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THE FREEDOM SEDER: A NEW HAGGADAH FOR PASSOVER, Washington; Micah Press, 1969
Dayenu
For if we were to end a single genocide but not to stop the other wars that kill men and women as we sit here, it would not be sufficient;
How much then are we in duty bound to struggle, work, share, give, think, plan, feel, organize, sit-in, speak out, hope, and be on behalf of Mankind! For we must end the genocide [in Vietnam], 1 stop the bloody wars that are killing men and women as we sit here, disarm the nations of the deadly weapons that threaten to destroy us all, end the brutality with which the police beat minorities in many countries, make sure that no one starves, free the poets from their jails, educate us all to understand their poetry, allow us all to explore our inner ecstasies, and encourage and aid us to love one another and share in the human fraternity. All these!
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1 "Insert any that is current—such as "Biafra," "Black America," etc.—depending on the situation.
Preface
One of my earliest and warmest memories is that of my father reciting the Dayenu, the chant of rebellion, liberation, travail, and the creation of a new law that is the story of Passover. One of
my latest and warmest memories is that of working with my wife and children to make of our own Passover Seder something that would speak to our deep concerns about our selves and our world.
Our efforts became sharper and more urgent in 1968, when the Passover came one bare week after the murder of Martin Luther King, the April uprising of black Washington against the
blank-eyed pyramid-builders of our own time, and the military occupation of our city.
... I found myself preparing for the next Passover by writing a Haggadah, a Telling of my own, a script for what I imagined would be our own family Seder. I hoped it would deliberately make happen in the future what had already happened, with no deliberation, in the midst of turmoil. I dug out my old Haggadah, the one I had been given when I turned 13,
I had written half a dozen books—on military strategy, disarmament, race relations, American politics—but this was different: This book was writing me. I had no idea whether it made any sense to do this; I knew only that I could not stop. When I had finished, I called around to find a Washington rabbi who might be sympathetic. I asked him—Rabbi Harold White—to read my draft: Was this a crazed obsession or a good idea?
Two days later, he called me: “I love it, Waskow. It’s an activist midrash on the Haggadah! You’ve taken the story into our own hands, as the rabbis said God wanted the fleeing slaves themselves to do. Do you know that midrash? The one where God refuses to split the Red Sea until one activist has gone into the water, up to his nose, about to drown?” See: By Arthur Waskow, March 30, 2018 Why I Wrote the Freedom Seder And Why It’s Still Necessary 50 Years After Dr. King’s Assassination
Authoring the Freedom Seder was part of a transformational moment for Waskow, as he began to synthesize his Jewish upbringing with the radical politics that he had adopted as an adult. Afterwards, he continued to work as a scholar of American politics at a progressive think tank in Washington D.C., but he would begin to search for “the spiritual roots of the politics.” Much of Waskow’s writing after 1969 articulated a progressive political agenda grounded in Jewish spirituality.
Along with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Waskow helped found the Jewish Renewal movement, a progressive stream of American Judaism. In 1995, Waskow was formally ordained as a rabbi after many years of working as a lay Jewish teacher. See: Freedom Seder Participants
Preface (cont.)
For us this Haggadah is deeply Jewish, but not only Jewish. In our world all men face the Pharaohs who could exterminate them any moment, and so enslave them all the time. Passover therefore fuses, for an instant, with the history and the future of all mankind. But it fuses for an instant, and in the fusion it does not disappear. The particularly Jewish lives within the universally human, at the same time that the universally human lives within the particularly Jewish. The Freedom Seder, Arthur I. Waskow 1969 p4
Two Unlit Candles
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳, אֱלקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר בָּנוּ מִכָּל־עָם וְרוֹמְמָנוּ מִכָּל־לָשׁוֹן וְקִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו. וַתִּתֶּן לָנוּ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵינוּ בְּאַהֲבָה (לשבת: שַׁבָּתוֹת לִמְנוּחָה וּ)מוֹעֲדִים לְשִׂמְחָה, חַגִּים וּזְמַנִּים לְשָׂשוֹן, (לשבת: אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת הַזֶּה וְ)אֶת יוֹם חַג הַמַּצּוֹת הַזֶּה זְמַן חֵרוּתֵנוּ, (לשבת: בְּאַהֲבָה) מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם. כִּי בָנוּ בָחַרְתָּ וְאוֹתָנוּ קִדַּשְׁתָּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים, (לשבת: וְשַׁבָּת) וּמוֹעֲדֵי קָדְשֶׁךָ (לשבת: בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצוֹן) בְּשִׂמְחָה וּבְשָׂשוֹן הִנְחַלְתָּנוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳, מְקַדֵּשׁ (לשבת: הַשַׁבָּת וְ)יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהַזְּמַנִּים.
