Comentários de Citação sobre Deuteronômio 6:21

We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt: The opening passage of the Magid seems to depart from the classical style of much of the Haggadah. Normally we have a Rabbinic statement followed by the word “Sh’ne’emar” “as it says” and then a proof text from the Bible to back up the original statement. In this statement the Haggadah begins with a quote from Deuteronomy 6:21 followed with a Rabbinic statement, “And if the Holy One had not taken our fathers out of Egypt....” The Haggadah should have begun, “Our ancestors (not we) were slaves to Pharaoh and the Lord took them out,” followed by the verse from Deuteronomy as a proof text. Then the Maggid would have continued “And if the Holy One had not brought our fathers forth we would still be enslaved in Egypt...” The present order of the statement is problematic for two reasons. First, the opening two statements in the Haggadah are not in agreement with one another. “We were slaves to Pharaoh....if the Holy One had not taken our fathers out of Egypt, then...” The text seems to switch from “We” to “them.” And second, the statement in Deuteronomy only applies to the generation which left the land of Egypt and not to future generation. In its original context, Moses is speaking to the children of Israel who were slaves to Pharaoh and he reminds them of their past so that they will understand that were it not for God’s ‘mighty hand’ they might still be in Egypt. How can we conclude from this that we were slaves or that we would still be slaves in Egypt? A statement in the Talmud already suggests that we should begin telling the story of the Exodus with “We were slaves...” (See Pesachim 116a.) But Rabbi Epstein believes that the Talmud is merely quoting the text of the Haggadah here. While “We were slaves to Pharaoh” is the language of the Torah, Rabbi Epstein suggests that there are other examples where the Haggadah changes the person of the original statement in order to make it more appropriate to the context of the Haggadah. He mentions Rabban Gamliel’s statement which appears later in the Haggadah as an example of this. The Haggadah changes the Mishnaic statement “Pesach, for what reason? Because the Omnipresent passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt,” while the Haggadah says, “The Pesach which our ancestors ate when the Temple was still standing for what reason? Because the Omnipresent passed over...” This would seem to suggest that the editor of the Haggadah would have also been justified in making a similar change in the Biblical verse from “We were slaves..” to “Our fathers were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt..” The change in Rabban Gamliel’s statement, however, was more significant and necessary for the text of our Haggadah since the original statement in the Mishnah applied in the time when the Temple was still in existence and the Pesach offering was still consumed. After the destruction of the Temple the statement no longer made sense. Rabbi Epstein concludes that we have a good question here but no answer. We are left to wonder why the Haggadah begins by quoting Deuteronomy 6:21 and not placing the quote in the context of a Midrash and a supportive verse.

Avadim Hayeenu, We were slaves: The two halves of the opening statement in this passage are taken from two different biblical verses; the first half of this statement is taken from Deuteronomy 6:21 – “And you shall say to your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt…’” This verse concludes“…And the Lord took us out from Egypt with a mighty hand.” However the Maggid did not use the second part of this statement. Instead the second half of the passage, Avadim Hayeenu is taken from a different verse Deuteronomy 5:15 – “And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” The reason the Maggid uses a different verse for the second part of this passage is because this passage provides an answer to each of the four questions.
We begin with Deuteronomy 6:12 to fulfill the dictum that in telling the story of the Exodus, one begins with disgrace (and ends with exaltation.) Deuteronomy 5:15 contains not only a statement of exaltation but it also answers the four questions in the way it is worded.
Adonai took you out, (1) your God, from there (2), with a mighty hand (3), and an outstretched arm (4)
1. V’yotzee’acha adonai – “Adonai took you out.” This statement explains why we dip twice during the Seder. The two dippings represent the two blessings which God bestowed upon Israel in Egypt: first, they were redeemed from slavery to freedom, and second that it was God Himself who redeemed them. These two blessing are alluded to by these words: V’yotzee’aynu “He took us out” and adonai “Adonai.”
2. Elohaynu misham – “Our God from there.” This is an allusion to the matzah. When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt they were not much better than the Egyptians; like them they worshipped false gods. When they were about to leave Egypt, they renewed their faith in one God and repented of their former ways. We find reference to this in the verse: “Draw out and take your lambs according to your families.” The sages interpret this to mean draw yourselves away from idolatry and bring obligatory lambs. It is known that chametz is a symbol for the evil of idolatry while matzah is a symbol of the aspect of holiness. Therefore when the Israelites ate matzah, they affirmed that their God, Elohaynu, never ceased to be their God and that they were rejecting idolatry, symbolized by chametz. That is why we eat only matzah on Passover – it is an affirmation of acceptance of God and rejection of idolatry.
3. B’yad chazakah – “With a mighty hand.” This expression is a reference to the tenth plague since it is the mightiest of all the plagues. Through it Israel escaped from Egypt. Regarding this plague the Torah says, “There was no house in which there weren’t dead,” As a result, there was bitterness and sorrow in every Egyptian household. We eat bitter herbs as a reminder of the bitterness we caused the Egyptians through the hand of God. Later in the Haggadah a different explanation is given for the bitter herbs, and both are correct.
4. U’v’zroah netuyah – “And an outstretched arm.” Because God took us out of Egypt with “an upraised hand,” without fear or anxiety, we lean at the Seder as a sign of our leisureliness and comfort.

Avadim Hayyinu: There are a number of question regarding this passage. The Haggadah could have said, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand.”⁵⁶Deuteronomy 6:21; Note that the Haggadah adds words which do not appear in Deuteronomy. Why does the Haggadah add “an outstretched arm” “the Lord our God,” and “from there” to the passage? Why does the Haggadah add, “If God had not taken our ancestors out?” Also, why does it say “we would have been subjugated (mishu’badim),” as opposed to “we would have been slaves (avadim)?” And why does the text mention three generations when it says, “Us, our children, and our children’s children?”
There were two forms of oppression in Egypt: there was the oppression of Pharaoh whose heart was hardened and there was the oppression of being trapped in Egypt, which was filled with impurity and sorcery, from which they could not flee. The matzah and the bitter herbs are reminders of these two types of oppression which our ancestors faced in Egypt. The expression “And the Lord our God took us out” is a response to the first and more apparent form of oppression – the oppression of Pharaoh. The second expression, “with an outstretched arm,” is a response to the inner form of oppression which our ancestors faced in Egypt. Israel had already descended close to the fiftieth level of impurity and had they delayed their departure from Egypt even another moment, they never would have been able to escape. That is why God Himself had to redeem them rather than an angel or a messenger. The impurity had weighed them down greatly. This is what scripture says, “Has any god ever ventured to go and to take for himself one nation from the midst of another….”⁵⁷Deuteronomy 4:34 God did so on God’s own and with His own glory.
From there… God brought Israel forth from a place of impurity.
With an outstretched arm… This is a reference to the right hand of God which is associated with loving kindness (chesed) as we learn in scripture: “Your right hand, Lord, glorious in power; Your right hand shatters the foe.”⁵⁸Exodus 15:6 The right hand is mentioned twice in this verse, once for the revealed miracle of redemption and the other for the hidden miracle of redemption.