A S(w)inging Seder

 Kal Winer

INTRODUCTION

Pesach-time  

Tell Me Why We Meet Tonight

Where Have Our Haggadahs Gone?

Fifty Ways to Lead Your Seder

This Seder's Made for You and Me

 

KADDESH: SANCTIFICATION

First Cup of Wine

KARPAS: SPRING VEGETABLE

Eating Parsley

 

YACHATZ: BREAK MIDDLE MATZAH

Break Break Break Your Matzah  

 

MAGGID: TELL THE STORY

If I Had Four Questions

Comin' on This Night

Four Kinds of Children

Moses Prophet

Phar-aoh

The Poor Old Egyptians

The Plagues Are Unleashed

Second Cup of Wine

 

RACHTZAH: WASH

Wash Wash Wash Your Hands

 

MOTZI/MATZAH: BLESSING THE MATZAH

Ancestors Would

Oh What A Beautiful Matzah

 

MAROR: BITTER HERB

Horseradish Club March

 

KORECH: HILLEL SANDWICH

Does Your Matzah Lie Flat?

 

SHULCHAN ORECH: FESTIVE MEAL

Home in the Spring

 

TZAFUN: EAT THE AFIKOMEN

Find Find Find Dessert

Afikomen Is Found to Be Missing

Afikomen Chorus

 

BARECH: BLESS THE MEAL

Third Cup of Wine

Prophet Elijah

 

HALLEL: PRAISE

Fourth Cup of Wine

Manischewitz Medley

 

NIRTZAH: CLOSING

Next Year, Next Year

Jerusalem This Year

S-E-D-E-R

 

About This Seder

 

I love the Passover Seder, and I am always on the lookout for new pieces to include that will expand the joy and richness of the celebration. Years ago, I started writing Passover lyrics to well-known tunes; I wanted to add humor and freshness, to keep everyone—young and old—more involved and awake, and to give us all more time to bond together by singing together. Eventually, I had enough songs to cover every Seder ritual. Some rituals have several songs so you get to choose which ones best fit your Seder.

 

You can use a few songs each year to spice up your Seder, or you can insert a song when the group energy starts to flag. Adventurous Seder makers can use A S(w)inging Seder as the sole (or main) Haggadah for the evening. If you try this, I suggest mixing up the sound by using solos, duets, and small groups for different songs to vary the texture. Some songs (for example, “The Plagues Are Coming”) can be sung with different small groups taking turns singing different verses.

 

I could never have gotten this done without the extraordinary help of my wife, Linda, who typed the lyrics and wrestled our computer into submission; and the support of Rabbi Alissa Wise, who encouraged me to do it and helped me avoid wandering in the technology desert for forty years.

 

Kal Winer

Burkettville, Maine

2011

INTRODUCTION

 

Pesach-time

To: Summertime

Pesach-time

There’s no bread on the table

Guests arriving’

And the feelings run high

 

Oh our tradition’s rich

And our bubbe’s good cookin’

So let’s start our Seder

Hearts will fly

 

Tell Me Why We Meet Tonight

To: Tell Me Why (the old summer camp song)

 

Tell me why we meet tonight

Why do we recall our peoples’ great flight?

Why must we get restless before we’re through?

What is the meaning for me and for you?

 

Tell me why it took so long

From slaves in Egypt ‘til we got strong

Tell me why freedom takes time

Tonight we will taste of our peoples’ hard climb.

 

Lost in the desert for forty years

Life was too hard, we shed many tears

We walked for whole lifetimes, we felt real tired

Now we recall it, so we’ll get inspired.

 

Tell me why our Seder’s long

Read all the words and sing all the songs

Tell me why we can’t just eat

‘Cuz life’s sometimes bitter, before it gets sweet.

 

Where Have Our Haggadahs Gone?

To: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Where have our Haggadahs gone?

What’s this new one?

Where have our Haggadahs gone?

I want to know.

Where have our Haggadahs gone?

Can’t tell our Story anymore.

How will our children learn? (2x)

 

What’s with this? It’s just some songs

How to lead it?

‘Least it won’t take very long

Then we’ll be free.

Should we try it anyways?

That old book was way too dry

Let’s see what we can learn (2x).

 

This new one just might be fun

Let’s all sing it.

It’s a journey we can take

See where it goes.

Where have our Haggadahs gone?

It’s our Story, not our book

To which we now return (2x).

