Hagaddah Thoughts 5769 Part I

Hagaddah 5769

I am a member of the Kadesh U’Rechatz Fan Club. I love how we start the Seder with that catchy, short song. Usually I head up the minority party that wants to sing it twice. I think it's a fun trivia question to ask - What is the only time in Jewish rituals and prayers that we recite/sing a Table of Contents? I find it cool that it is a literal table of contents of which we sing.

I appreciate the following take on the custom of singing this introductory tune.

“No one that I know sings the table of contents of a book. Rather, there is something about the order, the Seder, of the evening that is intrinsically important. The singsong employed to recite the Seder helps all those around the table to give expression to and remember all the items of the Seder in their correct order. As in any song, the melody pulls together the words into a unified whole with a beginning, a middle, and an end...this is because the Seder is just that – a unified, ordered, whole story with a beginning, middle, and end.”

From - Leading The Passover Journey, Rabbi Nathan Laufer page 16

(For more extensive thoughts check out my little hagaddah, here.)