[Avodah] running a seder

[Saul Mashbaum]

RRW

Q:  Why was arami chosen over more complete passages in shmos re: Exodus?

I like the following explanation, which I heard many years ago from R.
Shimon Felix of Yeshivat HaMivtar.

The person bringing bikkurim emphasizes that the yetziat mitzraim
experience is the basis of his own existence; his present actions are
founded on the story he tells. Parshat Bo is history; Arami oved avi
is autobiography. As such, arami oved avi is a much more powerful,
although compact, narrative to serve as the basis for the seder, whose
whole point is to engender the personal connection of the participants
to the story being told.


Regarding RRW's position that the "ma nishtanah" is not the text of
the questions asked by the child: the Malbim in his commentary on the
hagaddah says exactly this. He cites Tosfot P'sachim 115b d"h k'dei
in support of this position. After the pouring the second kos, the
child is encouraged to ask questions, whaterever he chooses to ask,
with no set text. If no questions ensue, "eino yodea lishol", "lfi
daato shel ben aviv m'lamdo", the father points out the unusual
practices of the seder night, the ma nishtana, as an introduction to
the narrative of the haggadah.

Saul Mashbaum