הָנּ שְׁ תִַּנּ הַמ Mah Nishtanah
Why is this Night Different ?
A Night for Serious Questions
Dr . David Arnow
Know well that your ancestors shall be strangers in a land not theirs , and they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years … and in the end they shall go forth with great wealth .
— Haggadah , quoting Genesis 15:13-14
God speaks these words to Abraham and the Haggadah cites them to argue that the story of the Exodus didn ’ t just happen . It was destined to occur . And the story ’ s contours will model the ceaseless ebb and flow of Jewish history : “ from slavery to freedom , from grief to joy , from mourning to festivity , from darkness to great light , and from subjugation to redemption ” as the Haggadah puts it .
Like most Jewish liturgy , the Haggadah emphasizes praising God for our redemption rather than probing the causes of our suffering — in this case centuries of enslavement . This may create the misimpression that rabbinic thought shies away from the matter . Over the ages our sources have offered many reasons for the bondage in Egypt . Here ’ s a very small sample :
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