Therefore it is our duty to thank, to praise…and a new song was recited before Him, Halleluyah! This translation is based on a variant reading of the Haggadah text. While most texts read v‘nomar lifanav shira chadasha, “Let us sing a new song before Him,” Rabbi Ginzburg reads the textv’ne’emar lifanav shira chadasha“A new song was recited before Him.” This interpretation is based on a discussion in Talmud⁹³ 117a which claims that several miracles took place on Passover eve throughout the ages, and in each case the words of Hallel were recited. At the shore of the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites said: “Not for us, Lord, not for us but for Yourself wine (we give?) praise;” ⁹⁴to which God responded: “For my sake, My own sake, do I act –lest my name be dishonored, I will not give my glory to another.”⁹⁵ This same conversation also took place in the time of Joshua as he fought against the other nations living in the land of Canaan, in the time of Hezekiah as he fought with Sennacherib, and in the generation of Mordechai and Esther as they dealt with Haman’s plot against the Jews. In each case the people of Israel cried out to God to save them for His own sake if not for their sake, and God responded that He would do so for His own sake.⁹⁶ records several other cases when this took place. We are taught by the Tur⁹⁷218 that when we come across a place where a miracle occurred we should mention all the other miracles that occurred in that place. And that is what we do in this passage in the Haggadah. That is why we say, “It is our duty to give thanks and praise…the one who did all the miracles for our ancestors and for us…” First we mention miracles in the plural – that is, we celebrate not just the miracle of the Exodus but all the miracles which took place on this day. Second we make a reference to the miracles which both we and our ancestors experienced as a way of saying that we are speaking not just about the miracles in Egypt but the miracles throughout the ages, as the Talmud suggests. And we make reference to all the miracles that took place at this time by saying a new song was recited on this day. Shira chadasha, a new song, is a reference to the song which was song at the sea. It is also called a shira,⁹⁸ is feminine which means that the word v’ne’emar should also be feminine if we choose to read the word this way. Grammar is not one of Rabbi Ginzburg’s strengths. This is not a problem as we read the word v’nomar, And we will recite. just as the song at the Read Sea is referred to as a shira. This was but the first of many songs which were recited on this day.

footnotes: ⁹³ Pesachim ⁹⁴ Psalm 115:1 ⁹⁵ Isaiah 48:11 These verses are connected because of the similar style of repetition in them. In the first one, Israel says - Not for us but for your own sake. And to this, God responds - for My own sake. ⁹⁶ The Talmud ⁹⁷ Tur Orech Chaim ⁹⁸ Exodus 15:1 – the problem with Ginzburg’s interpretation is that the word shira