 

 

Fifty Ways to Lead Your Seder

To: 50 ways to leave your lover

 

“The problem’s all inside your head,” Zayde said to me

“The answer’s easy if you don’t do it slavishly.

I’d like to help you tell our struggle to be free.

There must be 50 ways to lead your Seder.”

 

Bubbe adds, “It’s really not just about the food.

Passover, and its meaning, can’t be lost or misconstrued.

What’s at the center is creating the right mood.

There must be 50 ways to lead your Seder.”

 

You can go slow, Moe

Add something new, Sue

Write a fun song, Don

Just get the Jews free.

 

Act out the story, Maury

Read poems that speak Truth, Ruth

Make the plagues key, Lee

And get yourself free.

 

This Seder’s Made for You and Me

To: This Land Is Your Land

 

CHORUS:          This Seder’s your tale, this Seder’s my tale

From slaves in Egypt, to the Milk and Honey Trail

We got our Freedom, but it wasn’t easy

This Seder’s made for you and me.

 

When you eat matzah, remember leaving

The haste of going, no time for grieving

The taste of flat bread, low expectations

This Seder’s made for you and me.

 

CHORUS

 

We crossed the desert, the sands were burning

For a place of safety, we all were yearning

Our throats were parched dry, our patience tested

This Seder’s made for you and me.

 

CHORUS

 

We feared the unknown, our faith was feeble

We roamed and rambled, we became a People

G-d gave Commandments, for us to follow

This Seder’s made for you and me.

 

CHORUS

 

Each year we retell the ancient story

The point of which is not for glory

We’re meant to stand up for one another

This Seder’s made for you and me.

 

CHORUS

 

KADDESH: SANCTIFICATION

 

First Cup of Wine

To: There Were 12 Constipated Men in the Bible

 

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

 

There’s the first, which stands for “BRING YOU OUT”  (3X)

from old Egypt, from old Egypt.

 

KARPAS: SPRING VEGETABLE

Eating Parsley

To: Scotland’s Burning (a round)

 

Eating parsley, eating parsley

Fresh greens, fresh greens

Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!

In salt water, in salt water.

 

YACHATZ: BREAK MIDDLE MATZAH

Break Break Break Your Matzah

To: Row Row Row Your Boat

 

Break, break, break your matzah

Big half’s set aside

Forget about it, forget about it, forget about it, forget about it

‘Til it’s time to hide

 

MAGGID: TELL THE STORY

 

If I Had Four Questions

To: If I Had a Hammer

 

If I had four questions,

I’d ask them at the Seder

I’d ask them at the Seder

In a little song.

I’d sing “Mah Nishtanah?”

“Why is this night different?”

Why do so many gather to ask all their questions

All over this world?

 

We ask why we’re leaning,

We ask about dipping,

We ask about unleavened bread

And the bitter herb.

The youngest will sing it

To pass on tradition

We all sing four questions, but then we ask others

All over this world.

 

If I knew the answers,

I’d tell them at the Seder

I’d tell them to my children

So they understand.

I’d tell the whole story

Of slaves down in Egypt

Becoming a people that searched for their freedom

All over this world.

 

Well, I’ve got some questions

And I’ve got some answers

And I’ve got this song to sing

All over this world.

It’s a question of justice

It’s an answer of freedom

It’s this song about hope for our brothers and our sisters

All over this world.

 

Comin’ on this Night

To: Blowin’ in the Wind

 

How many wine cups must a slave drink

Before he knows he’s a man?

Yes, ‘n’ how much slavery can a man take

Before he’ll cross desert sands?

Yes, ‘n’ how many flat breads must people bake

Before they’ll leave in a band?

The answer, my friend, is comin’ on this Night

The answer is comin’ on this Night.

 

How many times must a man look around

Before he knows he too will die?

Yes, ‘n’ how much pain must one man feel

Before he can hear himself cry?

Yes, ‘n’ how many years will a people be slaves

Before they will reach out and try?

The answer, my friend, is comin’ on this Night

The answer is comin’ on this Night.

 

How many years after they were all slaves

Before they really felt free?

Yes, ‘n’ how many ways are we too like slaves

In ways we can’t even see?

Yes, ‘n’ what must we do to throw off our chains

And dump them into the sea?

The answer, my friend, you can think about this Night

The answer you can think about this Night.

Four Kinds of Children

To: Havah Nageela

 

Four kinds of children (3x)

In each of us.

(Repeat)

 

We all have highs and lows

Times we don’t want to know

We all are sometimes bored

We’re all the same.

