Search - David & the High Spirit :: The Real Complete Passover Seder

Not as complete as I expected, but good music just the same

Rabbi Yonassan Gershom | Minnesota, USA | 04/03/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This "real complete" Passover seder isn't exactly that -- some of the songs, such as "Dayenu" and "Chad Gadya," have just the chorus, and it only includes the introductory blessings and first paragraph of Birkat Hamazon. (Darn. I was kinda hoping to learn how to fit those verses with extra syllables into the "Dayenu" tune...) And it doesn't have the longer songs the end of the seder, such as "Adir Hu," substituting, instead, some Israeli songs of freedom. I must confess I was a bit disappointed in that aspect, because, in my opinion, something labeled "real complete" should be, well, complete. I suppose it would have taken two CDs to do the whole traditional seder with all the verses to all the old songs, and maybe someday, somebody will do exactly that. I'd sure buy one! Meanwhile, I'll make do with this CD, which is inspirational as well as educational. It goes through the seder step by step, with arrangements of the music that are, indeed, fun to sing along with. The sound is a combination of traditional European and modern Israeli, with both male and female voices. The narration is accurate but not ponderous -- there's even a bit of humor, such as the intro to "Kadesh Ur'chatz", which points out that the Haggadah is the only book in the world where we sing the table of contents! This piece, by the way, has a joyous Middle Eastern sound that really gets you in the mood for a festive banquet. I also liked the tune for "Bechol dor V'dor," the famous line that translates: --"In every generation, a person should regard him(her)self as if (s)he personally came out of slavery in Egypt." I had never heard this tune before, so that's one for our family repetoire. At our house, because we are Orthodox and do not play CDs on the Jewish holy days, we would not actually sing along with this at the real seder. However, it certainly helps to get us in the mood while we are cleaning house and making other preparations. One minor complaint is that the narrations are not recorded on separate tracks, so you can't program your CD player to skip them if you just want to the music. For adults this might get annoying after a while but, since children love repetition, it won't hurt for your kids to memorize the explanations along with the songs, and they'll also learn what comes when. By the time you get to the real seder, everyone should have it all down pat. (One last note: "Adonai" is used for the blessings here, rather than substituting "Adoshem" as in most concerts. However, since this is a CD intended to teach you how to do the seder, it is permissible to use "Adonai" to learn the blessings properly, as is done in a live classroom. For the songs, the CD does use the usual substitutions.)"

A good album

Rabbi Yonassan Gershom | 04/03/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Overall a good work, wonderful voices and a nice combination of songs presented in both a traditional and a slightly (not offensively) jazzed-up way. The album has one draw-back, though, in that the jacket does not include the words to the songs. As a result, this is not really a "sing-along" Seder CD for those who don't already know all the Hebrew by heart."