered) can’t we? This familiar—yet their meaning is still hard to grasp. thought was hard for me to discard, because I Year after year, I have not questioned my un- come from a background that respects the ama- derstanding of the Seder service, but the process of teur; and I sense a danger for our religion if we translating the text has increased my awareness leave it up to the experts—following the texts they both of its meaning, and of my shortcomings as a have edited, the interpretations they have devel- translator. oped, the ideas they have promulgated—instead of I am no great scholar of Hebrew, so what value ourselves facing up to the challenge of our obliga- (apart from a few rhymes) can this translation tions as Jews. This is a homemade Hagadah; and have? I leave that question for you, dear reader, to perhaps you’ll make your own, too. answer. But if this book can in any way enhance your Seder gathering, it will have served its pur- How to Use This Book pose. If you don’t read Hebrew, read the translitera- tion—or you can read the translation. Many of the Even Less Sexist songs are rendered into Singlish™—English that PreviewThe translation does not assume that all children you can sing to the same tune as the Hebrew; the are sons, or that all parents are fathers, or that God Singlish parts are usually in bold type. is male. Don’t most of us think that God trans- cends human ideas of male and female? Hebrew Tunes makes everything—trees, tires and treats—either The tunes we sing are mostly those from Hillel masculine or feminine; English has a third option, Day School of Metropolitan Detroit, with other the neuter “it.” As a result, calling God “he” in melodies from British tradition. If you can’t imag- Hebrew does not mean the same as in English. In ine what tunes we’re singing, and you can’t figure fact, it could be misleading. As far as possible, out how to fit the English to the tune, send for our then, we avoid referring to God with masculine recording: you can find us at www.singlishps.com. pronouns. The result will no doubt go too far for Translation into English and Singlish some and not far enough for others, leaving many to take offense, but perhaps it will prod us to pon- If you’re not familiar with Singlish, take a look at der questions of sexism in religion, in family, and Dayenu (Enough, already!), page 31, or the begin- SPS in authority. Accordingly, God is never translated “Lord,” brew “metheg,” the accent mark which indicates even though that word is far easier to rhyme than when the stress in a word is not on the last sylla- “God.” To convey God’s mastery, we use terms ble. like “Sovereign,” “Ruler,” and sometimes even “Boss.” An Acknowledgement Does this sound too colloquial? Perhaps, but it Acknowledgements are due to all those friends seems right for our society. Today, few people live who enriched our Seders by teaching us new where a king or queen can upset their lives. The tunes, and to those whose encouragement has figure who has great and immediate powers is that made my labors a delight. awesome personage, The Boss. We live in a dem- Phrasing ocratic society where we can vote for our leaders, The phrasing of the Hebrew and the transliteration but the most powerful figure in most lives is be- should match.