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JEWISH TRADITIONS

LEARN HAVA NAGILA and TEACH the Dance
Learn about Chanukah

'Hava Nagilah, What Is It?

HAVA NAGILA

Hava nagila, hava nagila
Hava nagila venis'mecha

Repeat

Hava neranena, hava neranena
Hava neranena venis'mecha

Uru, uru achim
Uru achim belev same'ach

LET US REJOICE & BE GLAD

Let us rejoice
and be glad

Repeat

Let us sing

Awaken brethren
With a cheerful heart.


This is a 6 beat pattern in a 4/4 song.

Learn the Hora - Dance Steps for Hava Nagila

1. Step right foot; cross left foot over right
keep weight on right foot - for 2 beats

2. Bringing left foot back to original position,
Step left foot; cross right foot over left
keeping weight on left foot - for 2 beats

3. Step right foot; left foot steps behind right for 2 beats

HEAR Hava Nagila and compare the different styles of each:

Ben Folds Five

Accordian, tamborine, Flute, Choir

 

Danny Kay and Harry Belatonte sing Hava Nagila

 

Klezmer Juice Band

 

K-12 Education Music Resources Jewish Festival Hanukkah Happy Chanukah

Hanukkah - Chanukah
Festival of Lights

Chanukah begins on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Jewish calendar (November/December).

This year marks the first year a Hanukkah lamp (a menorah) was lit in the White House residence. President and Mrs. Bush commemorated the holiday by participating with members of their staff and some of their children in lighting the second candle on December 10, 2001. The 100-year-old lamp was borrowed from the collection of the Jewish Museum in New York.

Collection of recipes and cooking ideas for Hanukkah, including traditional foods such as latkes and sufganiyot (Israeli jelly donuts), vegetarian recipes, seasonal menus, kosher wine suggestions, baking projects such as rugelach and cream cheese Hanukkah stars, and more.

Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is a joyous celebration about the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days when there was only enough oil left in the temple for one day!

The Story of Chanukah

The Online Menorah
Introduction to the meaning of Hanukkah and the Hanukkah menorah. Features background about why Hanukkah is celebrated, the basic rules associated with the use of the menorah (what one may use to light the candles, and how one lights the candles), and audio, with English translations, of three blessings that are recited when the candles are lit. Also includes links to more detailed material about Hanukkah. From a Jewish outreach and education group.

HUMOR / FUN

Cleaning and Cooking
[Sung to the tune of "These are a few of my favorite things"]

Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes
Out with the hametz, no pasta, no knishes
Fish that's gefillted, horseradish that stings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Matzoh and karpas and chopped up haroset
Shankbones and Kiddish and Yiddish neuroses
Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Motzi and maror and trouble with Pharoahs
Famines and locusts and slaves with wheelbarrows
Matzoh balls floating and eggshell that cling
These are a few of our Passover things.

When the plagues strike
When the lice bite
When we're feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things
And then we don't feel so bad.

PASSOVER

Robots of the R&D Institute for Intelligent Robotic Systems, Computer Science Department

 


PASSOVER


Take Me Out To The Seder
(To the tune of, of course, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame!")


Take me out to the Seder
Take me out with the crowd.
Feed me on matzah and chicken legs,
I don't care for the hard-boiled eggs.
And its root, root, root for Elijah
That he will soon reappear.
And let's hope, hope, hope that we'll meet
Once again next year!

Take me out to the Seder
Take me out with the crowd.
Read the Haggadah
And don't skip a word.
Please hold your talking,
We want to be heard.
And lets, root, root, root for the leader
That he will finish his spiel
So we can nosh, nosh, nosh and by-gosh
Let's eat the meal!!!


The Eight Nights of Passover
(To the tune of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas')

On the first night of Passover my mother served to me:
1) a matzo ball in chicken soup
2) two dipped herbs
3) three pieces of matzah
4) four cups of wine
5) five gefilte fish
6) six capons baking
7) seven eggs a boiling
8) eight briskets roasting


Pharaoh doesn't Pay
(To the tune of "I've been Working on the Railroad")

We've been working on these buildings;
Pharaoh doesn't pay.
We've been doing what he tells us
Mixing straw with clay.
Can't you hear the master calling,
"Hurry up, make that brick!"
Can't you feel the master whip us
'Til we're feeling sick.

