Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer הרב יוסף גבריאל בקהופר
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Dayenu
I have always found the prevalent form of singing Dayenu in the Haggadah highly inane. Nevertheless, ha'lo davar hu. So, to be melamed zechus, at least in the version that our family sings, the word dai or dayenu is repeated in the refrain 23 times. The refrain is repeated five times. 23x5=115. The song describes 15 ma'alos. 115+15=130. The word Dayenu - דיינו - in gimatria is 80. 130+80=210. In singing the song in this manner we thank HKB"H for the 210 years of Galus Mitzrayim leading to these fifteen ma'alos.
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I like the song because as we do the yeminite minhag of hitting each other with scallions, it really breaks up the seder and wakes everyone up! :)
ReplyDeleteFrom my attack on the topic at http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2010/03/dai-dai-einu.shtml
ReplyDeleteHowever, even something as late and as trivial as this may have a deep holy lesson for us!
From the Y-mi Berakhos 67b-68a, in a discussion of things that the sages decreed down below and was ratified in the heavenly court:
R’ Avun in the name of R’ Yehoshua ben Levi: Even maaser [tithes, which is rabbinic when the majority of Jews aren't living in Israel]. As it says (Malakhi 3:10) “Bring all the maaser[, so that there may be foor in My house... would I not open the windows of heaven and pour for you a blessing ad beli dai]”
What is “ad beli dai” [until there is no enough]?
R’ Yosi bar Shim’on bar Ba in the name of R’ Yochanan: Something that is impossible to say about it “enough” is a berakah.
R’ Berachah, R’ Chelbo, and R’ Aba bar Ilai [68a] in the name of Rav: until your lips tire of saying “dai — enough”.
So it would seem there is value to a tune that thanks Hashem for all the berakhos He bestowed on us during the Exodus that tires out our lips saying “dai“!
--
We act out the plagues, complete with cherry jello powder in the bottom of Par'oh's cup (so his water turns red as soon as he gets any), flying frogs, bugs and ping-pong-balls.
A revivalist preacher shows up for "Ani velo mal'akh" etc (looks a lot like me, but with a different hat) to declare "The LAWD, I SAY the LAWD, took us out of Egypt. Did an angel take us out of Egypt? I ask you: Did an ANGEL take us out of Egypt?" (No one faints or speaks in tongues though. Just a lotta finger wiggling in the air and shouts from the congregation.)
I think we're the only family that has a tune for "Bitechilah ovedei AZ hayu avoseinu". Just those words, not "ve'achshav qeirvanu haMaqom..."
We interleave shtick with thoughts about the seder to accomodate the age and (moreso) maturity range of those around the table.
Calling for the murder of Mr Einu is part of it too.
Why scallions?
ReplyDeleteReb Micha:
ReplyDeleteSee the conflicting view at:
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=41998&st=&pgnum=55
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=41998&st=&pgnum=56
I don't know what's "prevalent". Personally, when I do it (as the most fluent in Hebrew at our table I tend to lead it as chazan) I follow the common pattern for High Holidays piyutim - do the full version for the first 3 and last 2 verses, and an abbreviated quick version for the rest in between. So, say the full version is 17 (how do you get 23? - dai daienu, dai daienu, dai daienu, daienu daienu (bass dayenu), repeat the first part - that's 8+1+8, or 17), but the way I do it is without the second round, so it's only 8 dai or dayeinus, x(3+2) => 40, plus 10 more single Dayenus is 50. +15 is 65. +80 is 145. Which signifies ... what?
ReplyDeleteI'm counting dai-dai-yenu as three.
ReplyDeleteDai-dai-yenu,
Dai-dai-yenu,
Dai-dai-yenu,
Dayenu, dayenu, dayenu.
Dai-dai-yenu,
Dai-dai-yenu,
Dai-dai-yenu,
Dayenu, dayenu.