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Ha Lachma Anya Leanor
Contributed by JTL

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

There are many questions we can ask on the opening scene of the longest portion of the Seder, Maggid. We begin the story of our exodus from Egypt with a proclamation of the poor man’s bread and an invitation to all who need a Seder to come and eat with us. Two questions we can ask are: one, why does the Haggadah open with the statement “this is the bread of our affliction”, referring to matzah? Two, why do we extend an invitation for people to join us? This obligation is not unique to Pesach, every holiday we are supposed to invite people and make sure everyone has a place to go, so why mention it specifically here?

The night of the Seder is the one night of the year when no one should be in need of any provisions for the Seder; stated by the Mishna, “everyone is to be provided with all the necessary provisions for the Seder”. But we still have the question of, why is there a formal invitation being extended at the beginning of the seder? The Gemara in Pesachim 88 states, “whatever a slave acquires is automatically transferred to his master”. A slave lacks the capacity to acquire and possess anything personally. Now that we have reached the holiday of redemption, an individual can believe that any of his personal possessions belong to him exclusively. However, we must realize that even though we escaped the slavery of Egypt and Pharaoh, we are still slaves in the service of God.

In order to demonstrate this idea that we recognize that all our personal possessions truly belong to God, we symbolically suggest, “let anyone who is in need join and share our meal and the provisions I have accumulated,” for this meal truly belongs to God and I have no personal ownership over them. It could even be seen as self-reflective, inviting, as it were, yourself to the meal, acknowledging that you are a guest of the Owner.

This idea can also address the first question of why we call the matzah “bread of affliction”? Matzah actually has dual symbolism. Rabban Gamliel suggests that matzah is a symbol of redemption because as the Jews were preparing to leave Egypt, they were in such a rush that their bread did not have a chance to rise. But matzah is also a commemoration of servitude, since the Jews ate matzah throughout their slavery in Egypt. As poor people, they never had the luxury of allowing their bread to rise. Once again, we remind everyone that even though we observe the Festival of Freedom and may have accumulated enormous wealth, we eat the bread of poor and recognize that we are still in servitude to God. Matzah is then transformed from the bread of the poor to the bread of redemption through the process of the Seder.   

A fun fact about the proclamation of Ha Lahma Anya is that it is one of the few prayers you are told to say in the language you understand, although it is originally in Aramaic. Legend has it that angels do not understand Aramaic. But why was Ha Lahma Anya composed in this outdated language? It is to teach us that where there is poverty, there is no reliance on angels. It is up to each of us to feed the poor and shelter the homeless. 

The practice associated with Ha Lahma Anya is to uncover the matzot and raise them up for all to see. Different cultures have different customs regarding this process. For example, the Sephardic families lift the seder plate above the heads of all assembled at the table while reciting it together. Personally, in my household, each person says it in whatever language they like while holding the plate above their head. I believe the Attar seder to be very unique in that during Ha Lahma Anya you will hear a variety of languages including: English, Aramaic, and Farsi.         
haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning

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