Seder - Our Love of the Land of Israel

"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)