Two small notes for those who aren’t immersed in Judaism:
The “almost has been said” refers to the saying:
Keep two truths in your pocket and take them out according to the need of the moment. Let one be “For my sake the world was created.” And the other: “I am dust and ashes.”
credited to Rabbi Simcha Bunam, a leader of the chassidic movement in the early 19th century. He said, rather than wrote, this, so the exact phrasing may have gotten cleaned up by successive quoters (of which there have been many).
As for the rhythm of dayenu and lo dayenu, that’s in the traditional melody (which is itself of uncertain origin, but probably a few centuries old at least). Traditionally, the extra beats are filled in by singing “day-dayenu, day-dayenu, day-dayenu, dayenu, dayenu”. Almost as if the melody wanted “lo”s in front of half of the dayenus...
Two small notes for those who aren’t immersed in Judaism:
The “almost has been said” refers to the saying:
credited to Rabbi Simcha Bunam, a leader of the chassidic movement in the early 19th century. He said, rather than wrote, this, so the exact phrasing may have gotten cleaned up by successive quoters (of which there have been many).
As for the rhythm of dayenu and lo dayenu, that’s in the traditional melody (which is itself of uncertain origin, but probably a few centuries old at least). Traditionally, the extra beats are filled in by singing “day-dayenu, day-dayenu, day-dayenu, dayenu, dayenu”. Almost as if the melody wanted “lo”s in front of half of the dayenus...