 

Sometimes we just feel shy

Sometimes we want to cry

Sometimes feel trapped and lie

Nothing to say.

 

We all are curious

We all get furious

We get imperious

It’s humans’ way.

 

We’re all

We’re all a mix

We’re a mix of many children (4x)

We’re a mix (2x)

Of many different kinds of kids.

 

Moses Prophet

To: Davy Crockett

 

CHORUS:          Moses, Moses Prophet

King of the Wandering Jews

 

Born to Jewish slaves down by the Nile

They hoped to save him from the Pharoah’s bile

In a basket in the river he drifted for awhile

‘Til the princess heard him crying from over a mile.

 

CHORUS

 

Grew up in the palace as a favorite son

‘Til he saw slaves beaten just for the fun

So he killed him an Egyptian in a fight he wouldn’t shun

But then from his good life he had to run.

 

CHORUS

 

Out in the desert saw a bush that burned

Talked with God, and his whole life turned

Got a big mission: “Free the Jews” he learned

“Lead them to their own land,” for which they yearned.

 

CHORUS

 

Went back to Pharoah to set the Jews free

Cast ten Plagues to bring Egypt to its knee

Trapped by the water as they tried to flee

Opened up dry land and crossed the Red Sea.

 

CHORUS

 

Crossing the desert took forty years

Brought 10 Commandments to the peoples’ cheers

Struggled with hardships, with doubts and with fears

But kept from the Promised Land—a pain that brought him tears.

 

CHORUS

 

Tonight we have Seder, and to celebrate this man

When we see injustice, we should do what we can

Gaining freedom for all folks is a holy plan

Here’s to you, Moses Prophet—in your club I’m a fan.

 

CHORUS

Phar-aoh

To: Day-O

 

Pharaoh, Phar-ar-ar-oh

Pharaoh says we cannot go home

Fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair

It’s not fair, it’s not fair-air-air-o

Pharaoh says we cannot go home

 

Work all day, his buildings to make

Pharaoh says we cannot go home

All our male babies he tried to take

Pharaoh says we cannot go home

 

Come, Mister Freedom Man, lead us to our homeland

Pharaoh says “I won’t let you go”

Moses, help free us, and take us to our own land

Pharaoh says we cannot go home

 

Took one year, ten years, forty years, FREE

‘Til we could reach that Promised Land

Slaves to someone we must never BE

Now we have reached that Promised Land

 

Fair, now it’s fair-air-air-oh

Tho’ Pharaoh said we couldn’t go

Fair, now it’s fair, now it’s fair, now it’s fair

Pharaoh’s gone, and we have gone home

 

This beautiful freedom feels right and just

Pharaoh said we could not go home

It’s not some place but deep inside us

Daylight comes and we’ve all come home

 

The Poor Old Egyptians

To: The Poor Old Slave

 

The Jews, our slaves, have gone away

To find their promised land

A trip they’ll take for forty years

We’ll miss their low-cost hands

 

Our poor old slaves have left a mess

We groan that they are free

Outsourcing jobs leaves budget pains

Red ink makes red dead sea

 

Cheap help is gone, and so’s our rest

We must get off our tush

Perhaps they’ll stop and come right back

When see that burning Bush

 

The Plagues Are Unleashed

To: The Ants Go Marching

 

The plagues are unleashed, one by one

Oh no, oh no

The gods of Egypt are undone

Just go, just go

The Nile River is turned to blood

Egypt has nothing to drink but mud

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

The plagues are unleashed, number two

Oh no, oh no

The gods of Egypt are so through

Just go, just go

Now frogs are jumping everywhere

Get in their food and get in their hair

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

The plagues are unleashed, number three

Oh no, oh no

The gods of Egypt start to plea

Just go, just go

Each piece of dust becomes a gnat

that bites the people wherever they’re at

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

The plagues are unleashed, number four

Oh no, oh no

Egypt’s gods can’t take any more

Just go, just go

Huge swarms of flies now fill the air

Bringing all Egypt to dark despair

But old Pharaoh won’t say, you now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

—continued—

 

The plagues are unleashed, number five

Oh no, oh no

The gods of Egypt can’t survive

Just go, just go

Cows, sheep, and horses, camels too

All fall down dead, there’s nothing to do

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

The plagues are unleashed, number six

Oh no, oh no

All Egypt’s gods can’t find a fix

Just go, just go

Infected skin, inflamed with pus

Covers their bodies and makes them cuss

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

The plagues keep coming, here is seven

Oh no, oh no

For Egypt’s gods, there’s no more heaven

Just go, just go

Huge hail and lightning break all crops

All standing trees are smashed ‘til they drop

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

The plagues are unleashed, number eight

Oh no, oh no

Egypt’s gods are no longer great

Just go, just go

Then locusts fill the sky with dark

What hail has left, they eat like a shark

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

—continued—

 

The plagues are unleashed, number nine

Oh no, oh no

Egypt’s sun god has just gone blind

Just go, just go

All is darkness, flames shed no light

The stars go dim that once were bright

But old Pharaoh won’t say, “You now are free

to go out of this land.”

