ו נ י י ה ם י ד ב
ע Avadim Hayinu
We Were Enslaved
Enslavement and Salvation
Rabbi Eliezer Diamond , PhD
The Exodus story is told in two different ways in the Haggadah . The first is in the Avadim Hayinu , “ We Were Slaves ”, section at the beginning of Maggid . It speaks of the Exodus as an event in the distant past and it acknowledges that those sitting at the seder table and enjoying the fruits of freedom might have a difficult time seeing the relevance of that story to their lives . Therefore , the Haggadah reminds us that no matter how distant we are chronologically from the exodus from Egypt , our present-day freedom is possible only because of God ’ s redemption of our ancestors long ago . Had that salvational act not occured , “ we , our children , and our children ’ s children would all be slaves to Pharoah .” It would be a different Pharaoh , but in the end , they are all the same .
There is a second version of the story , and it is directed toward a different audience , one that has experienced or is experiencing oppression . Quoting from Joshua ’ s farewell speech , the Haggadah reminds us that in the beginning we were enslaved not in body but in that we were
32