Singing Your Way through Passover

By Rabbi Shalom Kantor
KOACH-Hillel Rabbi, Binghamton University

How can we easily transport an entire group of Jews to a specific communal memory that they will all have even if they have never met each other? While science puts forth the claim that the sense of smell is one of the strongest senses, I would argue that when thinking about communal memories and experiences, the sense of sound, and specifically that of music, is what can really bring Jews together. While we each might have our own recipes for the "world's best matza ball soup," more often than not (at least in North America and much of Israel). if you ask anybody to sing Dayenu for you, will get the same tune and probably a few others as well!

Music has been a part of Jewish life since biblical times, and remains integral to Jewish religious and cultural experience. At the moment of Israel's birth as a nation—the Exodus from Egypt—the Bible tells us that after Moshe Rabbeinu led the Israelites out of Egypt, the first two things that the Jews did were to sing and dance on the shores of the sea. With the establishment of the Temple offerings, the Levitical Choirs sang and played their instruments to accompany the daily and special holiday offerings– realizing that if they wanted to really connect with the people and not just with God they had to use music to get to their hearts.

After the destruction of the Temple, the rabbis developed the synagogue and home rituals that we have today. Vocal music became an integral part of synagogue prayer services and at-home religious observance, allowing both those familiar with the liturgy and those not so familiar to be able to participate together. Today, music is arguably the most influential and important part of most Jewish ritual, because it allows for people to connect, whether or not they understand the texts, or even agree with them. It is the music that speaks to their souls and hearts.

As we all begin the process of getting ready for Pesah, my guess is that most of us are thinking about the cleaning, the searching, the shopping, the cooking and, of course, the eating (especially college students who often arrive home just in time for the latter). Please don't get me wrong: These are ALL very important elements in our preparation for the Passover holiday and none of them should be overlooked. But there is one critical thing missing from this list, one thing that is all too often over looked: planning the actual Passover seder. My teacher, mentor and friend, Rabbi Shawn Fields-Meyer, teaches that we should be spending as much time preparing the seder itself, as we plan on putting into the cooking of the food.

Because music is such an integral part of the seder, and has the ability to unite both those steeped in Jewish learning and those who have not YET taken that path, I would like to suggest that as you plan your sedarim this year, you look for ways to incorporate more fun and exciting music. With that in mind, I offer you two web sites with songs of both the traditional and the "new and entertaining" genres to help you along.

http://kosher4passover.com/songs.htm
http://holidays.juda.com/passover-songs.shtml

I wish you all a Hag kasher v'sameah, malei shira v'simhah a happy and kosher holiday, filled with much song and happiness to carry us all towards freedom.

[Posted 3/25/09]