Doom Doom Doom Doom

Here come more plagues…

 

Last of the plagues is number ten

Oh no, oh no

Egypt’s gods are weak as men

Just go, just go

First-born children suddenly die

All Egyptians shriek and cry

Old Pharaoh breaks down and sets them all free:

“Just get out of this land.”

And away they go

Zoom Zoom Zoom Zoom

Second Cup of Wine

To: There Were 12 Constipated Men in the Bible

 

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

 

Second cup is for “DELIVER YOU”  (3X)

from your bondage, from your bondage.

 

RACHTZAH: WASH

 

Wash Wash Wash Your Hands

To: Row Row Row Your Boat

 

Wash, wash, wash your hands

Just before the meal

Purify, purify, purify, purify

‘Tis the time to steal.

 

MOTZI/MATZAH: BLESSING THE MATZAH

 

Ancestors Would

To: Norwegian Wood

 

I beheld that plate

Or should I say

It beheld me.

 

These symbols so strange

Know them I should;

Ancestors would.

 

I stared at that bone, then it told me, “I came from a lamb,

I sacrificed life to help slaves gain their freedoms again.”

 

I peered at those greens

Vibrance of spring

Salt water clings.

“Fresh hope dipped in tears,”

parsley then said,

“Joy and sad wed.”

 

I looked at charoset, it made sounds I struggled to hear.

“I’m thick paste for forming the bricks that the slaves made with fear.”

 

I then heard that egg

“Roasted and charred,

I’m sacrifice barred

from Temple now gone,

Symbol of praise

For all your days.”

 

I stared at horseradish, it scared me, then started to laugh,

“I’m bitter, like slav’ry, caused tears til they chose freedom’s path.”

 

And when I awoke

Matzah did say,

“It’s plain as day.

Feed hungry we should,

Do the world good,

Ancestors would.”

 

Oh What a Beautiful Matzah

To: Oh What a Beautiful Morning

 

All the food at the Seder has meaning  (2x)

The story we tell, people living in hell

So we put on horseradish to make ourselves yell.

 

CHORUS:

Oh what a beautiful matzah

Oh what a flat piece of bread

Its whole life it’s never risen

Reminds us that slavery’s not dead.

 

Make a sandwich like Hillel has ordered  (2x)

Pile sweet stuff and hot, on the matzah we’re taught

The freedom to remember, it cannot be bought.

 

CHORUS

‘Round the world there are people a’strugglin’  (2x)

And Pharaohs abound, keep folks down on the ground

‘Til a brave one like Moses to lead them is found.

 

CHORUS

Yes, this matzah’s the bread of affliction  (2x)

When we eat it tonight, we remember our flight

We all must be Moses to fight for what’s right.

 

CHORUS

 

MAROR: BITTER HERB

Horseradish Club March

To: Mickey Mouse Club March

 

What’s that bitter on the plate

That could kill you and me?

H-O-R-S-E-R-A-D-I-S-H

Take care! Beware! Kids stare!

It’s as tasty as can be

H-O-R-S-E-R-A-D-I-S-H

 

Horseradish (lots of luck!)

Horseradish (don’t say “yuck”)

Forever let us eat the bitter

Herb! Herb! Herb! Herb!

 

Come along and sing a song

And tell our history!

H-O-R-S-E-R-A-D-I-S-H

 

KORECH: HILLEL SANDWICH

Does Your Matzah Lie Flat?

To: Do Your Ears Hang Low?

 

Does your matzah lie flat, or is it puffed and fat?

Will it hold charoset well, make horseradish taste real swell?

Can you fry it into brei that will make your bubbe sigh?

Does your matzah lie flat?

 

Is your horseradish hot, does it loosen up your snot?

Does it make your eyes sting and cause your ears to ring?

Does it make you think of slavery, and of our people’s bravery?

Is your horseradish hot?

 

Does your charoset taste sweet and give your mouth a treat?

Does it make you want to sing, does it make you want to eat?

Do you slather it on matzah just to drive yourself nuts-ah?

Does your charoset taste sweet?

 

Can you put ‘em all together, cuz old Hillel says it’s better?

Mix the sweet and the bitter, make his sandwich to the letter?

Now eat the whole creation, is its taste abomination?

McHillel to go.

 

SHULCHAN ORECH: FESTIVE MEAL

 

Home in the Spring

To: Home on the Range

 

Oh give me that meal, where the menu’s ideal

Where the matzah balls float in the bowl

Where seldom is heard an unhappy slurp

And the food fills both body and soul

 

Home, home in the spring

for the Seder and matzah ball soup

Where we sing every song, though it takes way too long

It’s a journey we make with a group

 

So whatever the date, I will not be late

For my mother’s charoset so sweet

Dad’s horseradish so hot, my taste buds are shot

And it tingles right down to my feet

 

Home, home in the spring

For the Seder and all that it means

Where we read every prayer, to skip one is rare

And the memories are more than routine

 

The Haggadah we read, it tells of the deeds

That Moses with G-d’s help performed

And Pharaoh so cruel, his power overrruled

A free people from slavery transformed.

 

Home, home in the spring

Like our ancestors moved toward that Land

We swim up the stream, like salmon with dreams

Home’s a Promise to hold in our hands.

 

 

TZAFUN: EAT THE AFIKOMEN

 

Find Find Find Dessert

to: Row Row Row Your Boat

 

Find, find, find dessert

Finish off the meal

Gotta look, gotta look, gotta look, gotta look

Can we make a deal?

 

 

Afikomen Is Found to Be Missing

To: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

 

Afikomen is found to be missing

Our “dee-zert” is not to be found

How can we continue this Seder?

Now we must all look around

 

CHORUS:          Come back, come back,

Come back, Afikomen, to me, to me (repeat)

 

Can’t we pass over this roadblock?

This Seder’s as long as King Kong

How can we get on with this Seder

While we are still singing this song?

 

CHORUS

 

This mystery is meant for the children

To keep them in line all night long

It’d work best if it were a website

Would a virtual matzah be wrong?

 

CHORUS

Online we could search “Afikomen”

A million or more hits abound

We’d think then the Seder could Move On

‘Til it crashed, and we lost all we’d found.

 

CHORUS

If a virus ate our Afikomen

End of Seder we’d all have to sweat

Our server would serve just a zero

And we would eat nothing but ‘Net.

 

CHORUS

Let’s hope someone finds that darn matzah

Let’s pray it turns up pretty soon

If no one finds our Afikomen

Then we’ll be here sitting ‘til noon.

 

CHORUS

 

Afikomen Chorus

To: Hallelujah Chorus

 

Where’s that damn matzah hid?

I can’t find it.

Ah-fee-ko-men, Ah-fee-ko-men

 

Those kids have gone too far

It’s just NOT fair.

Ah-fee-ko-men, Ah-fee-ko-men

 

CHORUS:          And we shall search for ever and ever

For ever and ever, forever and ever

 

All just to keep them still

What a dumb plan!

Ah-fee-ko-men, Ah-fee-ko-men

 

Soothes kids but riles their folks

I can’t stand it.

Ah-fee-ko-men, Ah-fee-ko-men

 

CHORUS:          And we shall search for ever and ever

For ever and ever, forever and ever

 

Hey, what’s that sticking out?

I just FOUND it.

Ah-fee-ko-men, Ah-fee-ko-men

 

Now we can finish up

And drink more wine.

Manischewitz, Manischewitz

 

CHORUS:          And we’ll drink wine for ever and ever

For ever and ever, forever and ever.

 

Note: obviously this is written for families where the ritual is for the kids to hide the Afikomen and for the adults to try to find it. For those families who do it the other way around, they need their own version.

 

 

BARECH: BLESS THE MEAL

 

Third Cup of Wine

To: There Were 12 Constipated Men in the Bible

 

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

 

Number three means “WILL REDEEM YOU”  (3X)

with outstretched arm, with outstretched arm.

 

Prophet Elijah

To: Eleanor Rigby

 

Ah, look at all the hope-filled people (2x)

Prophet Elijah rode on a whirlwind to heaven, each spring he comes ‘round

We sing his song

Wait by our windows, look for the face that’d bring change to our lives so profound

New hope is found.

