19 ‘The Passover Haggadah
Recrre THe Haccapan
Raising the matzoth, the leader recites:
Behold, this is the bread of affliction
Our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.
Let all who are hungry come in to eat,
Let all in want come to observe Pesah. This year here, next year in Israel;
This year as subjects, next year as free men.
The wine cups are filled a second time; a young child asks the Four Questions:
Why is this night different from all nights?
41. On all nights we eat hametz and matzah, Why only matzah this night?
“2, On alll nights we eat any kind of greens, Why the bitter greens this night?
.3. On all nights we do not dip even once, Why dip the greens twice this night?
4. On all nights we eat sitting or leaning, Why do we all lean this night?
Bread of afftiction oxy ony) is a phrase taken from Deuteronomy 16:3, where we are (old to eat it in remembrance of the hasty departure from Exypt. Hence, according to Mabzor Vitry, the reference here is to the matzoth the Israclites ate upon leaving Egypt hastily.
‘The invitation extended to the poor to come and share the food of the Passover feast resembles the-formula used by Rav Huns of the third century, who was accustomed to invite the poor whenever he sat down to a meal. He would open the doors and say: “Let all who are hungry come in to eat” (Ta'anith 20b).
Rabbi David Abudarham, writing in the fourteenth century, points out in his commentary that the passage way Non? RA was composed in Aramaic, the vernacular of the Jewish people until the ninth century, so that even the ignorant might clearly understand it cpa ob 1ow °B> ATR wa MARY AW AD wpa pwd pan yen By pay, neDK wha OAT. In place of the Hebrew phrase man may (nex! year), Maimonides’ Haggadah has the Aramaic equivalent went Rn?
Mah Nishtannah is quoted in the Mishnah (Pesahim 10:4) with one variation. Instead of asking why all the participants recline this night, the
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