Go and Learn… Translators Introduction: There are a number of ways of interpreting the expression, ארמי אבד אבי, the beginning of Deuteronomy 26:5. The Haggadah and the classic rabbinic reading is, "An Aramean tried to kill my father," but this is most definitely not the literal meaning of the words. If you look in most contemporary translations, you will find something very different: "My father was a wandering Aramean," or even, "My father was fugitive Aramean." Rabbi Bondi offers an explanation for the rabbinic reading of this verse. The passage which follows v'hee is meant to add spice by explaining why we praise God. Why did God command Jacob to go down to Egypt to begin the Exile of four hundred years? Couldn’t Jacob's exile have begun in Laban's house since it was Laban's intention to destroy all of Jacob's family? Yet had he succeeded, the other part of the God's decree to Abraham could not have been fulfilled the promise, "They shall go forth with great abundance." This is the intention of Deuteronomy 26:5, "An Aramean sought to destroy my father;" Laban sought to destroy all of Jacob's family. Therefore, God had him go down to Egypt (for his exile) instead of remaining in Aram. Previously, the author of the Haggadah brings the passage dealing with the Covenant of the Pieces (Genesis 15) Lest you think - what difference does it make whether the exile was in Aram or in Egypt, he goes on to quote Arami Oved Avi to explain why it was necessary for the exile to be in Egypt and not in Aram. Therefore…."They went down to Egypt". Let me explain: Rabbi Bondi manages to meld all the passages in the Haggadah together in his interpretation. In the Covenant of the pieces, God promised Abraham that his descendants would leave a land not their own with, "Great abundance. " This wealth, he explains, is not material wealth but the gift of Torah. This is the gift for which God has sustained us. But had they remained in Aram in the house of Laban, Abraham's descendants would have been more greatly endangered than they were by going down to Egypt. The Haggadah begins by interpreting ארמי אבד אבי as a reference to Laban in order to explain why the exile could not begin until the descendants of Jacob went down to Egypt. Having the Israelites enslaved in Egypt was actually an act of compassion since it protected them from an even worse fate. In this way the Haggadah explains the connection between the two phrases, "May father was a wandering Aramean," and "They went down to Egypt."