Why Arami Oved Avi?

(4) They mixed him a second cup, and here the son questions his father. If the son lacks the intelligence to ask, his father instructs him: On all other nights we dip once, on this night we dip twice? On all other nights we eat hametz or matzah, on this night only matzah. On all other nights we eat roasted, stewed or boiled meat, on this night only roasted. He begins with shame and concludes with praise; and expounds from “A wandering Aramean was my father” (Deuteronomy 6:20-25) until he completes the whole section.

(2) As it says, “An Aramean tried to destroy my father:” ארמי אובד אבי This verse is taken from Deuteronomy 16:5. It is part of a declaration that was made in ancient times when people brought first fruits to the Temple on the feast of Shavuot. The exact meaning of the opening words of this phrase “Arami oved avi” is problematic. Who is the “Arami” and what does the word “Oved” mean? The Haggadah as well as Rashi understand this verse as a reference to Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, who pursued Jacob with intent to harm him after he fled with his wives and flocks from Aram. All three words in this phrase need an explanation, “An Aramean (i.e. Laban) tried to destroy ( only one possible meaning for the word “oved”) my father (i.e. Jacob).” But there are other interpretations of this verse as well. Rashbam understood this phrase differently. He suggested that the Aramean was Abraham because the Patriarch lived in Aram before making the journey to the land of Canaan. Oved is understood not as a transitive verb but as an adjective. Abraham becomes an “Arami oved,” “A wandering Aramean.” Soforno and others understood this verse as a reference to Jacob who was a wandering Aramean because he spent so many years in exile in the land of Aram in his father-in-law’s house. Rabbi Epstein points out that we cannot find anyplace else in the Bible where either Abraham or Jacob are referred to as “Arameans.” What’s more, not only Rashi but Onkoles, the Aramaic translation of the Torah, interprets this verse as a reference to Laban. He also argues that the Haggadah’s interpretation also fits with the Torah trop, the musical annotation that Torah readers use to chant the text. The breaks in the trop suggest that we should read the word “Oved” as a verb rather than an adjective. He therefore accepts the standard interpretation of this verse as we find it in the Haggadah.

While the basket was still on his shoulder he recites from: "I acknowledge this day before the LORD your God that I have entered the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to assign us” (Deuteronomy 26:3) until he completes the passage. Rabbi Judah said: until [he reaches] “My father was a fugitive Aramean” (v.. When he reaches, “My father was a fugitive Aramean”, he takes the basket off his shoulder and holds it by its edges, and the priest places his hand beneath it and waves it. He then recites from “My father was a fugitive Aramean” until he completes the entire passage. He then deposits the basket by the side of the altar, bow and depart.

ארמי אובד אבי, “An Aramean tried to destroy my father;” the reference is to Lavan who chased after Yaakov and his family intending to kill them all. Ibn Ezra writes that the ארמי described here was Yaakov himself, so that the meaning of the verse would be: “when my forefather Yaakov arrived in Aram he was penniless, on the brink of death.” The word אובד only appears in an intransitive mode, so that it cannot mean that Lavan tries to kill him. Furthermore, the word appears in the context of someone being close to death Proverbs 31,6: תנו שכר לאובד ויין למרי נפש, “give liquor to the one who is about to perish or wine to the embittered.” Verse 7 in that same chapter of Proverbs is proof of that meaning, as Solomon continues with: ישתה וישכח רישו ועמלו לא יזכר עוד, “so that he may forget his poverty, and will no longer remember his suffering.” The meaning of the whole recital by the farmer is: “I did not inherit my wealth from my father who was extremely poor when he came to Aram, and subsequently my forbears were strangers and slaves in Egypt, few in numbers; afterwards my fortunes improved when Hashem redeemed us from slavery and brought us to this wonderful land from the produce of which I bring the first ripe fruit as a symbol of my gratitude.” Do not try to argue that an Israelite cannot be called a “Aramean;” we know both from Samuel II 17,25, and Chronicles I 2,17 that Avraham, Ishmael, who were refugees from Aram at one time are still referred to as Arameans on occasion.