בּמוצאי שבת מוסיפים: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳, אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא מְאוֹרֵי הָאֵשׁ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳, אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמַּבְדִיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל, בֵּין אוֹר לְחשֶׁךְ, בֵּין יִשְׂרָאֵל לָעַמִּים, בֵּין יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי לְשֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי הַמַּעֲשֶׂה. בֵּין קְדֻשַּׁת שַׁבָּת לִקְדֻשַּׁת יוֹם טוֹב הִבְדַּלְתָּ, וְאֶת־יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִשֵּׁשֶׁת יְמֵי הַמַּעֲשֶׂה קִדַּשְׁתָּ. הִבְדַּלְתָּ וְקִדַּשְׁתָּ אֶת־עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּקְדֻשָּׁתֶךָ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳, הַמַּבְדִיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְקֹדֶשׁ.
On Shabbat, add the words in parentheses.בָּרוּךְ Blessed are You, LORD our God,King of the Universe,who has chosen us from among all peoples,raised us above all tongues, and made us holythrough His commandments.You have given us,LORD our God, in love(Sabbaths for rest),festivals for rejoicing,holy days and seasons for joy,(this Sabbath day and)this day of the festival of Matzot,the time of our freedom(with love), a holy assembly in memoryof the Exodus from Egypt.For You have chosen us and sanctified us above all peoples,and given us as our heritage (Your holy Sabbath in love and favor and) Your holy festivals for joy and gladness. Blessed are you, LORD,who sanctifies (the Sabbath,) Israel and the festivals. On Motza'ei Shabbat, the following Havdala is added: בָּרוּךְ Blessed are You, LORD our God,King of the Universe,who creates the lights of fire.Blessed are You, LORD our God,King of the Universe,who distinguishes between sacred and secular,between light and darkness,between Israel and the nations,between the seventh day and the six days of work. You have made a distinction between the holiness of the Sabbat hand the holiness of festivals, and have sanctified the seventh day above the six days of work. You have distinguished and sanctified Your people Israel with Your holiness. Blessed are You, LORD, who distinguishes between sacred and sacred.
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe! who hast made of one earth, one flesh all the peoples of the world, who didst exalt Mankind by breathing the life of the mind and the love of freedom into him, who didst sanctify us so that we might know and say what was holy and profane, what was freedom and what slavery. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, who with love has allowed us to give ourselves and thee solemn days for joy, festivals and seasons for gladness. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, who didst allow Israel to imagine this day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the season of our freedom, a holy convocation, a memorial of the departure from Egypt. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord! who sanctifiest Mankind, freedom, Israel, and the seasons.
Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the Universe who makest a distinction between holy and holy: between the holiness of this festival and that of the Sabbath; between the holiness of light and the holiness of darkness; between the holiness of the
Jewish people and the holiness of other peoples. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, who hast made all peoples holy and hast commanded us, even against our will, to become a beacon for justice and freedom for them all. pp 7-8
May all of us tonight, when we speak, inform our speech from the silence, the stillness, the depth, of Rabbi Mendel (the silent); and when we are silent, may we inform our, silence from the speech, the conversation, the sharing of Rabbis Akiba, Tarfon, and the rest.
(There shall be a few minutes of quiet in which all the lights are doused and the reader says:)
Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates! darkness and commands us to meditate in silence.
