Further notes toward Seder in a Bloody Year
Dear companions in the struggle toward a world of love and justice,
Chava Alberstein, a premier Israeli singer, took the traditional Pesach song Chad Gadya and in Hebrew and Aramaic, bewailed its cycle of violence. Juliet Spitzer turned it into an English that is singable, chantable. Who is Juliet Spitzer? Reb Zalman z’l used to say, “Some rabbis are ordained from above [that is, explicitly from the lineage of older rabbis] and some from below [that is, by the community at large, and never need a certificate or a label.]” Juliet Spitzer is of the second sort: singer, song-writer, Torah commentator, spiritual director, passionate teacher of Judaism.
Alberstein’s sorrow cries out in and against the successive violent acts of Chad Gadya, the hapless goat-kid who is eaten by a cat, who is then eaten by a dog, and so on through history. Traditionally, the goat-kid was seen as the Jewish people, vulnerable to all the Great and Small Powers of the world.
But this year (I am saying this myself, not claiming to speak for Alberstein or Spitzer) we watch as the government of a “Jewish State” mercilessly bombs, starves, and kills tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including thousands of children — taking revenge for an atrocious attack on Israelis by a force commanded by the military wing of Hamas.
This is the right year to add Alberstein’s grief to the Seder table. This year — what people is the goat-kid, who are the cat and the dog?
With hopes and blessings of shalom,
Arthur
From: Juliet Spitzer
Dear Arthur,
Thank you so much for your interest in my adaptation of Chava Alberstein's take on Chad Gadya. Here's the YouTube link to hear it:
https://youtu.be/M37dxg6cbhc?si=dffnB_qgI9gCA5if
The lyrics are below:
CHAD GADYA
arrangement by Chava Alberstein, adapted by Juliet I. Spitzer ©2007
Our father went to market and bought a little goat
For two bits, for two bits
This is how the traditional story goes…
The cat came along and ate the kid
A small kid, a white kid that our father bought
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay
Chad gadya, chad gadya
V’atta chalba v’nashach l’shunra, d’achlah l’gadya
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay
Chad gadya, chad gadya
V’atta chutra, v’heeka l’chalba, d’nashach l’shunra, d’achlah l’gadya
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay
Chad gadya, chad gadya
V’atta maya v’chava l’nura, d’saraf l’chutra, d’heeka l’chalba, d’nashach l’shunra,
d’achlah l’gadya
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay
Chad gadya, chad gadya
V’atta ha-shochet v’shachat l’tora, d’shatah l’maya, d’chavah l’nur
a, d’saraf l’chutra, d’heeka l’chalba, d’nashach l’shunra, d’achlah l’gadya.
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay
Chad gadya, chad gadya
V’atta ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu, v’shachat l’malach ha-mavet, d’shachat l’shochet, d’shachat l’tora, d’shatah l’maya, d’chavah l’nura, d’saraf l’chutra, d’heeka l’chalba, d’nashach l’shunra, d’achlah l’gadya.
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay
Chad gadya, chad gadya
Why are you singing this traditional song?
It’s not yet spring and Passover’s not here.
And what has changed for you? What has changed?
I have changed this year.
On all other nights I ask the four questions, but tonight I have one more:
How long will the cycle last?
How long will the cycle of horror last?
The chased and the chaser
The beaten and the beater
When will all this madness end?
I used to be a kid and a peaceful sheep
Today I am a tiger and a ravenous wolf.
I used to be a dove and I used to be a deer,
Today I don’t know who I am anymore.
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay…
And we start all over again
The Toilsome Goat, from The Square Book of Animals, William Nicholson, 1899..