There's no Seder like our Seder
(to the tune of "There's no business like show business")
Written by Daniel Liben (now Rabbi Daniel Liben of Natick Ma) and Michael Liben
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
It's all in Hebrew
'Cause we 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!
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 matzoh,
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.
Synopsis
(To the tune of "Coming round the mountain")
Now Moses' mother hid for a while
Then she built a box and hid him in the Nile
Pharoah's daughter came and saw him
Told her servants to withdraw him
Looked upon him and then broke into a smile.
She said "I really do believe my luck is in,
The things one can discover on a swim,
Just wait till I tell Daddy that I've found a little laddy.
We'll take him in and make a prince of him."
One summer's day he took a walk as planned,
Saw Egyptian beating Hebrew whip in hand.
So he killed the cruel taskmaster and to avoid disaster
He quickly hid the body in the sand.
Saying "Pharoah will be furious when he hears
In retrospect I now am filled with fear.
Pharoah don't like martyrs - he'll have my guts for
garters."
So he fled and stayed away for forty years.
From a burning bush God said to Moses "Hey!
Go tell Pharoah that the Israelites won't stay.
They don't like his hospitality or racialist mentality.
On Pesach night they'll all be on their way."
To the Red Sea Pharoah chased them where he found
That the Israelites had crossed on solid ground
And they were not downhearted for they found the sea had
parted -
It was Pharoah's army following that drowned.
So the Israelites were saved from further flight
And marched off till Mount Sinai came in sight.
Their slavery had ended Moses to the top ascended.
The Israelites sang out with all their might:
"He'll be coming down the mountain by and by.
He'll be holding ten commandments up on high.
And we'll not be slaves no morer 'cos we're going to have
the Torah.
Singing: Ay yi yippee, yippee yi!"
Singing: Ay yi yippee, yippee yi!
Singing: Ay yi yippee, yippee yi!
And we'll not be slaves no morer 'cos we're going to have
the Torah.
Singing: Ay yi yippee, yippee yi!
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