Social Justice Themes Within the Haggadah | Passover haggadah by Leor And Deborah

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Themes of Social Justice within the Haggadah

Source 1 - Ha Lachma Anya – Pesach Haggadah

הא לחמא עניא די אכלו אבהתנא בארעא דמצרים. כל דכפין ייתי ויכל. כל דצריך ייתי ויפסח. השתא הכא. לשנה הבאה בארעא דישראל. השתא עבדי. לשנה הבאה בני חורין

This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in need come and celebrate Passover. Now we are here. Next year in the land of Israel. Now we are slaves. Next year we will be free.

Questions:

What is Bread of Affliction (Lechem Oni)?
Is there anything in this passage that does not make sense?

Source 2 - Maarechet Heidenheim

Why does the Haggadah say, "This is the bread of poverty which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt" instead of "This is the bread of poverty which our ancestors ate when they left Egypt?"

Source 3 - Maarechet Heidenheim

I learned the following explanation from my grandfather, Rabbi Abraham Naphtali Hertz Sheier. The Zohar explains that the verse, "Do not eat of a stingy man's bread," (Proverbs 23:6) applies to Joseph's brothers. The Egyptians were resentful of them because they were invited to eat at Joseph's table during the years of famine. (They were resentful of Joseph and his brothers for not sharing the great wealth of Egypt.) And so, the Egyptians punished them during the exile by feeding them "a stingy man's bread." Another term for this is "lechem oni." We hint at this explanation when we say, "This is like the lechem oni, the miserly bread, which our ancestors at in the land of Egypt." That is, when the tribes were in Egypt at Joseph's table. (The miserliness of Joseph's brothers) caused the Egyptians to feed us lechem oni. Today we eat lechem oni as a reminder of what happened in Egypt. We must repair our ancestors' sin, and show that we do not act in a miserly fashion. By behaving with hospitality and generosity, we show that we are no longer miserly.

Source 4 - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Pesach Haggadah, pp. 22-25

This is a strange invitation: "This is the bread of oppression our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come in and eat." What hospitality is it to offer the hungry the taste of suffering? In fact, though, this is a profound insight into the nature of slavery and freedom. As noted, matza represents two things: it is the food of slaves, and also the bread eaten by the Israelites as they left Egypt in liberty. What transforms the bread of oppression into the bread of freedom is the willingness to share it with others....

Sharing food is the first act through which slaves become free human beings. One who fears tomorrow does not offer his bread to others. But one who is willing to divide his food with a stranger has already shown himself to be capable of fellowship and faith, the two things from which hope is born. That is why we begin the seder by inviting others to join us. Bread shared is no longer the bread of oppression. Reaching out to others, giving help to the needy and companionship to those who are along, we bring freedom into the world, and with freedom, God.

Source 5 - Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 99b

“Even the poorest person in Israel may not eat until he reclines, and they must not give him less than four cups of wine.”

Source 6 - Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 115b

Shmuel said that the phrase: “The bread of affliction [leḥem oni]” (Deuteronomy 16:3) means bread over which one answers [onim] matters, i.e., one recites the Haggadah over matza. That was also taught in a baraita: Leḥem oni is bread over which one answers many matters.

Source 7 - Affliction Beyond Hunger
by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice

In our city today, some of our neighbors are forced to work in order to receive their meager welfare benefits, which barely enable them to survive. Tonight we share their bread of affliction:
The affliction of work without dignity
The injustice of no minimum wage
The theft of protection from injury
The anxiety of work with no future
Panic at the threat of lost benefits.
The stress of leaving a child for work
The shame of forced placement
The death of educational opportunity
The robbery of the right to organize
Silenced voices of protest.
Who speaks aloud alongside those whose speech has been muted?
Who breathes together with those who cannot catch their breath?
We can breathe the breath of life, we can join these struggles, we can face the Pharoahs and strip them of their power.