What Do You Know About Passover Music?

Reprinted from ReformJudaism.org

Here are eight questions to engage you and your family in the eight days of Passover. Listen to the Passover songs below.

1. The Song of the Sea —the biblical Passover song which the Israelites sang after safely crossing the Sea of Reeds and evading Pharaoh’s army—is unprecedented in the Bible because:
a. It is the first song to appear in the Bible
b. It is the first biblical song to praise God
c. It is the first biblical instance of using musical instruments
d. All of the above

2. In the original Hebrew text of the song Echad Mi Yodea (Who Knows One?), the “who knows two” verse refers to the two tablets of the law. In the Ladino version of the song, called Quien Supiense, to what/whom does “who knows two” refer?
a. Moses and Aaron
b. Two Shabbat candles
c. Esther and Mordechai
d. The first and second Temples

3. The closing Passover seder song, Chad Gadya (One Kid), tells the story of a baby goat, which was eaten by a cat, which in turn was bitten by a dog, etc., until the “Holy One” arrives to put an end to the chain of events. The “one kid” has long been thought of as a metaphor for what?
a. The animals on Noah’s ark
b. The Jewish people
c. The first-born sons of the Israelites
d. There is no metaphor

4. Which 19th-century classical composer created a famous oratorio about the Prophet Elijah?
a. Ludwig van Beethoven
b. Giuseppe Verdi
c. Gustav Mahler
d. Felix Mendelssohn

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The Passover seder: Memories, family, foods, warmth

By Nancy McLaughlin for the news-record.com

Two things that happened during Passover in 1962 are embodied in a piece of green, ornate china that Mitchel Sommers pulls out this time of year.

His grandfather had returned from a trip by ship to Europe after finding two of his brothers who’d been separated after the Holocaust.

Sommers raced home from religion class with the enamel plate he won for his drawing of the family’s Passover meal, called a seder.

The seder plate is a centerpiece of the eight-day Passover celebration, which begins at sundown today.

The plate had particular relevance for Sommers’ family that year.

“From that day on — from when I was 10 — that was the seder plate we used,” said Sommers, who is the executive director of Community Theatre of Greensboro.

Tonight, “I will be sitting with my children and using that seder plate.”

Such memories abound in the Triad. The ritual meal is one of the most celebrated observances on the Jewish calendar, focusing on the story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt and of the plagues resulting from Pharaoh’s initial refusal to free the slaves. It is a night of song and games, storytelling and interaction, good foods and symbolic bitter foods.

Jewish families share a sense of connection to the seder meals of generations of Jews before them, and those of generations after them, said Rabbi Eli Havivi of Beth David Synagogue.

The seder plate, for example, is made up of six symbolic foods representing thousands of years of history — including salt water, a reminder of the tears slaves shed in Egypt.

A door is also left open for Elijah the prophet, who is to precede the Messiah’s return.

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For more Jewish Passover news, check out our    page.

Though I Dropped Orthodoxy, This Passover I Will Celebrate with My Orthodox Wife & Kids

By Eli Mandel for Raising Kvell

It’s Shabbat afternoon, and the girls are putting on a beauty pageant in our living room. To their 8, 6, 4, and 1-year-old minds, it doesn’t take much imagination to see our modest floor as a full-fledged stage, red carpet and all. The TV has been off for the last 20 hours, in accordance with Orthodox custom.

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Dear Media People: Quit Using the Word “Adoption”

By Amanda Kosior for Raising Kvell

Dear journalists, scriptwriters, and other members of the media: I officially revoke your ability to use the word “adoption,” in any of its related forms.

The lead story on CNN recently (which was not about adoption in any way, shape or form) pointed out not once, but twice, that a couple adopted their son. In one instance, they use the line, “…[She] carried him out of the hospital in her arms, as ecstatic as if she’d carried and birthed him herself.”

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Ten Tricks for Staying Sane as a Stay at Home Mom

By Tzipporah La Fianza for Raising Kvell
I am a stay at home mom. And holy crap do I love it. I mean, wow! FOUR human beings call me mom! I am blessed, lucky, honored. In total mothering bliss! But, as being a SAHM seems to be an increasing rarity in my circle of friends, I often get asked how I manage to keep from feeling bored.

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Stuck in the Shabbat Limbo

By Vanya Green Assuied for Raising Kvell

It was my second time meeting with Chana with the hopes of renting her Jerusalem apartment. I was in Israel on a research grant and following an ulpan (intensive Hebrew immersion course) in Jerusalem, had moved to Tel Aviv to be closer to my university. After just a few weeks of living by the water, I felt pulled back to Jerusalem.

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I Got Laid Off During My Maternity Leave

By Rachel Stein for Raising Kvell

I used to fumble my words when someone asked me what I do for a living. Having a baby and being laid off while on maternity leave will do that to you.


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