ולפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח ודורש (דברים כו, ה) מארמי אובד אבי עד שיגמור כל הפרשה כולה: גמ׳ ת"ר חכם בנו שואלו ואם אינו חכם אשתו שואלתו ואם לאו הוא שואל לעצמו ואפילו שני תלמידי חכמים שיודעין בהלכות הפסח שואלין זה לזה: מה נשתנה הלילה הזה מכל הלילות שבכל הלילות אנו מטבילין פעם אחת הלילה הזה שתי פעמים: מתקיף לה רבא אטו כל יומא לא סגיא דלא מטבלא חדא זימנא אלא אמר רבא הכי קתני שבכל הלילות אין אנו חייבין לטבל אפילו פעם אחת הלילה הזה שתי פעמים מתקיף לה רב ספרא חיובא לדרדקי אלא אמר רב ספרא הכי קתני אין אנו מטבילין אפילו פעם אחת הלילה הזה שתי פעמים: מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח: מאי בגנות רב אמר מתחלה עובדי עבודת גלולים היו אבותינו [ושמואל] אמר עבדים היינו אמר ליה רב נחמן לדרו עבדיה עבדא דמפיק ליה מריה לחירות ויהיב ליה כספא ודהבא מאי בעי למימר ליה אמר ליה בעי לאודויי ולשבוחי א"ל פטרתן מלומר מה נשתנה פתח ואמר עבדים היינו:
When teaching his son about the Exodus, he begins with the Jewish people’s disgrace and concludes with their glory. And he expounds from the passage: “An Aramean tried to destroy my father” (Deuteronomy 26:5), the declaration one recites when presenting his first fruits at the Temple, until he concludes explaining the entire section. GEMARA: The Sages taught: If his son is wise and knows how to inquire, his son asks him. And if he is not wise, his wife asks him. And if even his wife is not capable of asking or if he has no wife, he asks himself. And even if two Torah scholars who know the halakhot of Passover are sitting together and there is no one else present to pose the questions, they ask each other. It was taught in the mishna that the father begins his answer with disgrace and concludes with glory. The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the term: With disgrace? Rav said that one should begin by saying: At first our forefathers were idol worshippers, before concluding with words of glory. And Shmuel said: The disgrace with which one should begin his answer is: We were slaves.
RAV'S STORY states that our ancestors were idol worshippers. Abraham’s father was an idol worshipper, of course. But we wonder: “What are you talking about? Who needs to know on Pesach whether my ancestors were idol worshippers?” I always wonder to myself, “What fools! Who would want to worship sticks and stones.” To make sense of Terach’s faith and of Abraham’s religious revolt, I have to tell my children about the appeal, the seduction of idolatry, avodah zarah (strange worship). They have to be told about their great grandfather who began in idolatry and who discovered a liberating worship.
They must discover Abraham’s childhood, and must grasp the lonely man of faith, Abraham ha-ivri. The midrash says that ‘ivri’ (“Hebrew”, also “side”) means that the whole world was on one side and Abraham was on the other, alone. The child must learn the pain of loneliness that the convert has to bear. This is the story for Rav.
Abraham’s conversion is an act of freedom. Jewish identity is saturated with freedom. Passover does not introduce a racist ethnic tribe; it brings to the fore a covenantal people of choice. “Are you prepared to listen how your grandfather was alone and struggled against false beliefs?” That is what the home has to say. After the child is told, then there can be a free embracing of who one is. That is the significance of singing Hallel on Passover night. Here is a singing towards personal identity. One rejoices at this self-definition: “I am a ger, a convert. I am who I am out of conviction. I am free and I choose to praise the Lord who liberated me.”
(David Hartman, Jerusalem philosopher)
Alienation From Ourselves
THE DIFFERENCE between the slave and the free person is not merely one of social class, that the slave just happens to be enslaved to another, and the free person is not enslaved. One can find a cultured and learned slave whose spirit is filled with freedom, and conversely, a “free” person whose spirit is that of a slave. Real freedom is that noble spirit by which the individual and indeed the whole people are elevated to become loyal to their inner essential self, to the image of God within them. Through this characteristic they can perceive their lives as purposeful and worthy of value.
This is not true regarding people with the spirit of a slave – the content of their lives and their feelings are never attuned to the characteristics of their essential self, but rather to what is considered beautiful and good by the others. They are ruled by all sorts of constraints, whether they be formal or moral.
(Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi in Israel, 1921-1935)
(א) מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁל תּוֹרָה לְסַפֵּר בְּנִסִּים וְנִפְלָאוֹת שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בְּמִצְרַיִם בְּלֵיל חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּנִיסָן שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות יג-ג) "זָכוֹר אֶת הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר יְצָאתֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם" כְּמוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ-ח) "זָכוֹר אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת". וּמִנַּיִן שֶׁבְּלֵיל חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר (שמות יג-ח) "וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר בַּעֲבוּר זֶה" בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁיֵּשׁ מַצָּה וּמָרוֹר מֻנָּחִים לְפָנֶיךָ. וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ בֵּן. אֲפִלּוּ חֲכָמִים גְּדוֹלִים חַיָּבִים לְסַפֵּר בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרִים וְכָל הַמַּאֲרִיךְ בִּדְבָרִים שֶׁאֵרְעוּ וְשֶׁהָיוּ הֲרֵי זֶה מְשֻׁבָּח:
(ב) מִצְוָה לְהוֹדִיעַ לַבָּנִים וַאֲפִלּוּ לֹא שָׁאֲלוּ...
(ג) וְצָרִיךְ לַעֲשׂוֹת שִׁנּוּי בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּרְאוּ הַבָּנִים וְיִשְׁאֲלוּ...
(ד) וְצָרִיךְ לְהַתְחִיל בִּגְנוּת וּלְסַיֵּם בְּשֶׁבַח. כֵּיצַד. מַתְחִיל וּמְסַפֵּר שֶׁבַּתְּחִלָּה הָיוּ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ בִּימֵי תֶּרַח וּמִלְּפָנָיו כּוֹפְרִים וְטוֹעִין אַחַר הַהֶבֶל וְרוֹדְפִין אַחַר עֲבוֹדַת אֱלִילִים. וּמְסַיֵּם בְּדַת הָאֱמֶת שֶׁקֵּרְבָנוּ הַמָּקוֹם לוֹ וְהִבְדִּילָנוּ מֵהָאֻמּוֹת וְקֵרְבָנוּ לְיִחוּדוֹ. וְכֵן מַתְחִיל וּמוֹדִיעַ שֶׁעֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרַיִם וְכָל הָרָעָה שֶׁגְּמָלָנוּ וּמְסַיֵּם בַּנִּסִּים וּבַנִּפְלָאוֹת שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ לָנוּ וּבְחֵרוּתֵנוּ. וְהוּא שֶׁיִּדְרשׁ מֵ(דברים כו-ה) "אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי" עַד שֶׁיִּגְמֹר כָּל הַפָּרָשָׁה. וְכָל הַמּוֹסִיף וּמַאֲרִיךְ בִּדְרַשׁ פָּרָשָׁה זוֹ הֲרֵי זֶה מְשֻׁבָּח:
(1) It's a positive commandment from the Torah to tell about the miracles and wonders that were done for our fathers in Egypt on the night of the 15th of Nisan, as it is said (Exodus 13:3) "Remember this day when you left Egypt." As it is said (Exodus 20:8) "Remember the Sabbath day." And from where [do we know] that it's on the 15th night? The verse says (Exodus 13:8) "And you shall tell your son on that night telling him because of this." And the time when the Matzah and Maror are in front of you. And even if he doesn't have a son. Even great sages are obligated to tell about leaving Egypt, and anybody who speaks at length about the things that happened and what was, that is praiseworthy.
(2) It's a mitzvah to make it known to children, even if they didn't ask...
(3) And it's necessary to make changes on this night so that the children will see and will ask...
(4) And it's necessary to start with degradation and to finish with praise. How? Start by telling that in the beginning our ancestors, in the days of Terach and before him, were heretics and they followed foolishness, and they chased after idol worship. And finish with the truth that God brought us close to Him and set us apart from the nations and brought us close to His oneness. And thus start with telling that we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and all of the bad things that he did to us and finish with the miracles and wonders that were done for us in our freedom. And that's why you expound from (Deut 26:5) 'My father was a wandering Aramean...' through that whole section. And anybody who adds and lengthens the drash of this section, that is praiseworthy.