Background According to Rabbi Lorberbaum there is a common theme to the comments in the Haggadah Deuteronomy 26:7. It would seem that these comments are exploring why God chose to bring the redemption sooner than he had predicted to Abraham in Genesis 15:13: “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs and they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years…” God had foretold to Abraham that his offspring would be both enslaved and oppressed; they were simply living out the prediction that had already been given to them (in order to rid themselves of the dross and impurity of their former idolatrous past). So why then did God bring them out of Egypt sooner than expected? It must have been that the Egyptians’ oppression went above and beyond what God allowed for. The Israelites were therefore purified sooner and the Egyptians were deserving of punishment. We cried out to the Lord – Many people, when confronted with suffering and tribulations, cry out to God (that’s why we say that there are no atheists in a foxhole). So how about the Israelites? How did the children of Israel cry out to God? Was their cry motivated by faith or by pain and suffering? Was their cry one of one of sincere and heartfelt prayer and a desire to return to God, or was it simply a cry that came out of the pain and suffering they experienced in Egypt? The proof text from Exodus implies that they cried out of suffering (“They groaned because of the bondage”); none the less, their sigh still rose up to God despite the fact that it was not motivated by sincere and heartfelt faith (“Their cry because of the bondage rose up to God”). Interestingly this interpretation depicts the Israelites in a less than positive fashion. God answers the prayers of those who suffer whether or not they are faithful servants.