The saga of Khad Gadya

[Sam Weiss <samweiss...>]

Regarding <http://www.jhom.com/topics/goats/had_gadya.htm>

Katie Marcus <kmarcus (at) jccdet(dot)org> <mailto:kmarcus (at) jccdet(dot)org> 
wrote:
 >...If it developed in 1590, modeled after Twelve Days
 >of Christmas or Alouette- why was aramaic
 >chosen as a/the language for this expression?
 >Also, the article states that this song was never a
 >part of Yemenite or Sephardi (Spanish) tradition?
 >What about un cavritico (which many gracioulsly
 >forwarded to me a while ago.)
 >Is the article simply wrong?


The article is wrong, but not simply.
It states that Khad Gadya <<makes its first appearance as a Passover 
song in a haggadah
printed in Prague in 1590.>> It should have said that the first printed 
Haggadah to contain
the song appeared in Prague in 1590. Earlier manuscript versions exist. 
As far as
<<It never was a part of the Sephardi (Spanish) and the Yemenite rituals>>,
this should have been elaborated to say that these traditions 
crystalized their
Haggadot without the song, though later borrowings from the Ashkenazi 
Haggadot
might have taken place. This is similar to the way in which certain 
Sephardi
Piyyutim (e.g. "Eyl Nora Alila" or "Shakhar Avakeshkha") have been 
entering some
modern Ashkenazi prayer books in the last several decades, even though 
one would
rightly say that these hymns "were never part of the Ashkenazi ritual."

Your question about Aramaic gives me a justification to "reprint" the 
following
article I wrote a few years ago on this general topic. Read it, delete 
it, or
save it for the Seder.


...........................................................

SING A SONG OF PASSOVER
by Sam Weiss

The traditional Passover Haggadah is a mosaic of liturgical and 
narrative texts designed to celebrate the Exodus experience. Included 
are a variety of hymns similar to those that may be found in the prayer 
book (Piyyutim) or to those sung around the Sabbath table (Zemirot).

One such hymn is the well-known Dayyenu that is sung close to the 
midpoint of the Haggadah; another example is the brief poem Khasal 
Siddur Pesakh ("Ended Is The Passover Celebration") which marks the 
official conclusion of the Seder ceremonies. Notwithstanding this 
explicitly "concluding" hymn, three additional Passover Piyyutim were 
appended to the Haggadah in the Middle Ages -- although they were 
composed in an earlier period. The refrains of these Hebrew hymns are 
"It Happened At Midnight," "Say It Is The Passover Offering," and 
"Beautiful Praise Is His Due."

In a different category from these three songs are the three that appear 
at the very end of the Haggadah, usually in the following order: Adir Hu 
("Mighty Is He"), Ekhad Mi Yode'a ("Who Knows One?"), and Khad Gadya 
("One Little Goat"). All three have no apparent connection to Passover, 
and they have an unmistakable folk-like character -- in structure as 
well as content -- which sets them apart from other Jewish liturgical 
songs.

Reminiscent of West European cumulative songs, nursery rhymes, and 
counting songs, these Jewish folksongs were perhaps translated from 
their original vernacular language for inclusion in the Haggadah. Adir 
Hu, Ekhad Mi Yode'a and Khad Gadya first began their close association 
with the Passover ritual in the Ashkenazic tradition, appearing 
sporadically or not at all in the Haggadot of other Jewish communities.

Perhaps the most famous of this group is Khad Gadya, a cumulative 
narrative about the goat which is eaten by a cat, which is bitten by a 
dog, which is hit by a stick, and so on. A highly unusual aspect of this 
song is that it is almost entirely in Aramaic. The notable Hebrew words 
are the terms for the slaughterer, the Angel of Death, and for God. 
Interestingly enough, the other cumulative Seder song, Ekhad Mi Yode'a, 
is mainly in Hebrew, with a sprinkling of Aramaic words apparently used 
for rhyming purposes.

Unlike the famous Aramaic passage at the beginning of the Haggadah, Ha 
Lakhma Anya, the "invitation to the Seder" composed in Babylon around 
the 8th century, Khad Gadya seems to have been written around the 15th 
century, a time when this language had long ceased to be a Jewish 
vernacular. While some Sephardic Kabbalists were still using Aramaic in 
the 16th century for liturgical and esoteric writings (e.g. the Sabbath 
table song Yah Ribon by Israel Najara), the singing of Khad Gadya was in 
fact an Ashkenazic custom which only entered Sephardic practice in a 
limited way. Among those Sephardim who today do sing the story of Khad 
Gadya, it is often done in a vernacular like Ladino, French or Arabic. 
Scholars, moreover, have discovered a Judeo-German version of the song 
that predates the earliest available Aramaic version. Why, then, was it 
written in (or translated into) Aramaic rather than Hebrew?

As a closing Aramaic text, Khad Gadya mirrors the Aramaic text which 
opens the Haggadah. This could have entered into the decision -- whether 
playful or serious -- to choose Aramaic over Hebrew. Another factor to 
consider is that the Seder celebration includes several customs intended 
to stimulate the interest and curiosity of the children. While the 
content of this ditty would certainly qualify it as a children's item, 
one would not expect even a well-educated child to understand Aramaic. 
Perhaps the choice of this arcane language was made precisely so that 
the child would inquire about its meaning and be captivated by its story.

But not only children have been intrigued by this goat's tale. Even if 
the song was not written by a Kabbalist, it has traditionally been 
interpreted in mystical and allegorical ways. Chief among these is the 
understanding of Khad Gadya as a reference to the many persecutions of 
the Jewish people who, according to the song's optimistic ending, will 
be redeemed by God Himself "slaying the Angel of Death." Indeed, were it 
not for such an interpretation, it would be difficult to understand the 
song's Jewish content, let alone its connection to Passover. Taken as a 
symbolic text, the use of a mysterious ancient language in which to 
shroud the ordinary content of the song makes a certain kind of sense.

Whether the song is interpreted allegorically or not, the main character 
of the goat is intriguing, if only because a goat seems rather large to 
be eaten by a cat. Perhaps the choice of a goat to represent the Jewish 
people is explicable as a reference to the Biblical "Scapegoat," the 
classic sacrificial "victim" for Jewish misdeeds. Further, the image of 
the goat also occurs in Yiddish folksongs as some sort of alter ego of 
the Jew, as in the song Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen.

Apropos of Yiddish usage: the term "Khad Gadye" is used in that language 
to mean "slammer," as a slang expression for "prison." The association 
here is with a Polish word for "prison" that happens to sound something 
like "gadya". Despite the obscure derivation, this familiar use of the 
song title underscores the place that this "poor kid" occupies in the 
Jewish imagination, at Passover-time and year-round.

______________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ



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