 

Doors for you we open

We open up our homes

Please come drink from your cup

This is your night to roam

 

Prophet Elijah enters the homes where the Seders stretch into the night

It’s like a dream.

Brings us his message: “Kids, open hearts to your parents, parents be kind.

Live without strife.”

 

“Doors for me you open

Now open up your hearts

Whatever comes can teach you

Of life, it’s all a part.”

 

Prophet Elijah, conscience of Jews who returns to mark peace in the world

“It’s up to you.

Actions can do it, you can make peace in your homes, and your work, and your school.

Don’t live like fools.”

 

“Doors are meant to open

Let in whatever comes.

Be doors, not walls, be open

And then my task is done.”

 

HALLEL: PRAISE

 

Fourth Cup of Wine

To: There Were 12 Constipated Men in the Bible

 

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

We drink four different cups of wine

at the Seder, at the Seder

 

The fourth cup is “I WILL TAKE YOU”  (3X)

for my people, for my people.

 

Manischewitz Medley

To: We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

 

We are singing of Manischewitz (3x)

Wine that Jews  -–adore

                                    —abhor (Choose one)

 

To tune of “Alouette”

 

Manischewitz, pouring Manischewitz

Manischewitz—just drink another cup.

First a cup for liberty,

Next one’s just for puberty.

 

Oh….oh

Manischewitz, sweet old Manischewitz

Manischewitz, drink more if you dare.

 

To tune of “Dayenu”

 

We are drinking Manischewitz

It’s the wine the Bible credits

Made the Pesach story happen

Let’s review:

 

CHORUS:       Man-is-chewitz, Man-is-chewitz

                        Man-is-chewitz; believe me, it’s all true.

 

When the Jews were leaving Egypt

Thought they’d really end their slavery

Dumped their wine in to the water

Sea so blue.

 

CHORUS

 

Then the water changed its color

Turned the Dead Sea into Red Sea

Wine so dry it made a pathway

They walked through.

 

CHORUS

 

When they hungered in the desert

God sent food down from the heavens

Called it by its nickname “Manna…”

What a brew!

 

CHORUS

 

So if you celebrate their journey

Don’t forget this wine is holy—

Wholly sweet and wholly horrid,

Now they’ll sue.

 

CHORUS

NIRTZAH: CLOSING

 

Next Year, Next Year

To: Tzena, Tzena

 

Next year

Next year

Next year

Next year

In Jerusalem

We’ll gather

Seder

Once again

 

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom

In Jerusalem

To gather

Seder

Once again

 

Freedom

Freedom

To be free’s a blessing

We’re all free to meet again

 

REPEAT LAST VERSE

 

Optional: REPEAT WHOLE SONG, FASTER

 

Jerusalem This Year

To: Yellow Submarine

 

Now we’ve told our story old

And we’ve learned its lessons well:

We must fight what makes us slaves;

To be free, we must rebel.

 

As we near our Seder’s end,

To the future our thoughts turn—

We can share our dreams and goals,

Tell of things we hope to learn.

 

CHORUS:          May each one live a life that’s free this year

Life that’s free this year, life that’s free this year

May each one build their Jerusalem this year

Jerusalem this year, Jerusalem this year

 

If we make a world that’s free (a world that’s free)

Every one of us (every one of us)

Has what we need (has what we need)

Live a life (live a life) that’s not routine (not routine)

With a chance  (with a chance) to be serene (be serene).

 

 CHORUS

 

S – E – D – E – R

To: B-I-N-G-O

(NOTE:  * means clap one time for each *)

 

When full moon glows, folks share a meal

And talk of times so painful

S – E – D – E – R  (3x)

We’re Seder-matzochistic

 

They break flat bread, spill drops of wine

Scream at grated maror

* - E – D – E – R  (3x)

We’re Seder-matzochistic

 

They’re plagued by plagues, the night’s so long

Multiple Food Course Disorder

* - * - D – E – R  (3x)

We’re Seder-matzochistic

 

For forty prayers, they wander ‘round

The end it does elude them

* - * - * - E – R  (3x)

We’re Seder-matzochistic

 

Through eight whole days, they’ll eat no bread

Strict limits do remind them

* - * - * - * - R  (3x)

We’re Seder-matzochistic

 

We’ve drunk too much, reclined like kings

Commemorated freedom

- * - * - * - *  (3x)

We’re Seder-matzochistic

We’re celebration-istic

We’re going quite ballistic

We’re expialidocious

Pesach’s a psychosis

You get it through osmosis

This Seder’s matzochistic

This Seder’s matzochistic