פירוש על דברים 26:5

וענית is an expression for raising one’s voice (speaking loudly) (Sotah 32b).

ארמי אובד אבי, my father, i.e. Yaakov, who was for a while a wandering lost person without a home of his own, was not at the time able to establish a nation deserving or fit to inherit this land.

וענית ואמרת, "And you shall answer and say, etc." Some commentators understand the word וענית as similar to Job 3,2: i.e. "he answered." It is also possible that the word is related to עני. When an undeserving individual has received a great favour from his king, he humbles himself before his king with a contrite heart. Similarly, the Jewish farmer who has seen the blessing G'd has showered on his field or orchard humbles himself before the Lord. He does so by recounting the lowly beginnings of the Jewish people whose ancestor Jacob was a hired hand working for Laban, who made every effort to destroy him. Up to this point the word וענית applies to the recital of the Jewish farmer. Once he recalls the Exodus and how G'd has elevated the Jewish people the Torah refers to his recital as ואמרת, "you will say (with a sense of great satisfaction)". This is what the sages had in mind in Pessachim 116 when they said that the order in which we recount the story of the Exodus on the night of the "Seder" is that one begins by reciting something shameful only to conclude with something representing praise and satisfaction.