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Interesting thing I found. I'm listening to Jo Amar's rendition of the haggadah (first part can be found here; second part here) and, at about 3:18 in the first part, he sings an Arabic text that I have never seen before during Yachatz (that is, before Etmol and Ha Lachma Anya). I've done a bit of research and I've found some Tunisian haggadot with a similar (but not identical) text. Arabic spelling in Hebrew is not very consistent, so the search function at hebrewbooks is not quite so useful as I had hoped. My question is, what is the exact text that Jo Amar is using? Are there any digitized online haggadot that include it? My manual search of hebrewbooks haggadot turned up empty. Jo Amar is Moroccan and uses Moroccan melodies, so I imagine that this is the Moroccan version of the text; unlike any of the versions I've found, he ends with something something KB"H v'nomar amen. Thank you for your help!

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Luckily for you, this Yachatz by Jo Amar was published as its own little clip on the wonderful "Darké Abotenou" channel1, with English transliteration and translation in the notes:

Hagda qsm l'lah allab'ḥar,
'ala tnas ltreq,
ḥen kherju jdudna mn masar.
'Ala yid Sidna un'Bina, Moussa bn 'Amram, [allah slam ur'da.]
Ḥen fiqhum ughathum mlkhdma seiba alḥouriya.
Hagda yfiqna haQadosh Baroukh Hou, wenomar Amen.

And this is how Hashem split the sea into 12 paths when our ancestors were leaving the Land of Egypt. By the hand of our Master and Prophet, Moshé son of 'Amram A"H, may praise and blessing be bestowed upon him, he saved [our ancestors] and liberated them from slavery. And it is in the same fashion that He will liberate us, our children, and the children of our children.

Amen, may it be His will.


1. I recommend particularly their recording of "Echad Mi Yodeya" in Arabic by Henri Ohayon and their recordings of many chapters of Tehillim chanted by R' David Kadoch.

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  • Is there someone who could provide the text in Arabic characters as well as Hebrew-Arabic transliteration?
    – ezra
    Commented Apr 4, 2018 at 21:54
  • @ezra, is there some way to tag Mori Doweedh Ya3aqov ? He knows Arabic Commented Apr 4, 2018 at 23:56
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The exact text for the Aramaic version of Etmol is: "Etmol hayinu avadim, hayom benei chorin, hayom kan, leshana habaa deara beyisrael (or deyisrael) benei chorin". It is a very famous custom in Sefardic communinities from Algeria and Tunisia. We recite it at the very beginning of Magid, before Ha Lachma Anya. The tune is quite different from one to community to another but all agree on the fact that we pass the Seder plat above everybody's head and sing it three times. In my family for instance, we remove the the boiled egg and the roasted bone from the plat on this occasion and put them back later in Magid. Most Moroccan Jews sing Bibilu instead of Etmol.

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  • This wasn't what I asked, but I find it very interesting just the same. Why are the egg and bone removed, and when do they get added back? It would be nice to know for next year's sedarim! Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 4:33

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