Dayenu is a wonderful part of the seder. It suggests it “would have been enough” if God had performed just some of the miracles He did for the Israelites on leaving Egypt and not all of them. Right. Because we Jews are so easily satisfied and never complain.

Here is a personal version of Dayenu, in honor of the Maggedet of Bergenfield, who makes it all happen. It’s a great song to riff on, because the real words don’t really fit the tune anyway. Feel free to use it at your seder, or better yet, make up your own version.

If you had done all the Pesach cleaning

And not found the decades-old shoes in my closet…Dayenu

If you had done all the Pesach shopping

And not bought my special chocolate macaroons…Dayenu

If you had done all the Pesach preparations

And not taken all the kids for haircuts…Dayenu

If you had done a thousand preparations

And not helped a special girl with Ma Nishtana…Dayenu

If you had gone through all the kids’ toys

And not found the Cheerio with the Rescue Heroes…Dayenu

If you had bought the kosher for Pesach toothpaste

And not bought the Winnie the Pooh toothbrushes…Dayenu

If you had provided a feather for bedika

And not hid the aluminum foil–clad morsels of bread all over the house…Dayenu

If you had bought the grape juice for the arba koSot

And not found the Manischewitz extra-sweet Malaga…Dayenu

If you had set up for the seder

And not found a plastic bag of plagues…Dayenu

If you had bought the romaine lettuce

And not the horseradish root for your masochistic husband…Dayenu

If you had bought the marror for the seder

And not gotten Rolaids extra-strength antacids…Dayenu

If you had bought the matzoh for Pesach

And not gotten prunes and fiber supplements…Dayenu

If you had set up the seder plate

And not made your super extra special charoset…Dayenu

If you had prepared for this meshugah holiday

And not done the daily things we take for granted…Dayenu

If you had sat down exhausted at the seder

And not prepared some divrei Torah…Dayenu

If you had made Pesach because you had to

And not filled our house with love and laughter and mitzvot…Dayenu

Chag Kasher vesameach, everyone.

By Larry Stiefel