Arami Oved Avi | Passover haggadah by Danielle Seda

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אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי וַיֵּרֶד מִצְרַיְמָה וַיָּגָר שָׁם בִּמְתֵי מְעָט וַיְהִי־שָׁם לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל עָצוּם וָרָב

Arami oved avi v'yeired mitzray'ma v'yagar sham bimtei m'at l'goy gadol atzum varav.

My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.

(Deut. 26:5)

The first time the Torah refers to the Jewish people as a people (and not just a collection of the children of Jacob and Rivkah) is in Egypt: What is the significance to the Jewish people being formed in Egyptian slavery?

וַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי־גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם וַעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה

Va'yomer l'Avram yadoa teida ki-geir yihyeh zaracha b'eretz lo l'hem va'avadum v'inu otam arba meiot shana.

And He said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.

(Genesis 15:13)

ידוע תדע (yadoa teida; "Know well/surely"), here G'd informed Avram why it would take such a long time before His promise to Avraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan could be fulfilled. G'd would not be justified in expelling a nation from its homeland until its measure of sin is full to overflowing. Therefore G'd told Avram ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם(yadoa teida ki-geir yihyeh zaracha b'eretz lo l'hem), that his own descendants would be strangers in a land which is not theirs until such time as the local inhabitants could legally be expelled by G'd from the land of Canaan. At the same time, He also told him about what would happen to his descendants in the interval, i.e. enslavement, cruel oppression, etc., for at least some of the intervening years. However, G'd implied that such suffering would not occur during the periods when Avram's descendants would be righteous. We know from the dates when the sons of Yaakov died, that as long as even a single one of them survived, no restrictions of any kind were imposed on the Israelites in Egypt, in spite of their having increased at a phenomenal rate already. All of these developments are attested to in Ezekiel in 20, 8-9 when he referred to the descendants of Yaakov in Egypt becoming rebellious and refusing to honour their tribal obligations vis-à-vis the G'd of Avraham-Yitzchok, and Yaakov. The reason why the prophet dragged up such ancient history was only in order to make plain to the newly exiled nation that their misfortunes had always been due only to their betrayal of their covenant with G'd. Compare Isaiah 48,5 אַגִּיד לְךָ מֵאָז בְּטֶרֶם תָּבוֹא הִשְׁמַעְתִּיךָ פֶּן־תֹּאמַר עָצְבִּי עָשָׂם וּפִסְלִי וְנִסְכִּי צִוָּם (Va'agid l'cha mei'az b'terem tavo hishmaticha pen tomar atz'bei asam v'nischi tzivam) "therefore I told you long beforehand, announced things to you ere they happened; that you might not say: 'my idol cause them, my carved and molten images ordained them."

(Sforno, Genesis 15:13:1)

Why do we thank God for taking us out of Egypt if He’s the one who put us there in the first place?

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה בְּלֶכְתְּךָ לָשׁוּב מִצְרַיְמָה רְאֵה כָּל־הַמֹּפְתִים אֲשֶׁר־שַׂמְתִּי בְיָדֶךָ וַעֲשִׂיתָם לִפְנֵי פַרְעֹה וַאֲנִי אֲחַזֵּק אֶת־לִבּוֹ וְלֹא יְשַׁלַּח אֶת־הָעָם

V'yomer Adonai el-Moshe b'lecht'cha la'shuv mitzray'ma r'eh kol-hamoftim asher-samti b'yadecha va'asitam lifnei Paroa va'ani achazek et-libo v'lo y'shalach et-haam.

And the LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have put within your power. I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go.

(Exodus 4:21)

ואני אחזק את לבו (va'ani achazek et-libo; "and I will stiffen/harden his heart), for if he could not endure the plagues he would let the Israelites go, not because he was finally humbling himself before the Lord and do His will, but only in order to get relief from the plagues. This was not a good enough reason to grant him relief; therefore G’d reinforced his natural obstinacy.

(Sforno, Exodus 4:21:4)

ואני אחזק את לבו, “I will harden his heart;” this does not mean that G-d deprives Pharaoh of the ability to become a penitent and to reverse his attitude and cooperate with G-d’s commands if he so wills it. The line must be understood as follows: “I will give him additional courage so that seeing My miracles he will not die from fright until all My miracles will have been performed.”

(Chizkuni, Exodus 4:21:2)

Why does God punish the Egyptians for enslaving the Jews if God himself hardens Pharoah’s heart in the first place?

haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story