“And Expounding from ‘A Wandering Aramean Was My Father’ Until the Entire Passage Is Completed”: A Proposal for a New Midrash
By Dr. Asaf Rozen-Zvi
An informal, AI-assisted translation by Lior Lekner, Brooklyn Shlicha
This Midrash is a moral call to restore the Haggadah’s vitality as a living text. In these difficult days of war, as Israel faces fateful questions about the use of force, this Midrash offers a compass. It insists on weaving values of loving-kindness and justice into our foundational verses. It reminds us that the Exodus was not just about gaining freedom, but about becoming a "holy nation" - one whose holiness is measured by its treatment of the stranger and its ability to restrain the Destroyer, even in moments of vengeance. It ensures that our tradition manifests not as a cycle of revenge, but as a path of mercy and peace.
[1] “A wandering Aramean was my father…”
“A wandering Aramean was my father” — Go out and learn from Abraham our father, who was an Aramean: lost and exiled from the land of Aram, who bequeathed to his children loving-kindness (chesed) and truth, righteousness and justice, as it is said: “Kindness to Abraham” (Micah 7:20), and it says: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” (Genesis 18:25).
“And he went down to Egypt and sojourned there” — As it is said: “The stranger who sojourns with you shall be as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:33–34), and it says: “And when a stranger sojourns with you and makes the Passover offering…” (Exodus 12:48).
Abraham called himself a stranger, as it is said: “I am a stranger and a resident among you” (Genesis 23:4), and David called himself a stranger, as it is said: “I am a stranger in the land” (Psalms 119:19).
This teaches that one is commanded to sustain him, and to conduct oneself toward him with derekh eretz (proper conduct) and acts of loving-kindness, as with Israel.
“Few in number” — As it is said: “Not because you are more numerous than all the peoples did the Lord desire you… but because you are the fewest” (Deuteronomy 7:7) — that you make yourselves few before Me.
“And he became there a nation” — This teaches that Israel were distinguished there by their deeds, as it is said: “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6), and it says: “You shall be holy people to Me” (Exodus 22:30) — when you are holy, you are Mine.
“Great, mighty, and numerous” — As it is said: “I made you numerous like the growth of the field… and I said to you: In your blood, live!” (Ezekiel 16:6–7) — that one should live by them and not die by them, as it is said: “which a person shall do and live by them” (Leviticus 18:5).
This teaches that the laws of the Torah are not vengeance in the world, but mercy and loving-kindness and peace in the world. It says “the human” (ha’adam), and not “priests, Levites, and Israelites” — from here you learn that even a gentile who practices the Torah is like a High Priest.
“In your blood, live” — but is not blood death? As it is said: “Whoever sheds the blood of man…” (Genesis 9:6). What then is “In your blood, live”? Rather, the matter depends only on you, as it is said: “I have set before you life and death… and you shall choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
[2] “And the Egyptians dealt ill with us…”
“And the Egyptians dealt ill with us and afflicted us” — As it is said: “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread” (Exodus 1:12) — this teaches: not by force does salvation come.
A parable: To what is this matter comparable? To one who crushes olives in the press — just as the olive yields its oil only through crushing, so too human beings are not strengthened except through suffering.
“And they placed upon us hard labor” — As it is said: “The Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor (parekh)” (Exodus 1:13), and corresponding to it is written: “You shall not rule over him with rigor” (Leviticus 25:46).
This teaches that a person be compassionate and pursue justice, and not make their yoke heavy upon another, nor cause him distress.
[3] “And we cried out to the Lord…”
“And we cried out to the Lord, God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice” — As it is said: “The children of Israel groaned from the labor and cried out, and their cry went up to God” (Exodus 2:23).
This teaches that a person is obligated to cry out and protest against every distress.
“And He saw our affliction” — This is modesty and derekh eretz, as it is said: “I have refined you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).
This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, sought all good qualities to give to Israel and found none but poverty.
And it says: “God saw the children of Israel, and God knew” — and “knowing” is nothing other than derekh eretz and justice, as it is said regarding Abraham: “For I have known him, that he may command his children… to do righteousness and justice.”
“And our labor and our oppression” — This refers to verbal oppression, as it is said: “You shall not wrong a stranger nor oppress him” (Exodus 22:20).
From here they said: if one is the child of converts, one should not say to him: “Remember the deeds of your ancestors.”
[4] “And the Lord brought us out…”
“And the Lord brought us out of Egypt” — Not by means of an angel, nor by means of a seraph, nor by means of a messenger, but the Holy One, blessed be He, in His own glory.
And why all this? In order to distance Israel from vengeance.
Israel were warned not to go out from the entrance of their houses, as it is said: “There shall be no plague among you when I strike the land of Egypt” — that the Destroyer should not have power among them — that one should not give permission to the Destroyer within them, for once it is given permission, it no longer distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked.
“With a mighty hand” — This is the love of God, as it is said: “Because of the Lord’s love for you… the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand” (Deuteronomy 7:8).
“And with an outstretched arm” — This is peace, as it is said: “I will extend peace to her like a river” (Isaiah 66:12).
Another interpretation: this is loving-kindness, as it is said: “Let down your pitcher, I pray you, that I may drink” (Genesis 24:14), and it says: “He inclined kindness toward him” (Genesis 39:21).
“And with great awe” — This is the fear of Heaven, as it is said: “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (Job 28:28).
See how beloved is the fear of Heaven, for it does not distinguish between Israel and the nations — as it is said: “Those among Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the Lord brought their servants and livestock into the houses” (Exodus 9:20).
“And with signs” — This is kinship between Israel and the nations in the future, as it is said: “I will gather all nations and tongues… and I will set a sign among them” (Isaiah 66:18).
“And with wonders” — These are people of wonder (anshei mofet), who see one another and have compassion for one another, as it is said: “You and your companions… are men of wonder” (Zechariah 3:8).