(Then the reader lights the candles and says:)
Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates! the light of the fire and commands us to converse with each other about the departure from Egypt. p16
Ha Lachma
(Everyone then eats this piece of parsley. Then, break the middle matzah in two and hide the larger piece somewhere in the house, for an afikoman. Uncover the matzah, take the egg and the lamb bone off the dish, lift up the dish, and say:)
Lo! This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry eat thereof; and all who are in need come and celebrate the Passover. (OPEN DOOR.) As our door is open, may not only the hungry come but also the spirit of
the prophet Elijah, that we may tonight think wisely and feel deeply as we celebrate the Passover! For Elijah we set aside this cup of wine. (POUR CUP.)
According to the Abarbanel, Ha Lachma Anya should be recited at the entrance to the house, with the door open, so that paupers can hear the invitation and enter. See ArtScroll Rabbi Chagai Vilosky (2014) The Answer Is
See sources (Abarbanel and Abudraham) at end of source sheet.
כִּי הֲוָה לֵיהּ מִילְּתָא דְאָסוּתָא, הֲוָה מָלֵי כּוּזָא (דְמַיָּא) [מִינֵּיהּ], וְתָלֵי לֵיהּ בְּסִיפָּא דְבֵיתָא, וְאָמַר: כׇּל דְּבָעֵי לֵיתֵי וְלִישְׁקוֹל. וְאִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי: מִילְּתָא דְשִׁיבְתָּא הֲוָה גְּמִיר, וַהֲוָה מַנַּח כּוּזָא דְמַיָּא וְדָלֵי לֵיהּ, וְאָמַר: כׇּל דִּצְרִיךְ — לֵיתֵי וְלֵיעוּל דְּלָא לִסְתַּכַּן. כִּי הֲוָה כָּרֵךְ רִיפְתָּא, הֲוָה פָּתַח לְבָבֵיהּ, וְאָמַר: כׇּל מַאן דִּצְרִיךְ לֵיתֵי וְלֵיכוֹל. אָמַר רָבָא: כּוּלְּהוּ מָצֵינָא מְקַיַּימְנָא, לְבַר מֵהָא דְּלָא מָצֵינָא לְמִיעְבַּד,
Another custom of Rav Huna was that when he had a new medicine, he would fill a water jug with the medicine and hang it from the doorpost of his house, saying: All who need, let him come and take from this new medicine. And there are those who say: He had a remedy against the demon Shivta that he knew by tradition, that one must wash his hands for protection against this evil spirit. And to this end, he would place a water jug and hang it by the door, saying: Anyone who needs, let him come to the house and wash his hands, so that he will not be in danger. The Gemara further relates:
When Rav Huna would eat bread, he would open the doors to his house, saying: Whoever needs, let him come in and eat.
Rava said: I can fulfill all these customs of Rav Huna, except for this one, which I cannot do,
כִּי הֲוָה לֵיהּ מִילְּתָא דְאָסוּתָא, הֲוָה מָלֵי כּוּזָא (דְמַיָּא) [מִינֵּיהּ], וְתָלֵי לֵיהּ בְּסִיפָּא דְבֵיתָא, וְאָמַר: כׇּל דְּבָעֵי לֵיתֵי וְלִישְׁקוֹל. וְאִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי: מִילְּתָא דְשִׁיבְתָּא הֲוָה גְּמִיר, וַהֲוָה מַנַּח כּוּזָא דְמַיָּא וְדָלֵי לֵיהּ, וְאָמַר: כׇּל דִּצְרִיךְ — לֵיתֵי וְלֵיעוּל דְּלָא לִסְתַּכַּן.
Another custom of Rav Huna was that when he had a new medicine, he would fill a water jug with the medicine and hang it from the doorpost of his house, saying: All who need, let him come and take from this new medicine. And there are those who say: He had a remedy against the demon Shivta that he knew by tradition, that one must wash his hands for protection against this evil spirit. And to this end, he would place a water jug and hang it by the door, saying: Anyone who needs, let him come to the house and wash his hands, so that he will not be in danger.
