Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

The Mishna instructs us to begin the Haggadah with "Gnut, " which means shame or humiliation. The Haggadah then contains two interpretations of when "Gnut" began in our history.

The Sage Shmuel (some say Rava) recounts, "We were once slaves to Pharaoh in Eygpt." The Sage Rav recounts, "in the beginning, our ancestors were idolators." 

Why does the Haggadah preserve two accounts of the origins of our people's humiliation? There are two kinds of slavery, physical bondage and spiritual bondage. One must be free in body and free in mind. In history, our people have been physically enslaved from without and spiritually enslaved from within. 

Rav's interpretation links his text to the primary Biblical verse of the storytelling,

"An Aramean (Laban) sought to destroy my  father (Jacob)." Rav's description of spiritual slavery harkens back to the patriarchs and how they went from Israel to Egypt. Interestingly, Rav grew up in Israel and found his way to Babylonia.

Shmuel (or Rava) sees the enslavement not by the definition of living in Egypt, but once Pharaoh legislated edicts against our people.

What do you think? What are today's physical and spiritual enslavements? Are they defined by where we live? Or by the conditions we face?

Clearly, there is no definitive answer, which explains multiple points of view in the Haggadah.

Sincerely, 

Rabbi Howard Morrison