A Passover Poem
A Passover Poem
By Lesa Schwartz, 1975
I wanted to tell
But didn’t know how
The reason we’re sitting
And having a Seder now.
I thought and I thought
How to not make it boring
And end up with everyone
Snoozing and snoring.
And so I decided a poem
I would write
And tell of the Jews
And their memorable flight.
________________________________________
Now the story goes,
As we’ve heard many times,
We were slaves in Egypt
Held for no special crimes.
We worked and we built
For the Pharaoh his city,
And were treated as criminals
Without any pity.
We labored so hard,
We labored so long,
We nearly forgot what was right
or was wrong.
_________________________________________
Then came along
A man named Moses,who
Though raised as Egyptian,
By the daughter of Pharaoh
Would soon come to learn*
That he too was a Jew.
________________________________________
As he grew and he saw,
How the Jews they were treated,
He came to our aid
When a slave they were beating.
He killed the officer
And took our side,
The Pharaoh enraged
Said Moses must die.
________________________________________
So Moses escaped
Into the desert alone,
With hardly a bite
And no help but his own.
When almost near death,
And nowhere to turn,
He was found by a tribe
And made well once again.
________________________________________
He grew strong and he married
And years quickly flew,
Until on a mountain
His purpose he knew.
For God came to call
And to tell him that day,
He was to go to Egypt
He’d show him the way.
________________________________________
Now Moses set off
Not clear how to do it
But knew only he
Was the man that God chooseth.
He went straight to Pharaoh,
And told that mean guy
The powers of God
Are mine so don’t try
To ignore them or fight them
Or surely you’ll cry.
For the message I bring,
So you’ll clearly know,
Is this that I tell you-
“LET MY PEOPLE GO!”
_______________________________________
The Pharaoh, he laughed
And called Moses a phony,
Said his magicians could do
The same kind of baloney.
A staff turned to snake,
They could easily do,
So don’t tell me of your God
It just isn’t true.
__________________________________________
So proud and so cruel
And so hate filled a man
Was the Pharaoh
That Moses at once began
To put plagues on his country
Til his people he’d free
And then lead them out
A new world there would be.
__________________________________________
(As we rejoice at our deliverance from slavery, we acknowledge that our freedom was hard earned. We regret that our freedom came at the cost of the Egyptians’ suffering, for we are all human beings made in the image of God. We pour out a drop of wine for each of the plagues as we recite them.)
Dip a finger or a spoon into your wine glass for a drop for each plague:
Ten plagues they were heaped
On Egypt’s people and land
To pay for their crimes
And Pharaoh’s evil stand.
There was
Blood in the water (dam | ) ָּםד
Frogs | tzfardeiya | דַ ְעד רַם ְצפ
Lice | kinim | נםנִִּּד
Beasts | arov | ָּפ ָע
Cattle disease | dever | ֶַם ֶע
Boils | sh’chin | דן נִִּש
Hail | barad | ָּד ָּ ב
Locusts | arbeh | ְהד ֶדא
Darkness | choshech | ִֶַׁ ֶןח
And not least,
The Angle of Death | makat b’chorot | ְת ְםמצ דדתָ ָמ
When pharaoh hardened his heart
Came and slew the first born
Then did depart.
_____________________________________________
Only Jews, they were saved
For they had a warning.
They put blood on their doors
And lived to see morning.
The Angel of Death had “passed over”
Their home,
Giving our holiday Passover
A name of its own.
__________________________________________
The Pharaoh’s son died,
And finally he said,
Moses, take your people
And away they fled.
But the Pharaoh chased after,
And the Jews were then saved
By God’s powers when Moses
His staff he did wave.
And the Red Sea parted,
And the Jews walked through
But drowned all the soldiers
Who followed them too.
______________________________________
It took forty years
In the desert they wandered,
While God watched and silently pondered.
These people he aided
In finding their freedom
Had many a sin
That must be undone
Before as a people
They would find a place
To live as God’s people
And be given his grace.
________________________________________
A set of commandments
To follow was given,
And with Moses as leader
And with God’s help, they were driven
Til a free Jewish nation
Was brought to a land
They could call their own
And live in peace
On its sand.
_________________________________________
Today we are free,
But we must never forget
That once long ago
A tragedy was met.
We were slaves;
We weren’t free;
We suffered and died;
We struggled to live
In peace side by side.
__________________________________________
And so as we close
Our story this day,
We pray for our Jews
In lands far away.
They too may find peace;
They too may find joy
And live as God meant it,
Free men, women, girls, and boys.
_____________________________________________
Optional: The Egyptians needed ten plagues because after each one they were able to come up with excuses and explanations rather than change their behavior. Could we be making the same mistakes? Make up your own list. What are the plagues in your life? What are the plagues in our world today? What behaviors do we need to change to fix them?
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