“Go and learn what Lavan the Aramean wanted to do to our father Jacob”
When we tell the story of the Exodus on seder night, we don’t actually tell the story from Shemot itself, but rather from Deuteronomy, which begins with the passage “Arami oved avi.” And lest you thought historically this had some tie to sacrifice on Passover, this text actually used to be recited by those bringing first fruits to the Temple on Shavuot. Why then did the sages choose to include this text in our haggadot? Rav Soloveitchik (1903-1993, America) taught:
These verses contain an additional feature that the Haggadah saw as important to highlight, namely, Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. There is an inextricable link between the Exodus and our coming to the Land. The Exodus was only the prologue or the introduction to our acquisition of the Land.
When we give thanks to God for the Exodus, we must immediately associate it, link it, with the gift of the Land, for this was the ultimate goal of our being brought out of Egypt.
When Jews would come to Jerusalem carrying their first fruits, they would stand before God in the Temple. It was a chance to thank God for the miraculous Redemption and the gift of the Land. Tonight, at the Seder, this paragraph serves the same purpose. The great emphasis may be on the Exodus story, but recognizing our Land as a precious gift is an indispensable and inseparable part of our praise on Passover. (Noraot HaRav, vol. 8, p. 63)
Rav Soloveitchik points out here something fundamental to the seder: We were not just redeemed from Egypt, but we were redeemed from Egypt for the purpose of serving God and settling in the Land of Israel. This linkage teaches us that recognizing and appreciating the gift of our homeland is a necessary and important step in our ultimate redemption, whatever that may look like. We must start from a place of love and appreciation, and the rest will follow from there.
This Pesach, may we be blessed with an open heart and a generosity of spirit, allowing us to recognize the Divine in everyone and everything.
Chag Kasher V’Sameach!
Sam Blustin is an alumnus of the Conservative Yeshiva (2014-2015) and a current Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (Class of 2020). You can view more divrei Torah at www.samblustin.com or contact Sam directly at samblustin@gmail.com.