Next Year in the Land of Israel
As the tradition says, "Ha-sha-tah ha-kha; I'sha-nah ha-ba-ah b'ar-ah d'yis-ra-el. This year we celebrate here, but the next year we hope to celebrate in the land of Israel." And as another tradition says, "Ubi libertas, ibi patria"—where there is liberty, that is my country. That is my Israel. For were we sitting tonight in Jerusalem, we should still say, "Next year in Jerusalem." For this year, not only we but all men are slaves and aliens: next year we hope that all men shall be free. This year, all men eat as aliens in a land not wholly their' ;? year we hope all men will celebrate in "the land of Israel"—that is, in a world made one and a world made free.
Moses and the complexity of Revolution
"When Moses was a young man he became curious about the Hebrew slaves, and one day went to the brickyards where some of them were working. The first thing he saw was an Egyptian boss hitting a Hebrew laborer. Moses was a powerful young man. He lost his temper. He hit the boss—and killed him! He buried the body hastily in the sand, and went back to the palace.
"But a fire had been kindled in Moses' heart, a fire of concern about his people and their suffering. The next day he went back to the hot brickyards. Then he learned two things that those who try to help their fellow men often discover.
"He found, first, that slaves often spend as much time and energy fighting each other as they do fighting their common oppressors, and second, that slaves do not always welcome their deliverers. They get accustomed to being slaves. Even after they have been freed, if freedom brings hardship, they may want to go back 'to the fleshpots of Egypt.' quoted in the name of Abraham Johannes Muste
The Burning Bush
"Moses feared that in order to turn suspicion away from themselves they would tell the Egyptians that he killed the boss. He concluded that it might not be healthy to stay around those parts, so he ran away. [In his new home] he settled down to a nice comfortable life, raising a family and feeding the flocks of his father-in-law.
"Only, after a while, God came into the picture What was the sign that God had come? It was a bush that burned and burned and did not stop burning. Moses had had a fire kindled in his heart once, but it went out, or at least died down. God is the Being whose heart does not stop burning, in whom the flame does not die down.
"What was God all burned up about? The voice that came out of the bush said, 'I have seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their oppressors.' it was the physical, economic, and spiritual suffering, the injustice, the degradation to which actual people were subjected here on earth, that caused God concern.
וּלְפִי דַּעְתּוֹ שֶׁל בֵּן אָבִיו מְלַמְּדוֹ. מַתְחִיל בִּגְנוּת וּמְסַיֵּים בְּשֶׁבַח. וְדוֹרֵשׁ מֵ״אֲרַמִּי אוֹבֵד אָבִי״, עַד שֶׁיִּגְמוֹר כׇּל הַפָּרָשָׁה כּוּלָּהּ.
And according to the intelligence and the ability of the son, his father teaches him about the Exodus. When teaching his son about the Exodus. He begins with the Jewish people’s disgrace and concludes with their glory. And he expounds from the passage: “An Aramean tried to destroy my father” (Deuteronomy 26:5), the declaration one recites when presenting his first fruits at the Temple, until he concludes explaining the entire section.
Your ancestors were idol worshipers
We speak to our children of the departure from Egypt because we know that in their generation too it will be necessary to seek liberation. Indeed, even before the sojourn in Egypt, it was necessary to seek liberation. In the first generation of our people, the liberation was one of the mind and spirit. For our ancestors were anciently idolaters and worshipped material things, but then the Lord brought us near to his own service: as it is said. Your ancestors dwelt of old time beyond the river Euphrates—even Terah, the father of Abraham—and served other gods.
צֵא וּלְמַד מַה בִּקֵּשׁ לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי לַעֲשׂוֹת לְיַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ: שֶׁפַּרְעֹה לֹא גָזַר אֶלָּא עַל הַזְּכָרִים, וְלָבָן בִּקֵּשׁ לַעֲקֹר אֶת־הַכֹּל. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי, וַיֵּרֶד מִצְרַיְמָה וַיָּגָר שָׁם בִּמְתֵי מְעָט, וַיְהִי־שָׁם לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל עָצוּם וָרָב.
