Dayenu
Sign in to saveright|thumb|250px| Dayenu page from Birds' Head Haggada Dayenu (Hebrew: , Dayyēnū) is a song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The word "dayenu" means approximately "it would have been enough," "it would have been sufficient," or "it would have sufficed" (day- in Hebrew is "enough," and -ēnu the first person plural suffix, "to us"). This traditional upbeat Passover song is over one thousand years old.
~12 min read
Article
11 sectionsContents
- Stanzas
- Five stanzas of leaving slavery
- Five stanzas of miracles
- Five stanzas of being with God
- Text
- Composition date
- Associated customs
- In popular culture
- See also
- References
- External links
right|thumb|250px| Dayenu page from Birds' Head Haggada Dayenu (Hebrew: , Dayyēnū) is a song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The word "dayenu" means approximately "it would have been enough," "it would have been sufficient," or "it would have sufficed" (day- in Hebrew is "enough," and -ēnu the first person plural suffix, "to us"). This traditional upbeat Passover song is over one thousand years old.
The earliest full text of the song occurs in the first medieval haggadah, which is part of the ninth-century Seder Rav Amram. The song is about being grateful to God for all of the gifts given to the Jewish people, such as taking them out of slavery, giving them the Torah and Shabbat, and had God only given one of the gifts, it would have still been enough. This is to show much greater appreciation for all of them. The song appears in the Haggadah after the telling of the story of the exodus and just before the explanation of Passover, matzah, and the maror.