Possibly the most joyous song sung at the Seder is “Dayenu.” Not only is it a favorite among children, as this catchy tune inspires rhythmic clapping, but it is generally followed by the festive meal, which is reason enough to start applauding.
In addition, “Dayenu” exemplifies the rush the slaves were in when leaving Egypt, because this six-letter word translates into the fifty-seven-letter phrase “That alone would have been sufficient, for that alone we are grateful.”
“On the face of it, that may not seem like a lot. But when one considers that the word is sung four times in each stanza, and that the song has fifteen stanzas, and that there are two Seders every Passover, and that the average life expectancy is now 78.7 years, if you add up the time that all of those ‘Dayenus’ save, you can go on safari for a month,” said Rabbi Mpho Pretorius of South Africa. “Or explore the fjords,” said Rabbi Sven Jepsen of Norway. “Or be our guests on a cruise down the Nile as a small token of how badly we feel about what we did to you guys,” said Rabbi Maaravi Abubakar of Egypt.
The song’s first four stanzas are about freeing us from slavery.
If he brought us out of Egypt … Dayenu
If he had executed justice upon the Egyptians … Dayenu
If he had slain their firstborn … Dayenu
If he had boiled their firstborn and made a delicious soup … Dayenu
The next five stanzas are about the miracles.
If he had split the Red Sea for us … Dayenu
If he had delivered us to dry land … Dayenu
If he had drowned our oppressors … Dayenu
If he had minced our oppressors and served them with paella … Dayenu
If he took the paella and molded it into statues of Abbott and Costello … Dayenu
And the final five stanzas are about being with G-d.
If he had given us Shabbat … Dayenu
If he had led us to Mount Sinai … Dayenu
If he had given us the Torah … Dayenu
If he had charged us for the Torah … Dayenu
If he had put photos of the Beatles and Lady Gaga’s cell number in the Torah … Dayenu