Year after year we are obligated to tell the story of the departure from  Egypt. We are obligated to tell the story of our slavery and our redemption from slavery. We are obligated to talk about being and doing and them trusting in unexplainable realities. We are obligated to tell it as often as we can, because each year, as we live our lives day-by-day, the internal reality from within which we view the world changes. And as our internal reality changes, we see the concept of "slavery" differently. By telling and retelling the story, we create a linked-chain back through the ages, all the way back to our ancestors who physically left the oppression of Egypt.

Passover is a family holiday because of the importance it places on conveying the story and meaning of Passover to the next Generation. It is the children's role to ask the Four Questions; it is the role to impress upon them the significance of the answers, for we understand fully what our children may not: that the future sustained peace lies with them. In every generation each of us and each of our children must feel as though we ourselves were slaves in Egypt and were redeemed. In this way, each new generation can take its place in the chain of Jewish people leading down from the Exodus to the present.


haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning