Reader:
Group:
Dayeinu! It would have been enough!
But many women labored in pain, only to lose their children in the end…
Was it enough?
Had you softened the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter and not opened the hearts of our Egyptian neighbors who gave us their precious stones, gold, and silver…
Dayeinu!
But what good were precious stones in a Godforsaken desert…
Was it enough?
Had you softened the hearts of our neighbors, and not led our people free from bondage…
Dayeinu!
But why did we serve lo those hundreds of years in degradation…
Was it enough?
Had you set us free, but denied us the music of Miriam’s soul rippling over the sea…
Dayeinu!
But why did the women have to dance alone, a sisterhood of emancipated slaves?
Was it enough?
Had you let us hear the music of freedom, and not revealed Your law at Sinai…
Dayeinu!
But why did You say, “Go not near a woman for three days…”
Is it enough for us?
Had You revealed Your law at SinaiAccording to the Torah, God, in the presence of the Jewish people, gave Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai (Har Sinai)., and not given us the freedom to interpret our Covenant with you…
Dayeinu!
But why did you call only MosesThe quintessential Jewish leader who spoke face to face with God, unlike any other prophet, and who freed the people from Egypt, led them through the desert for forty years, and received the Torah on Mt. Sinai. His Hebrew name is Moshe. to the mountaintop…
Was that enough?
Had You given us the freedom to interpret Your law, and not stood by us in times of alienation and loss of faith…
Dayeinu!
But why did we have to wait three thousand years for equal access to study of our law, to full participation in the life of our people? Why do we yet wait? Is it enough?
Had You stood by us, and not urged us on with a vision of a world perfected by our hands and Yours, working in concert…
Dayeinu!
May this sacred gathering of Jewish women herald the coming of a day that knows not any Pharaoh, that judges not by gender, that culminates the final exodus of humanity from slavery…
This will surely be enough.
אִלּוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ מִמִּצְרִים דַּיֵּנוּ אִלּוּ נָתַן לָנוּ אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת דַּיֵּנוּ אִלּוּ נָתַן לָנוּ אֶת הַתּוֹרָה דַּיֵּנוּ
Ilu hotzi hotzi’anu hotzi’anu mi’mitzrayimLit. Egypt. Because the Hebrew word for narrow is tzar, Mitzrayim is also understood as "narrowness," as in, the narrow and confining places in life from which one emerges physically and spiritually.
Hotzi’anu mi’mitzrayim dayeinu
Dai-dai-yeinu…
Ilu natan natan lanu natan lanu et ha’shabbatShabbat is the Sabbath day, the Day of Rest, and is observed from Friday night through Saturday night. Is set aside from the rest of the week both in honor of the fact that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. On Shabbat, many Jews observe prohibitions from various activities designated as work. Shabbat is traditionally observed with festive meals, wine, challah, prayers, the reading and studying of Torah, conjugal relations, family time, and time with friends.
Natan lanu et ha’shabbat dayeinu
Dai-dai-yeinu…
Ilu natan natan lanu natan lanu et ha’torahThe Five Books of Moses, and the foundation of all of Jewish life and lore. The Torah is considered the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and study of the Torah is a high mitzvah. The Torah itself a scroll that is hand lettered on parchment, elaborately dressed and decorated, and stored in a decorative ark. It is chanted aloud on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, according to a yearly cycle. Sometimes "Torah" is used as a colloquial term for Jewish learning and narrative in general.
Natan lanu et ha’torah dayeinu
Dai-dai-yeinu
(Had God brought us out of Egypt, it would have been enough. Had God given us the Sabbath, it would have been enough. Had God given us the Torah, it would have been enough.)
