Citazione Commento su Giobbe 2:1

Ha Lachma Anya, A Third Interpretation: In looking closely at the language of this passage, the question is raised why is it in Aramaic? The common answer, that the people in Babylonian spoke Aramaic is not a sufficient answer to this question. For in our time when we understand Hebrew we should recite this passage in Hebrew. I found written on a manuscript containing the words of the liturgy from the year 1406, “Why do we recite this passage in Aramaic? Because the evil spirits do not understand this language, and if we recited this passage in a language that the spirits understood they would come and harm the people.
Yet don’t we refer to Passover as a leil shemurim, a night of guarding, so what do we have to fear on the eve of Passover?³²BT Pesachim 109b; See Exodus 12:42; The Talmud says “Said Rabbi Nahman: Scripture said, [it is] a night of guarding [unto the lord]: [i.e.,] it is a night that is guarded for all time from harmful spirits. While the evil spirits cannot come on their own and harm people, if we issue an invitation, they are given an opening to come and cause damage. Also by issuing an invitation they will become habituated to being present and can cause harm to the members of the household after the Passover is over. This idea that it is a night of guarding from harmful spirits is difficult, since elsewhere we say that it is only on Yom Kippur that we are protected from the harmful spirits. The word Ha-satan has the numerical value of 364 because 364 days a year harmful spirits can attack us but not on Yom Kippur – the 365th day of the year.³³BT Nedarim 32a This implies that on the days of Passover, harmful spirits do have the ability to attack and harm people. The answer to this question is that on Passover the Jewish people are protected from harmful spirits but not the other nations of the world. On Yom Kippur, the entire world is protected from harmful spirits which is what we are referring to in the word Ha-satan.
But there are other difficulties with this idea. In the book of Job we say, “On the day when the divine beings presented themselves before the Lord, the adversary, Ha-satan, came along and to present himself before the Lord…”³⁴Job 2:1 The Aramaic translation of the Bible translates “on the day” as “the day of the great fast” implying that even on Yom Kippur evil spirits could cause harm to the other nations. (So what then is the distinction between Yom Kippur and Passover with regard to protection from harmful spirits?) On Passover the Jewish people are protected from the actions but not (from?) the words of the harmful spirits (i.e., they could not harm us but they could curse us) but on Yom Kippur the harmful spirits cannot harm us in word nor in deed. Therefore on Passover we recite the invitation to the Seder in Aramaic so that the harmful spirits cannot find entrance to our homes even in word. Only Israel and not the other nations are protected on these two occasions.
Yet why is this passage recited partly in Aramaic and partly in Hebrew³⁵Ha lachma Anya – Aramaic; Kol Dikhfin yetei –Aramaic; Hashta hakha, Hashta Avdei – Aramaic; Lishanah Habbah, Benei Horin – Hebrew? This passage refers to four different time periods in the history of the Jews of Babylonia. The first passage, “this is the bread of affliction” refers to the first Passover soon after they arrived in Babylonia. The second passage was added after the rebuilding of the temple, “All who are hungry come and eat” and “All who are needy come celebrate the Passover.” The people felt like royalty and joyously celebrated even in Babylonia. They opened their homes in great joy and generosity to celebrate this occasion. When the Temple was destroyed again, the sense of joy ceased and now the people said, “Now we are here next year may we be in the Land of Israel.” The references to the redemption were made in Hebrew while the references to the exile were made in Aramaic, hashta hakha, “Now we are here.” Yet in this third passage we find a combination of Hebrew and Aramaic b’ara d’yisrael. This was a way of saying that even though the Jewish people will eventually be able to return to the land of Israel, they are still not completely free since we are subjugated to the Persians and the Medes, and others. Only in the final passage which is a reference to the fourth exile, do we switch over to Hebrew completely in the final part of this expression, “Now we are slaves (in Aramaic) but next year may we be free (in Hebrew).” We say Lishana ha-baah b’nei horin, “Next year may we be free”³⁶Thus, the end of this final or fourth exile will lead to the complete redemption of the Jewish people and not a partial redemption like the earlier ones. which is entirely Hebrew.