BaBoker Echad – traditional folk song
Also known as the “Plagues Song,” this song is well-known here
in English. I generally don’t do all ten plagues, a) because it gets
too long, and b) because some of the plagues are not all that fun!
I invite the children to follow me as we sing the verses with the
actions listed below, and then on the interludes, to turn themselves
into the various animals and move around. On the verse of wild
beasts, they can of course choose whatever wild beast they would
like to be (no attacking other beasts though!), and on the last
verse, darkness, they close their eyes and crawl around slowly and
carefully. The English order of “pointing” is a little different than
the Hebrew:
lyrics
One morning Pharoah woke in his bed
There were frogs on his head and frogs in his bed
Frogs on his nose, frogs on his toes
Frogs here, frogs there,
Frogs were jumping everywhere.
Baboker echad hitorer Par’o (Start out “sleeping” & pretend to awake)
Matza tzfardea bamitato (Point at your “bed,” around you)
Tzfardea al rosho, tzfardea al hotmo, (Point at your head, at your nose)
Tzfarda’im sham, tzfada’im po, (Point away from you, then up close)
Tzfarda’im mikarkarot lahem co v’co. (Prepare to jump!)
Kwa, kwa, kwa…
Baboker echad hitorer Par’o
Matza keinim bamitato
Keinim al rosho, keinim al hotmo,
Keinim sham, keinim po,
Keinim migardot lahem co v’co.
Grad, grad, grad…
Baboker echad hitorer Par’o
Matza arov bamitato
Arov al rosho, arov al hotmo,
Arov sham, arov po,
Arov mistovev lo co v’co.
Rrrr, rrr, rrr…
Baboker echad hitorer Par’o
Matza arbeh bamitato
Arbeh al rosho, arbeh al hotmo,
Arbeh sham, arbeh po,
Arbeh kofetz lo co v’co.
Kfotz, kfotz, kfotz…
Baboker echad hitorer Par’o
Matza hoshech bamitato
Hoshech al rosho, hoshech al hotmo,
Hoshech sham, hoshech po,
Hoshech kofetz lo co v’co.
Shh, shh, shh…
Joanie Calem is a folk musician, singer/song-writer, storyteller and inclusion advocate for audiences of all ages. Joanie
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