Chad Gadya!
Apr. 7th, 2009 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theyellowhobbitThose of you who are at/went to Penn probably know (or at least know of) the Penn Chad Gayda. Unlike the standard tune for chad gadya that most people sing, this one has one person who sings the verses and everyone else sings underneath "chad gadya, chad gadya" with the result that it sounds like a "Navajo rain dance" (saith an alum, not my own terminology, though she's right). I like it a lot better than the "normal" tune.
But not only do we sing it on Passover as normal people would, we also sing it on Simchat Torah, and in the good ol' days at tisches (festive gatherings on Shabbat night with food, song, and usually alcohol) as well. Though whether or not we sang it was up to the person who sang the verses, the person with "chad gadya smicha" (smicha being the tradition of rabbinic ordination, except in this case it's not rabbinic, but still a tradition passed down from person to person.) Like Orthodox rabbis, the person with chad gadya smicha is always male. Thus I never got chad gadya smicha.
However, when not at Penn, one does not need the official chad gadya person in order to sing it. Except that not many people outside of Penn know the tune.
At Harvard we do not sing chad gadya on Simchat Torah (though I did get SCM to start doing maarei cohen) and on passover we sing it, but with the normal, boring tune. So I haven't sung it in 2 years. I really miss it, considering it is one of my favorite songs.
So for the 2nd seder I'm going to N's house. I asked if we could use the Penn tune for Chad Gadya and he said that we probably weren't going to sing it because his family normally didn't. But then a few days ago he said that I could do it as my "drash" (mini-sermon/lesson on something in the Torah or in this case in the Hagaddah). So now I will teach everyone the very awesome Penn Chad Gadya.
Also, I just realized that I had been planning on going to see Joss Whedon when he came to Harvard. Except now I'm hosting Friday night dinner at the time when Joss will be speaking. Gah! Why do I do these things to myself?
But not only do we sing it on Passover as normal people would, we also sing it on Simchat Torah, and in the good ol' days at tisches (festive gatherings on Shabbat night with food, song, and usually alcohol) as well. Though whether or not we sang it was up to the person who sang the verses, the person with "chad gadya smicha" (smicha being the tradition of rabbinic ordination, except in this case it's not rabbinic, but still a tradition passed down from person to person.) Like Orthodox rabbis, the person with chad gadya smicha is always male. Thus I never got chad gadya smicha.
However, when not at Penn, one does not need the official chad gadya person in order to sing it. Except that not many people outside of Penn know the tune.
At Harvard we do not sing chad gadya on Simchat Torah (though I did get SCM to start doing maarei cohen) and on passover we sing it, but with the normal, boring tune. So I haven't sung it in 2 years. I really miss it, considering it is one of my favorite songs.
So for the 2nd seder I'm going to N's house. I asked if we could use the Penn tune for Chad Gadya and he said that we probably weren't going to sing it because his family normally didn't. But then a few days ago he said that I could do it as my "drash" (mini-sermon/lesson on something in the Torah or in this case in the Hagaddah). So now I will teach everyone the very awesome Penn Chad Gadya.
Also, I just realized that I had been planning on going to see Joss Whedon when he came to Harvard. Except now I'm hosting Friday night dinner at the time when Joss will be speaking. Gah! Why do I do these things to myself?
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Date: 2009-04-08 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 10:48 am (UTC)