צֵא וּלְמַד GO [to the verse]AND LEARNwhat Laban the Arameansought to do to our father Jacob:Pharaoh condemned only the boys to death,but Laban sought to uproot everything,as it is written:“AN ARAMEAN SOUGHT MY FATHER'S DEATH,AND HE WENT DOWN TO EGYPTAND RESIDED THERE,JUST A HANDFUL OF SOULS;AND THERE HE BECAME A NATION –LARGE, MIGHTY, AND GREAT.”
Search, and inquire, what Laban, the Syrian intended to do to our father Jacob; for Pharaoh decreed the destruction of the males only; but Laban intended to root out the whole; as it is said: "A Syrian had nearly caused my father to perish, and he went down
into Egypt and sojourned there with few persons, and there became a great, mighty, and populous nation."
Search further, and inquire, what our own fathers Moses and Joshua intended to do to our brothers the Canaanites, for as is said, "We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every city, the men, and the women, and the little ones; we left none remaining."
Search still further and inquire in the last generation, what Hitler intended to do; for once again he intended to destroy all Israel and enslave Mankind.
And in this generation, search and demand to know about those who shape the fire of the sun to murder nations and all mankind; for at last those who rise up against us, to annihilate us, make no distinctions of race or belief, but plan to destroy us all, without
exception. May the Most Holy, blessed be he, deliver us out of their hand again!
The Plagues - Freedom is not bloodless
But let us also remember the lesson of the plagues: the winning of freedom has not always been bloodless in the past. Through the generations, our prophets, our rabbis, and our shoftim—men like Micah who spoke the word of God directly to the kings and the
people, men like Hillel who worked out the law of justice in daily life, and revolutionary leaders or "judges" like Gideon—have faced the issue of violence in the struggle for freedom.
The struggle was not bloodless when the prophet Micah warned, "Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light, they execute it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and seize them, and
houses, and take them away. Thus they oppose a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore thus sayeth the Lord: Hear this I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor justice and pervert all equity; the heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest."
It was not bloodless when the people of America announced, "Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it," and when the shofet Jefferson, that revolutionary judge and leader, added, "Can history produce an instance of rebellion so honorably conducted? God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
It was not bloodless when the shofet Nat Turner proclaimed, "I had a vision, and I saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened—the thunder rolled in the heavens and blood flowed in streams—and I heard a voice saying, "Such is your luck, such you are called to see and let it come rough or smooth you must surely bear it."
It was not bloodless ...
—when the judge Lincoln said, "If every drop of blood drawn by the lash must be paid by one drawn by the sword, still must it be said. The judgments of our Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"
It was not bloodless in the dark months of 1942 when Emmanuel Ringelblum wrote from the Warsaw ghetto:
"Most of the populace is set on resistance. It seems to me that people will no longer go to the slaughter like lambs. They want the enemy to pay dearly for their lives. They'll fling themselves at them with knives, staves, coal gas. They'll permit no more blockades.
They'll not allow themselves to be seized in the street, for they know that work camp means death these days. And they want to die at home, not in a strange place.
"Naturally, there will only be a resistance if it is organized, and if the enemy does not move like lightning, as [They did] in Cracow, where, at the end of October, 5,500 Jews were packed into wagons in seven hours one night. We have seen the confirmation of the psychological law that the slave who is completely repressed cannot resist. The Jews appear to have recovered somewhat from the heavy blows they have received; they have shaken off the effects of their experiences to some extent, and they calculate now that going to the slaughter peaceably has not diminished the misfortune, but increased it. "Whomever you talk to, you hear the same cry: The resettlement should never have been permitted. We should have run out into the street, have set fire to everything in sight, have torn down the walls, and escaped to the Other Side. The Germans would have taken their revenge. "It would have cost tens of thousands of lives, but not 300,000. Now we are ashamed of ourselves, disgraced in our own eyes, and in the eyes of the world, where our docility earned us nothing. This must 'not be repeated now. We must put up a resistance, defend ourselves against the enemy, man and child."
May we remember and honor tonight and at every Passover the bleak and hopeless courage of those who during the week of Passover 1943 began the Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw.