Oy vay, it's a mess,
A terrible distress,
Oy vay, it's a mess for Jews, us Jews.

Moshe's in the palace with Pharaoh,
Warning of all God's clout, clout, clout.
Moshe's in the palace with Pharaoh,
And God's gonna get us out!

We're singing . . . .
Fee, Fi, Fiddely eye oh,
Make our matzahs "to go" oh oh oh.
Fee, Fi, Fiddely eye oh,
Stick it to the ol' Pharaoh!


Moses Island
(Sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island)

Just recline right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a dreadful trip.
That started with ten awful plagues brought onto Egypt, brought unto Egypt.

The boss he was a Jewish man raised as a Pharaoh's son.
Then G-d he did come calling and soon the fun begun.
Soon the fun begun.

More blood, such frogs, and all those bugs, Pharaoh could just barely see.
The Jews were really scoring points and soon they would be free.
And soon they would be free.

They shlepped and shlepped for forty years across a desert land.
He went up to Mt Sinai and a party soon began.
A party soon began.
Moses, the Pharaoh too, Aaron and his wife. Marianne the skipper too here on the desert island.


Twas the night after Seder

'Twas the night after Seder, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.

The matzah, the farfel, the charoset I ate,
After both the Sedarim, had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked over to shul (less a walk than a lumber),

I remembered the marvelous meals I'd prepared;
The turkey with gravy, the beef nicely rared,

The wine and the matzo balls, the Migdal pareve cheese
The way I'd never said, "I've had enough; no more, if you
please."

As I tied myself into my apron again I spied my reflection and disgustedly, then I said to myself, "you're such a weak wimp,"
"You can't show up at shul resembling a blimp!"

So--away with the last of the meatballs so sweet,
Get rid of the turkey, chopped liver and meat.

Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have any more macaroons from the box,
I can't wait til next week. (Ah, the bagels and lox.)

I won't have any luxion, farfel or p'chah,
I'll munch on a carrot or wire shut my own jaw.

It's a three day yom tov and shabbas is still
Ahead of me with another fleshiks meal to fulfill.

If I have to cook one more chicken, I think I will riot.
So a zisn pesach to you all and to all a good diet!

Jewish Classics

Symbols for Kosher

Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos was released in 1961 by the venerable jazz label Riverside Records. It claimed to be the work of Juan Calle and His Latin Lantzmen but was actually recorded by some of the preeminent jazz and Latin music players of the time — including Doc Cheatham, Clark Terry, Ray Barretto and Charlie Palmieri. It featured a Yiddish theater classic performed as a Dominican merengue, as well as a song about a cigarette seller done as a quick-step mambo. "Havah Nagilah" was played as a cha cha.

Israeli Music

Israeli music is diverse and combines elements of both western and eastern music. It tends toward eclecticism and contains a wide variety of influences from today's Jewish diaspora. It also makes use of modern cultural importation. Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially Yemenite singers, hip hop and heavy metal are all part of the musical scene.
Israel's canonical folk songs often deal with Zionist hopes and dreams and glorify the life of idealistic Jewish youth who intend on building a home and defending their homeland. These are usually known as Songs of the land of Israel (י ארץ ישראל). Israel is also well-known for its famous classical orchestras and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra under the management of Zubin Mehta has a worldwide reputation. Dudu Fisher, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman are some of the more renowned classical musicians from Israel.
Music styles popular in Israel include pop, rock, heavy metal, hip hop and rap, trance (especially Goa trance and psychedelic trance), Oriental Mizrahi music and ethnic music of various sorts. Israel has won the Eurovision Song Contest three times (1978, 1979, 1998).

Read the history and listen to HaTikvah the Israeli National Anthem

JEWISH MUSIC CENTER ONLINE BIOGRAPHIES

Jewish American Heritage Month This Web site, created collaboratively by the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, offers students a glimpse into the life experiences of the generations of Jewish Americans who contribute to the fabric of American history, culture, and society.

The Hebrew Bible in English

2009 Rosh Hashanah Jewish Year 5770 Greetings from President Obama

Israel National Anthem Hatikvah sung by Carla Benson Lead Background vocalist for the Funk Brothers 2x Grammy Winning movie Standing in the Shadows of Motown.

Rosh Hashana party in Bhagsu India

 

The Golem, a Jewish giant with glowing eyes and supernatural powers, is lurking once again in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue here.