Horrible Seders

Lyrics

Before we start, I have to say: I think being Jewish was invaluable preparation for being gay My mother was from a Bronx Jewish labour union family And so you didn't take shit from anybody In a small Southern town with 100 Jewish families A mostly Baptist town, with this solid minority... In a secular, pluralist Democracy You don't take shit from anybody When I came out my father and I Would have these terrible fights Cause it was hard for him to deal with the news I'd talk about identity, and politics, and human rights And being Jewish was the metaphor I'd use When he said "ok, it's too bad that you are a homosexual But do you have to tell everyone - oy, and upset your Aunt?" And I'd say "why don't have you have your nose cut off and change your name to Brown, and become a goy? You can't!" And my father and I got past the anger later But that's how I used to shut down my family seder Talk about being gay and upsetting my Aunt Lucy But gays and Jews sort of arrive knowing how to be unpopular And turn that into a source of power and not feel condemned Because society condemns us And also: a belief that Justice triumphs Pharaoh doesn't win! Pharaoh doesn't win! In the long run the righteous are triumphant! Even if the wicked seem to be winning at the moment But a house so big has a room for you in it somewhere if you want A house this big has a room for you in it somewhere if you want And you have to understand the messiah is not arriving tonight Not tonight, if you think otherwise you're wrong You have to be ready, you have to be prepared, but you also have to know it could be very, very long I think the reason we're so smart as a people is that the religion is such an imponderably difficult task It can't be mastered, it's infinitely receding with every question that you ask The Talmudic tradition is literally, to me, an embrace of the condition of being at sea But a sea so big has a boat for you in it somewhere if you want A boat this big has a place for you in it somewhere if you want My partner Mark's father's mother Minnie Moskovitz - A Russian Jew, and just an ogre, just terrific - And Mark's mother Harriet was Polish, Catholic, when she first married his father wanted to impress Minnie so she made this huge seder meal and at the end to make a toast Minnie Moskovitz said: "I'm deeply moved that my new daughter-in-law, the enemy of my people, has made this beautiful meal for the seder while my ungrateful children have done nothing." But a seder so big has a chair for you in it, just like Minnie Moskovitz said, it isn't peaceful but peaceful - what is that? Peaceful is boring and dead And now I've taken over my family's seder the last two years - it's turned into this terrible free-for-all I have a cousin who's a doctor and we've both of us become Since the second intifada, just apoplectic And like most seders, when the subject comes up It just turns into this terrible free-for-all People yelling and screaming and just wonderful And clearly no one who isn't insane could really argue that God adheres to one faith and not to another If there is a God and I'm agnostic so I just don't know But a house so big has a room for you in it somewhere if you want And I've found a couple I feel comfortable in But one thing that Judaism teaches you, you never can stop thinking Even when your life's in danger, every seder that you host, every home that you make Your connection to God has to stay alive And you're never let off the hook from that, ever Pharoah cannot win Pharoah cannot win In the long run, the righteous have to triumph (Don't they?) Even if the wicked seem to be winning all the time