The ha lachma anya (bread of affliction) reading closes with the phrase, “Now enslaved, next year free.” This phrase sets up the dramatic tension that embraces the entire Seder. In a moment we we will say “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt…. If the Holy One of Blessing had not brought our ancestors out of Egypt we … would still be enslaved.” Liberation happened long ago, and as good faithful Jews we still remember it. But first, in this opening to the Seder, we say the opposite: We are still slaves! Next year may we be really free! We recognize, in other words, that our liberation from “Egypt” never quite succeeded; we are still on the road to liberation, not quite wholly free.

Both of these versions of liberation are true. When seen from the viewpoint of our onetime total bondage in Egypt and that of Jews and others within our own memory, we indeed have every reason to be grateful. We live in a society that offers us freedom and opportunities that were far beyond the dreams of prior generations. But the human condition is such that we still, and always, struggle to be free. Conversation at the Seder table should attempt to encompass both of these truths and highlight the tension between them.
 


haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning