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The Story
Contributed by myer berlow

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

We Are Jews Because We Choose

 

They say Jewish people like to schmooze

We share a lot about our views

That we argue isn’t news

We’d rather win than ever lose.

Whose view is true, you can get confused

 

We are Jews because we choose.

 

We all observe Pesech in similar ways

Passing on lessons to the children we raise.

We say the prayers repeating each phrase

Year after year we keep singing God’s praise

We begin with the candles, lighting the blaze

And end with a pot roast we carefully Braise

In a manner that doesn’t remove all its taste

With a service run, quickly but never a race.

 

We build the Pyramids all 200 layers

For Pharaohs sons and all his heirs

It was awfully hard work and not very fair

When we complained they just didn’t care

 

Pharaoh’s heart hardened to and fro

First he said stay and then he said go

As God brought down curses, disasters and boils

Red tide, Wild beasts and blood on the soil

 nsects and  and frogs mice (they were voiles)

 

When Moses said lets hit the road

Permission to leave has been bestowed

There wasn’t the time to put yeast in the dough

They had to move fast they couldn’t go slow

There were some who refused and they declined

Slavery was bad but they didn’t mind

Compared to running with Pharaoh behind

They preferred the daily grind

Their fear of the desert the heat privation

Made them give up and leave our nation

We who left were the ones who chose

A future of freedom with all its woes

That’s not to say they were predisposed

To suffering but lets just propose

It was hard as could be when they made their choice

Tonight we remember and hear their voice

Calling to us to give us cues

 

 

We are Jews because we choose

 

Its what we repeat year after year

Saying it often so all will hear

They ran away and crossed the red sea

So we could live, be safe, be free

Of course they never did foresee

That we’d become the bourgeoisie

And send our kids to Gymboree

But lets go on and not digress

Before we eat we have to bless

The matzos wine and the watercress

We tell this story to all our kids

And teach them what our religion forbids

But what’s important are the clues

We give to them knowledge they wont loose

Because choosing is what makes us Jews

 

We are Jews because we choose

 

We teach them commandments (not one but ten)

And how to treat their fellow men

Year after year we repeat our History

And in so doing life becomes less a mystery

We teach our Children the Exodus story

Not so they’ll feel Guilty or sorry

Or even to give them a sense of glory

We do it because, we have found

It keeps our feet upon the ground

 

One thing we know from History

Jews often lived on the periphery

As societies developed we thrived and grew

Jews became famous albeit a few

(Inordinately in the public’s view)

Merchants selling dyes and Glue

Officers dressed in Prussian blue

Jazz musicians playing the Blues

Newspapermen reported the news

When enemies rose through election or coup

Our ancestors knew to say adieu

And sailed across the ocean blue

To start their lives in a country new

We are here because they left

A land of hardship pain and death

Hearts beating loudly inside their chest

Escaping oppression unlawful arrest

Welcoming a new life as they traveled west

Facing the future with vigor and zest

Passing each obstacle challenge and test

Valuing freedom over what they possessed

Opinions they had could be freely expressed

We began as a people who were oppressed

Still we refused to acquiesce,

And worship their gods or later confess

To Priests of the church in Poland or France

Or follow the mystics lost in a trance

There were those who chose to stay behind

The millions to whom we are no longer entwined

Those who, became disenchanted

And chose to follow Buddah, Jesus, Mohammed

The question we ask is why are we Jews?

Through out the Hagadda there will be lots of clues

 

We are Jews because we choose

 

We live in the cold and also hot weather

Some Jews pray wrapped up in leather

What is our link ? Really what is our tether?

What is it that makes us all come together?

We can come from here or there

Black and brown and golden hair

Jews eat Latkes, cheese and soup

Vegetables, noodles, every food group

Tuna fish, sometimes Bonita

Every bread from rye to pita

Peas and beans and pears and yams

Chicken, beef and sometimes lamb

Spices hot and sweet and savory

But it’s our memory of bondage pain and slavery

So it isn’t because of what we cook

It has nothing to do with how we look

Is the answer in a book?

Lets say it again its not really news

 

We are Jews because we choose.

 

Our ancestors were smart and chose to run

From Pharaoh’s whip and Russian gun

But chose to stand in many cases

And fought their battles in important places

 

Great Grandfathers fought in Normandy

On Battleships in the Coral Sea

As a gunner on a Boeing Bomber 29 B

Their fathers also fought in France

As Privates Sergeants and Corporal (Lance)

Refusing to budge from burning huts

When offered surrender they replied only “Nuts”

Their courage and their refusal to lose

When asked to back down we must refuse

And accept the battle blood and bruise

 

We are Jews because we chose

 

We need to remember from where we came

It’s as important as our name

We don't do it to place the blame

Or fan old hatreds or inflame

A sense of pride at our people’s fame

But as things change they stay the same

History doesn't repeat but there is a pattern

As we study its like light coming out of a lantern

We were slaves in the land of Egypt

Everyone knows that's not a secret

Our history’s more than pedantry

To be Jewish isn’t a pedigree

Our future’s not our heredity

We have to choose our destiny

Pass on our own legacy

Make our mark indelibly

And focus fundamentally

On what’s important essentially

We need to always remember to practice empathy

For all people deserve their dignity

And struggle for their equality

To treat all people respectfully

No one’s a nonentity

Always practice Honesty

Pursue justice with intensity

Stand up to every enemy

Never act recklessly

Avoid all forms of jealousy

And value upright integrity

Always behaving conscientiously

Avoiding pride’s inflexibility

Accepting life’s complexity

Yet keep a focused simplicity

Our mandate is live ethically

Tonight we practice solemnity

And enjoy every amenity

Gained from our ascendency

But we dare not believe or presume

As we sit here in our dining room

That any of us are truly free

When any people suffer indignity

 

Its time to end this poem now

I know its time just don't know how

Once you start its hard to conclude

Hearing the plates and smelling the food

Watching our hungry, impatient brood

And the wine drinking adults getting stewed

Convince me to end before I am screwed.

There is one more thing I’d like to include

Before I get hooted booted and booed

 

I like to ask once more why are we Jews

And hear you say it again before you all snooze

We are Jews because we choose
haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story
Source: original

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