the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Bible Encyclopedias
Eḥad Mi Yodea'
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
Initial words of a Hebrew nursery-rime which, with ḤAD GADYA, is recited at the close of the Seder on Passover eve. It consists of thirteen numbers, and was probably recited originally as a dialogue, if not in chorus.
- Question: "Oneâwho knows?" Answer: "OneâI know: One is our God in heaven and on earth."
- Question: "Twoâwho knows?" Answer: "TwoâI know: the two tables of the Covenant." Chorus: "One is our God in heaven and on earth."
- Question: "Threeâwho knows?" Answer: "ThreeâI know: the three patriarchs." Chorus: "Two tables of the Covenant, One is our God in heaven and on earth."
- Question: "Fourâwho knows?" Answer: "FourâI know: the four mothers in Israel." Chorus: "Three patriarchs, Two tables of the Covenant, One is our God in heaven and on earth."
- Question: "Fiveâwho knows?" Answer: "FiveâI know: the five books of Moses." Chorus: "Four mothers in Israel, Three . . . ."
- Question: "Sixâwho knows?" Answer: "SixâI know: the six books of the Mishnah." Chorus: "Five books of Moses, Four . . . ."
- Question: "Sevenâwho knows?" Answer: "SevenâI know: the seven days of the week." Chorus: "Six books of the Mishnah, Five . . . ."
- Question: "Eightâwho knows?" Answer: "EightâI know: the eight days of circumcision." Chorus: "Seven days of the week, Six . . . ."
- Question: "Nineâwho knows?" Answer: "NineâI know: the nine months of child-bearing." Chorus: "Eight days of circumcision, Seven. . . ."
- Question: "Tenâwho knows?" Answer: "TenâI know: the Ten Commandments." Chorus: "Nine months of childbearing, Eight. . . ."
- Question: "Elevenâwho knows?" Answer: "ElevenâI know: the eleven stars" (in Joseph's dream: Genesis 37:9). Chorus: "Ten Commandments, Nine. . . ."
- Question: "Twelveâwho knows?" Answer: "TwelveâI know: the Twelve Tribes of Israel." Chorus: "Eleven stars, Ten. . . ."
- Question: "Thirteenâwho knows?" Answer: "ThirteenâI know; the thirteen attributes of God" (Exodus 34:6-7). Chorus: "Twelve Tribes of Israel, Eleven. . . ."
This song, stated by Zunz in "G. V." p. 133 to occur only in German Pesaḥ haggadahs since the fifteenth century, was later found by Zunz himself in the Avignon ritual as a festal table-song for holy-days in general ("Allg. Zeitung des Judenthums," 3:469). The theory, therefore, advanced by Zunz, and worked out in detail by Perles ("Grätz Jubelschrift," 1887, pp. 37 et seq.; Brüll's "Jahrb." 4:97 et seq.), that it is an adaptation of a German folk-song, must be revised, notwithstanding the striking parallels brought by the former from Simrock's "Die Deutschen Volkslieder" (1851, p. 520), where it is shown that what was originally a peasants' drinking-song was adapted by monks, and the numbers (one to twelve successively) declared to signify: one, the Lord God who lives in heaven and earth; two, the tablets of Moses; three, the Patriarchs; four, the Evangelists; five, the wounds of Jesus; six, the jugs of wine at the wedding of Cana; seven, the sacraments; eight, the beatitudes; nine, the choruses of angels; ten, the Ten Commandments; eleven, the eleven thousand virgins; twelve, the twelve Apostles. Other German parallels are given in L. Geiger's "Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland," 3:93,234 (note), 238; while Sander ("Das Volksleben der Neugriechen," 1844, p. 328) has compared an old Greek Church song; Kohler, in Geiger, "Zeitschr." c. p. 239, an English Church song; and Green, in "The Revised Hagada," p. 98, London, 1897, a Scotch nursery-rime.
A peculiar feature of Eḥad Mi Yodea' is that it proceeds to the unlucky number thirteen (see "D. M. L. Z." p. 634, note), and stops there as if to make the Jew feel that with him thirteen(= ) is a holy, and therefore lucky, number. The origin of the numerical folk- or riddle-song has been traced by Kohler (c.) to ancient Oriental sources (comp. Cosquin, "Contes de Lorraine," 1876).
- Kohler, Sage und Sang im Spiegel Jüdischen Lebens, in L. Geiger's Zeitschrift für die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland, 1889, 3:234-240.
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Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Eḥad Mi Yodea''. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​e/eayad-mi-yodea.html. 1901.