Parshat Bo: Telling the Story
וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔ בַּיּ֥וֹם הַה֖וּא לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּעֲב֣וּר זֶ֗ה עָשָׂ֤ה יְהוָה֙ לִ֔י בְּצֵאתִ֖י מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃
And you shall explain to your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I went free from Egypt.’
והגדת לבנך שאינו יודע לשאול, תאמר לו כך: מה ראה הקב״‎ה לתת למצרים כח לגרשנו מארצם קודם שהספיק בצקת אבותינו להחמיץ הרי בידו להעמידנו שם עד שתחמץ ועד שיכינו להם צידה לדרך. תשובה לדבר בעבור זה שקבלתי עלי לקיים מצות פסח מצה ומרור עשה ה׳‎ לי הנסים בצאתי ממצרים.
והגדת לבנך, “you will tell your son, etc.;” the son who is too young to pose the question, you will tell without his having asked: “why did G-d saw fit to make Pharaoh kick out the Jews before their dough had even had a chance to be baked into bread? Did He not have the power to keep them there until they could at least have taken baked bread with them?” You will answer the question you have put into the mouth of the שאינו יודע לשאול, the child that is as yet not curious to formulate his own questions: בעבור זה, “in order to make sure that I will observe these commandments involving the Passover sacrifice, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs as a commemoration of all the miracles he performed for me then when I came out of Egypt.”
עוד ירצה באומרו לאמר להיות שאמר והגדת לבנך תינח אם יש לו בן אם אין לו בן יהיה פטור תלמוד לומר לאמר שעל כל פנים צריך להגיד אפילו בינו לבין עמו. ואם תאמר כיון שעל כל פנים הוא צריך להגיד אפילו בינו לבין עצמו אם כן למה אמר לבנך. ואולי שבאמצעות היתור אני מבין כן ולא בלא יתור. ואפשר עוד שירמוז באומרו והגדת לבנך שאם יגיד הגדה האמורה בנין יזכהו ה' שיגיד לבנו וכדי שלא תטעה לומר דוקא, לזה אמר לאמר:
Another reason that the Torah had to write the word לאמור in addition to והגדת is that the former was addressed to "your son." A father of girls or a husband not blessed with children might have concluded that since he had no son he would be free from the obligation to conduct the annual סדר celebration; the Torah writes לאמור, to tell us that even if the person is all alone he must relate what happened during that night to himself. Seeing that this is so, you may well ask why the Torah had to speak about a father telling his son at all? Perhaps I would not have known that under certain conditions one must "tell oneself" the Haggadah shel Pessach unless the Torah had used extra verbiage. Perhaps the Torah hinted that if someone is particular about telling of the Exodus, G'd will eventually grant him a son to whom he can relate these events.
מצות ספור יציאת מצרים - לספר בענין יציאת מצרים בליל ט''ו בניסן, כל אחד כפי צחות לשונו, ולהלל ולשבח לשם יתברך על כל הנסים שעשה לנו שם. שנאמר (שמות יג ח) והגדת לבנך. וכבר פרשו חכמים, (מכילתא בא שם) דמצות הגדה זו הוא בליל ט''ו בניסן בשעת אכילת מצה. ומה שאמר הכתוב לבנך, לאו דוקא בנו, (פסחים קטז, א) אלא אפילו עם כל בריה.
The commandment to recount the exodus from Egypt: To tell about the exodus from Egypt on the night of the fifteenth of Nissan (the first night of Pesach) - each person according to his own power of expression - to laud and to praise God, may He be blessed, for all the miracles He performed for us there, as it is stated (Exodus 13:8), "And you shall tell your son." [Although the verse doesn't specify when this should be done,] the Sages have already explained (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:8) that this commandment of retelling is on the night of the fifteenth of Nissan - which is the time of the eating of the matsah. And that which the verse states, "[and you shall tell] your son," [does not mean] exclusively one's son; but rather even with any creature (Pesachim 116a).
וענין המצוה, שיזכר הנסים והענינים שארעו לאבותינו ביציאת מצרים, ואיך לקח האל יתברך נקמתנו מהם, ואפילו בינו, לבין עצמו, אם אין שם אחרים, חיב להוציא הדברים מפיו, כדי שיתעורר לבו בדבר, כי בדבור יתעורר הלב (עי' סהמ''צ להרמב''ם מ''ע קנז).
The content of the commandment is that one mentions the miracles and the [related] matters that happened to our forefathers during the exodus from Egypt, and how the Almighty, may He be blessed, exacted our revenge from [the Egyptians]. And even one who is by himself - if no other people are present - is obligated to verbally express these matters, so that his heart will be inspired in this matter; for the heart is inspired through verbal expression (see Sefer HaMitzvot LaRambam, Mitzvot Ase 157).

From 1977 lecture by Rav Soloveitchik, transcribed by R. David Etengoff:

"The Rav was fond of the analytical and conceptual distinction between a nisa(object) and a nosa (subject). The former is something or someone acted upon, whereas the latter is an actor in the historical drama we call life. At first blush, we look at Pesach, Matzah, and Maror as mere objects that must be consumed during the Seder (i.e. inclusive of the Korban Pesach when the Holy Temple is extant). Yet, in a creative tour de force, Rav Soloveitchik perceived each of these items as a nosa, as an active participant in the mitzvah of Sippur Yitziat Mitzraim:

Sippur Yitziat Mitzraim is a blend of storytelling, Torah teaching, and eating symbolic food items. It is a fusion of the spoken word and the physiological functions of eating and drinking, the intermingling of physical pleasure with Torah debate, the combining of the word of G-d with an activity motivated by biological pressure and characteristic not only of man but of animals. Eating the paschal sacrifice, mazzah and maror constitutes a double mizvah. The mizvat akhilah, physically consuming these items, is per se, a religious performance, a maaseh kiyum mizvah. But eating the Pesach, mazzah, and maror is also the instrument or medium of Sippur Yitziat Mitzraim, telling the story of the Exodus. We narrate the story not only through speech but through eating as well. [Therefore,] in order to fulfill the mizvah of sippur in the most perfect manner, one must interpret and explicate the symbolic meaning of Pesach, mazzah, and maror."