No, the moments of resistance have not been bloodless. The blood of tyrants and the blood of freemen has watered history. But we may not rest easy in that knowledge. The freedom we seek is a freedom from blood as well as a freedom from tyrants. It is
incumbent upon us not only to remember in tears the blood of the tyrants and the blood of the prophets and martyrs, but to end the letting of blood. To end it, to end it!
So the struggles for freedom that remain will be more dark and difficult than any we have met so far. For we must struggle for a freedom that enfolds stern justice, stern bravery, and stern love. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God! who hast confronted us with the necessity of choice and of creating our own book of thy Law. How many and how hard are the choices and the tasks the Almighty has set before us!
The Questions
Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, who hast commanded us to answer the questions of our children about the departure from Egypt, but who also inspired our forefathers in the tradition to leave some
questions unanswered. For as no question is ever fully answered, so the four questions that our young people asked tonight have not been fully answered. May they and we seek out answers for
ourselves and, seeking, ask new questions!
The Meal
Brothers and sisters, we have been remembering our slavery and our liberation. But just as it was we, not our ancestors only, who were liberated in Egypt, so it is we, not our ancestors only, who
live in slavery. Our slavery is not over, and our liberation is not complete. The task of liberation is long, and it is work that we ourselves must do. As the Talmud tells us, we, like Moses, may
not live to complete the task; but neither may we refrain from beginning. We are about to eat; may our dinner give us strength
for the work ahead! We are about to drink; may our wine give us joy for the work ahead!
May we give each other strength in the struggle, just as we share this bread.
(The reader pours some wine from his own cup, into that of the person next to him—who does
the same until the wine has circled the table, and the last person has poured wine from his cup
into that of the reader. All then stand, lift their cups, and say in unison:)
(Supper is then served, and all of the company eat and drink joyfully. The eating should not continue longer than 12 o'clock, for during the time the holy temple stood the paschal lamb was
eaten only until midnight. After dinner the company sings songs of freedom and celebration, from Chad Gad Yah (One Only Kid) to We Shall Overcome. The children search for the Afikoman, whoever finds it is rewarded, and there is general merriment.)
והיותר נראה בזה הוא כי מפני ההכרזה אשר בזה המאמר "כל דכפין ייתי ויכול כל דצריך ייתי ויפסח" תקנו אותו בלשון ארמי כי היו אז בבבל, ובבוא החג עשו זכר לחגיגת הפסח בירושלים לסמוך על שולחנם העניים והאביונים, וסדרו שגם פה בגלות יתחייב כל בעל הבית להרבות מתנתו, כמו שנאמר "וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם לִפְנֵי ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אַתֶּם וּבְנֵיכֶם וּבְנֹתֵיכֶם וְעַבְדֵיכֶם וְאַמְהֹתֵיכֶם וְהַלֵּוִי" וגו' (דברים י"ב, י"ב). ולכן כשישב על שולחנו ירים קולו אל העניים אשר בפתח הבית לקרוא לכולם בשם ה' "כל דכפין ייתי ויכול כל דצריך ייתי ויפסח" רצה לומר שיבואו לסמוך על שולחנו. ולפי שהעניים לא יבינו לשון הקודש תקנו שיעשה ההכרזה הזאת בלשון ארמי כדי שיבינו אותו ויכנסו לביתו. וכבר ציווה הנביא על הצדקה הזאת באמרו "הֲלוֹא פָרֹס לָרָעֵב לַחְמֶךָ וַעֲנִיִּים מְרוּדִים תָּבִיא בָיִת" וגו' "אָז יִבָּקַע כַּשַּׁחַר אוֹרֶךָ וַאֲרֻכָתְךָ מְהֵרָה תִצְמָח וְהָלַךְ לְפָנֶיךָ צִדְקֶךָ כְּבוֹד ה' יַאַסְפֶךָ" (ישעיהו נ"ח ז'-ח').
