Passover Rap

PASSOVER RAP

copyright rfisher2008

Narrator

Well settle yourselves,

Get the pillows just right:

for here is the story

of Passover night.

Miriam

I’m Miriam, Moses’ sister

I put that baby in the river

And watched from the reeds while Pharaoh’s daughter

Pulled that cradle out of the water.

And really things could have gone much worse:

I fixed it so mother became Moses’ nurse.

Pharoah’s Daughter

I raised that boy up like a prince,

But he found God and I haven’t seen him since.

Aaron

And I’m Aaron, Moses’ bro

I gotta do his talking cause he’s kinda slow –

Slave

And I ain’t nuthin’ but a Hebrew slave

Spend my whole life workin’ on Pharaoh’s grave.

Pharaoh 1

Well I’m Pharaoh, favored of Ra

My rule goes down to Nubia,

And I’m reachin’ for Ethiopia

While I’m tradin’ with Mesopotamia.

I got people building statues of me

That are gonna last till eternity

(or at least – till a poet named Shelley)[see Ozymandias]

Anyway, that Moses cat

Turned out to be a real brat:

He kills a guy and runs away

and then comes back to free the slaves!

Tzipporah

I’m Tzipporah and I come from Midian

When I saw the stranger I knew he was a cityman

Egyptian clothes and blood on his hands

And pretty soon Moses became my man.

That’s right, I’m Tzipporah, Moses’ wife

And living with him has been some kind of life.

When the man wants water he beats on a stone

And I seen him talking to bushes, alone.

We wander the desert but what can you do –

(Sung to the tune of the last line of Beautiful Dreamer)

It ain’t easy being married to a Jew.

Moses

My name is Moses, and I thought it odd

The very first time I talked to God

From a bush on fire the great Voice spoke

When the bush didn’t burn I knew it was no joke –

And He said, “Go get your people free,”

And I looked back and I said, “Why me?”

And God said when they see what I can do

Even Pharaoh will listen to you.”

So I went back to Egypt land

And among the slaves I found my clan

And I told Pharaoh to let my people go;

Everyone knows that he said, “No!”

He told the slaves to make bricks from mud,

So I turned the Nile water to blood –

But Pharaoh had a hardened heart –

So nine more plagues had to start.

Darkness came without a morn

And the death of the first born;

All over Egypt people cried

When even the firstborn cattle died,

So finally pharaoh relented

And to our departure consented.

Pharaoh 2

Well I’m Pharaoh, ruler of all

And releasing the Jews was a tricky call –

They built our cities, they built our graves –

Can you raise a monument without slaves?

But frogs and death and hail and boils –

I let them go with Egypt’s spoils.

His Yahweh put on quite a show

After ten plagues they had to go.

I changed my mind and we gave chase

To tell the truth, it wasn’t much of a race:

They were on foot, we in chariots proud,

And we would have caught up it if weren’t for that cloud.

That funny cloud made it hard to see,

But we caught up with them finally.

They got to the sea and they somehow crossed

Even then I didn’t know how much would be lost.

When I saw the Hebrews on the other side

I ordered my army to buck the tide.

When I saw them sink beneath the waves

I thought, “Maybe I don’t need those slaves.”

I went back alone to Egypt’s glory

And that’s my last part in this story.

Desert Slave

We were out in the desert and just for a laugh,

We had Aaron make us a golden calf.

After a lifetime of captivity

We thought we were due some festivity;

But when Moses saw us going wild

He said the law had been defiled.

I guess he couldn’t take a joke:

He threw those tablets and they broke.

Then Moses went back up the mount

And brought back commandments, ten by some count.

Desert Slave 2

We walked in the desert with aching feet,

Nothing to drink and nothing to eat

And we told Moses to take us back,

And Moses gave the rock a whack.

Out from the rock did water spew,

And we gathered manna with the dew.

Miriam II

I walked with our people

Right through the sea

A miracle

That made us free

When we reached the far shore

I saw my chance

And pulled out my timbrels

And started to dance

And all those years in the desert lands

It was I who found water amid the sands

*************************************************

Narrator

That’s all I have for now, my friends,

Tho’ I wouldn’t say the story ends:

The people did receive the Law,

Still much revered as the Torah.

So eat your matzoh

And drink your wine,

And thank Yah we’re free

To have a good time!