Background We now begin the Midrashic interlude that is at the very heart of the Haggadah. This is the part that many people often skip because it is confusing and difficult to unpack. Yet the real fun of the Haggadah can be found in these verses as we try to figure out what the sages had in mind. Several verses from Deuteronomy, Chapter 26, which originally served as the declaration made by the Jews when they brought first fruits to the Temple are brought and explicated in Midrashic fashion. This means that the Maggid carefully reads each of the verses and adds some insight into their meaning by explaining their words or using other verses in the Bible to explain them. These verses offer a brief first-hand description of the enslavement and redemption of the Jewish people: “My father was a wandering Aramean; he went down to Egypt and sojourned there…but the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us…we cried out to the Lord…the Lord freed us with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm…He brought us to this place…” The Haggadah co-opts this entire passage and then expands on its meaning with other verses from the Bible as well as some explanations. Rabbi Lorberbaum wants us to understand each of these comments by raising the question the verse presents and by showing us the connection between the source verse and the Midrashic explanation verse. How does the Haggadah conclude that Vayered, “He went down” implies that he was compelled to do so? The phrase “He went down to Egypt,” logically must be connected with the previous phrase in the same verse, “A lost Aramean was my father.” We can conclude that Jacob did not go down to Egypt freely but, as we have seen, because he was forced to as part of his punishment for having spent so much time in the company of Laban.

And he sojourned there. Jacob did not go down to settle in Egypt but merely to sojourn there... There are two proofs for this explanation of the verse in Deuteronomy. First, the word Vayar comes from the root word Gur, which means to sojourn rather than to permanently settle. The Haggadah also brings an additional verse from Genesis 47:4 to prove this. Shortly after arriving in Egypt, Joseph brings his brothers to Pharaoh. They clearly say that their intention is not to remain in Egypt but to sojourn there until the end of the famine: “And they said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to sojourn (Lagur) in this land for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, the famine being severe in the land of Canaan.’”