הָא לַחְמָא Begin with a Breath

מַגִּיד

מגלה את המצות, מגביה את הקערה ואומר בקול רם:

הָא לַחְמָא עַנְיָא דִּי אֲכָלוּ אַבְהָתָנָא בְאַרְעָא דְמִצְרָיִם. כָּל דִכְפִין יֵיתֵי וְיֵיכֹל, כָּל דִצְרִיךְ יֵיתֵי וְיִפְסַח. הָשַּׁתָּא הָכָא, לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בְּאַרְעָא דְיִשְׂרָאֵל. הָשַּׁתָּא עַבְדֵי, לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בְּנֵי חוֹרִין.

Pesach Haggadah, Magid, Ha Lachma Anya 1-3

The Recitation [of the exodus story]

The leader uncovers the matsot, raises the Seder plate, and says out loud:

Ha Lachma - This is the bread of destitution that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Anyone who is famished should come and eat, anyone who is in need should come and partake of the Pesach sacrifice. Now we are here, next year we will be in the land of Israel; this year we are slaves, next year we will be free people.

We begin the Seder in the vernacular. Aramaic - the lingua Franca of the Middle East and the first international language. How fitting for a story that spans so many generations, crosses so many borders and has inspired liberation for so many that it starts in a language which is supra-national. But the story of liberation transcends even language. We actually begin the Haggadah with a sound, or to be more precise, a breath. Ha We begin the seder/Exodus with the sound of the letter Heh, a sound that according to our tradition and many other ancient traditions, requires no movement of the tongue and therefore has the same meaning in any tongue. According to our tradition God began creation with the sound of the letter Heh...

בראשית ב׳:ד׳

(ד) אֵ֣לֶּה תוֹלְד֧וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם עֲשׂ֛וֹת יהוה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃

Genesis 2:4

(4) Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When God יהוה made earth and heaven—

בראשית רבה י״ב:י׳

(י) בהבראם - ר' אבהו בשם ר' יוחנן אמר: בהבראם, ביהוה בראם. ומה יהוה זה, כל האותיות תופסין את הלשון וזה אינו תופס את הלשון, כך לא בעמל ולא ביגיעה ברא הקדוש ברוך הוא את עולמו, אלא, (שם לג): בדבר יהוה וכבר שמים נעשו. .... בהבראם - רבי ברכיה בשם ר"י בר סימון אמר: בלא עמל ובלא יגיעה ברא הקב"ה את עולמו, אלא בדבר יהוה וכבר שמים נעשו. משל למלך שנזף בעבדו ועמד לו תמיה, כך (איוב כו): עמודי שמים ירופפו ויתמהו מגערתו:

Bereshit Rabbah 12:10

BeHibaram - Rabbi Abahu in the name of Rabbi Yochanan said: BeHibaram, With [the letter] Hey He created. And what is this Hey? All the letters require the tongue and this [the Hey] does not require the tongue. Similarly, it was not with effort and not with toil that the Holy One created the world, rather, (Psalms 33:6) "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."

Unlike Divine creation, human liberation requires a lot of preparation and work. God created the world and presumably redeemed us from Egypt without effort. One imagines God effortlessly passing over the homes of the Hebrews. Pesach - Passed Over - פסח

For the Hebrews, there was much pain, suffering, and physical and spiritual travail before the Exodus just as prior to a seder much physical and spiritual cleaning and other preparations are necessary. According to tradition, the Hebrews left Egypt with great effort... פִּסֵחַ limping... a different type of breath... maybe an in-breath.

But as the seder begins, maybe the aramaic text is inviting us to stop, gather our thoughts and center ourselves and exhale... before we begin our personal Exodus.

Geoffrey Stern

Part of Collections