It seems more reasonable that the reason for Aramaic is because of the declaration, “All who are hungry come and eat; all who are needy come celebrate the Passover.” The Sages decreed that this passage should be recited in Aramaic. Because they were in Babylonia and not in Jerusalem, they could bring the poor and needy to their table (to join in the Seder). They decreed that every householder should increase his gifts to the needy, as stated, “You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons, your daughters, and the Levite…” Therefore, when he sat down at the table, the head of the household would raise his voice to the needy who were outside and say in the name of God, “All who are hungry come and eat; all who are needy come celebrate the Passover.” He would invite them to come to his table. Since the needy might not understand him if he spoke Hebrew, they decreed that the declaration should be made in the lingua franca, Aramaic so that everyone would understand and come inside. Thus, the prophet said regarding charity, “It is to share your bread with the hungry, and to take the wretched poor into your home…then your light shall burst forth like dawn and your healing spring up quickly; your protector shall march before you, The Presence of Adonai shall be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58:7-8)
כת' רב מתתיה מה שנהגו לומר כל דכפין ייתי ויכול כך היה מנהג אבות שהיו מגביהין שולחנותם ולא היו סוגרין דלתותיהם והיו אומרים ככה כדי שיבאו ישראל העניים שביניהם לאכול ולקבל שכר היו עושין זה ועכשיו שנעשו שכיני גוי' יותר משכיני ישראל מפרנסין אותם בתחלה קודם כדי שלא יחזרו על הפתחים ואחר כך מגביהין את השולחן ואומרים כמנהג ראשונים ע"כ. ואמרי' במסכת תעניות רב הונא כי הוה אכיל הוה פתח הכי כל דכפין ייתי ויכול. ובליל פסח יש הוצאה גדולה ואין ביד העניים לקנות די ספוקם על כן נהגו לומר כל דכפין ייתי ויכול כלומר מי שהוא רעב ואין לו מה יאכל יבא ויאכל עמנו.וכל דצריך ייתי ויפסח פירוש שאיפשר שיש לאדם פת אורז ופת דוחן ואינו רעב שהרי יש לו מה יאכל ואין לו מצות מצוה וצרכי הפסח כגון חרוסת ומרור ויין לד' כוסות לכך אומר וכל דצריך ייתי ויפסח יבא ויעשה סדר הפסח. ואחר כך מדבר על לבם ואומר להם לא תבושו אם אתם סמוכים על שולחן אחרים השתא הכא השנה הזאת אתם כאן לשנה הבאה תהיו לשלום בארץ ישראל. הא שתא הכא עבדי השנה הזאת אנחנו ואתם משועבדים לשנה הבאה יבא המשיח ונהיה אנחנו ואתם משוחררים כדאמרינן בראש השנה בניסן נגאלו ובניסן עתידין ליגאל.
Rabbi Mattityah writes, “The custom of saying, “All who are hungry come and eat” goes back to our ancestors who would lift up their table and would not close their doors when they said this. They would make this declaration in order to invite poor Jews who lived among them; they did so in order to receive a reward. Now that we have more gentiles than Jews as neighbors, we feed the gentiles first before the Seder so that they won’t beg on our doorstep when we lift up the table and recite the declaration as was the custom among the early sages.” We read in tract. Ta’anit, “When Rav Huna would eat bread, he would open the doors, saying: Whoever needs, let him come and eat.” On Passover eve there are many expenses and the poor do not have enough to purchase all their needs. Therefore, it became customary to declare, “All who are hungry come and eat.” In other words, if one is hungry and he does not have enough to eat, let him come and eat with us.“All who are needy, let him celebrate the Passover.” Peirush: - It is possible that a person has rice or millet bread so that he was not hungry because he had what to eat but he didn’t have the matzah necessary for the mitzvah or the other necessities for Passover such as haroset, maror, and four cups of wine. One, therefore, says, “Anyone who needs to celebrate the Seder, let him come and join in the Passover ritual. Afterwards one speaks consolingly to their heart and says to them, “Do not be embarrassed that you are at the table of others. This year you are here; next year you will be living peacefully in the land of Israel. Now we are slaves, we are subjugated; next year we will be liberated,” as stated in the Tractate Rosh HaShanah, “In Nisan we were redeemed and in the month of Nisan we will be redeemed (in the future.)”