Chad Gadya
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Chad Gadya (Aramaic: גַּדְיָא) is a playful cumulative song, written in Aramaic with Hebrew words interspersed. In English, "Chad Gadya" means "One Little Goat." It is the last song sung before "L'shana Ha'ba'ah Birushalayim" (Next Year in Jerusalem) at the Passover Seder. It is believed to have developed from Medieval German folk music. The song is popular with children and similar to other cumulative songs such as "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". Echad Mi Yodei, another acumulative song, is also in the Passover Haggadah.
Sometimes it is translated, "one little goat", other times "one little kid.", where "kid" refers to a baby goat. The word "chad" is Aramaic for "one", and "gadya" is Aramaic and Hebrew for, a young female goat
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[edit] Symbolism of Chad Gadya
There is deep symbolism in this song. Many explanations have been written attempting to explain it. A popular explanation is that Chad Gadya shows the different nations that have inhabited the Land of Israel with the child goat being the Jewish people, then the cat being Assyria, the dog Babylon, the stick Persia, the fire Macedonia, the water Rome, the ox Saracens; the slaughterer the Crusaders, the Angel of Death, the Turks. At the end, God returns to send the Jews back to Israel.
[edit] Text
English Translation | Aramaic Lyrics |
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ONE LITTLE GOAT One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: One little goat, one little goat: |
חַד גַּדְיָא חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא: חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא. |