Passover Melodies…and Memories

 

     “HaYamim cholfim, shanah overet, aval hamangina l’olam nisheret” “Days pass by and another year is gone, but the melody lasts forever.”  So goes an old song to a tune by Mozart, sung by the early chalutzim.

     I was once at a seder where the attendees were asked, “share with us your favorite Pesach memory.”  One elderly gentleman related the following story.  “It was 1939.  By some great miracle (or stroke of luck) I was able to leave Nazi Germany.  I landed in Yaffo on the eve of Pesach and made my way to the home of my uncle who had emigrated to Palestine some years before.  I was looking forward to celebrating the Passover seder in the style of my family.  When I arrived at my Uncle’s home, he informed me that I would be leading the seder that evening.  ‘You will sing our songs of Pesach in our new land.’  I shall never forget that Pesach, when, indeed, God freed me from the house of bondage.”

     From many lands and many times, we have transported our songs from one place to another.  Pesach is the perfect example of how that is possible.  The melody allows us to transport back in time with our memories; at the same time we sing the story, the melody has the ability to connect the past with the present. 

     Pesach melodies are often unique.  I have had the opportunity to hear seder melodies that were unique to a family.  Each year I look forward to hearing something new.  Sometimes Pesach can be bittersweet.  There may be melodies sung by singers who are no more.  Such was the case of the gentleman who landed in Yaffo on Pesach.  And yet by telling his story, “the melody lasts forever.”

 

Wishing you a zisn Pesach!

 

Cantor Samuel B. Radwine