I just got a delightful email from Rabbi Katz at Beth Emek in Pleasanton with several songs for Passover. See if any of these would be fun for your family.
Just a Tad of Charoset!
(to the tune of “Just a Spoon Full of Sugar”)
Chorus:
Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down,
The bitter herbs go down, the bitter herbs go down.
Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down,
In the most disguising way.
Oh, back in Egypt long ago,
The Jews were slaves under Pharaoh
They sweat and toiled and labored through the day.
So when we gather Pesach night,
We do what we think right.
Maror – we chew,
To feel what they went through.
Chorus:
So after years of slavery
They saw no chance of being free.
Their suffering was the only life they knew.
But baby Moses grew up tall,
And said he’d save them all.
He did, and yet,
We swear we won’t forget.
That……
Chorus:
While the Maror is being passed,
We all refill our water glass,
Preparing for the taste that turns us red.
Although Maror seems full of minuses,
It sure does clear our sinuses.
But what’s to do?
It’s hard to be a Jew!!!
There’s No Seder Like Our Seder
(sung to the tune of “There’s No Business Like Show Business”)
There’s no seder like our seder,
There’s no seder I know.
Everything about it is halachic
Nothing that the Torah won’t allow.
Listen how we read the whole Haggadah
Some read in Hebrew
‘Cause they know how.
There’s no Seder like our seder,
We tell a tale that is swell:
Moses took the people out into the heat
They baked the matzoh
While on their feet
Now isn’t that a story
That just can’t be beat?
Let’s go on with the show!
These Are a Few of Our Passover Things
(Sung to the tune of “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things”)
Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes – Out with the chametz, no pasta, no knishes
Fish that’s gefilted, horseradish that stings – These are a few of our Passover things.
Matzah and karpas and chopped up charoses –
Shank bones and kiddish and yiddish neuroses
Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings – These are a few of our Passover things.
When the plagues strike – When the lice bite
When we’re feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things -And then we don’t feel so bad.
Motzi and maror and trouble with Pharaohs –
Famines and locusts and slaves with wheelbarrows
Matzah balls floating and eggshells that cling –
These are a few of our Passover things.
When the plagues strike -When the lice bite
When we’re feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things -And then we don’t feel so bad.
The Ballad of the Four Sons
(to the tune of “Clementine”)
Said the father to his children,
“At the seder you will dine,
You will eat your fill of matzah,
You will drink four cups of wine.”
Now this father had no daughters,
But his sons they numbered four.
One was wise and one was wicked,
One was simple and a bore.
And the fourth was sweet and winsome,
he was young and he was small.
While his brothers asked the questions he could scarcely speak at all.
Said the wise one to his father
“Would you please explain the laws?
Of the customs of the seder
Will you please explain the cause?”
And the father proudly answered,
“As our fathers ate in speed,
Ate the paschal lamb ‘ere midnight
And from slavery were freed.”
So we follow their example
And ‘ere midnight must complete
All the seder and we should not
After 12 remain to eat.
Then did sneer the son so wicked
“What does all this mean to you?”
And the father’s voice was bitter
As his grief and anger grew.
“If you yourself don’t consider
As son of Israel,
Then for you this has no meaning
You could be a slave as well.”
Then the simple son said simply
“What is this,” and quietly
The good father told his offspring
“We were freed from slavery.”
But the youngest son was silent
For he could not ask at all.
His bright eyes were bright with wonder
As his father told him all.
My dear children, heed the lesson
and remember evermore
What the father told his children
Told his sons that numbered four.