At the beginning of the Passover Seder, we recite a short invocation called Ha Lachma Anya.
Ha Lachma Anya is written in Aramaic, an ancient language that was the language of the times. The English translation of the invocation is:
This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All those who are hungry, let them enter and eat. All who are in need, let them come celebrate the Passover. Now we are here. Next year in the land of Israel. This year we are enslaved. Next year we will be free.
In previous times, the head of the household would stand at the threshold to the home and direct this invitation to the people walking in the street, literally calling out to anyone who was hungry to come and join them.
On other holidays, we may donate money or serve meals to the hungry where they live. On Passover, we invite them into our homes. What is so significant about Passover that we invite people into our homes to eat, rather than feeding them where they are?
This year, I discovered the answer to that question.
Last week, only four days before the first Seder, I decided to stay in Los Angeles for Passover rather than return to New York. As I reached out to some people to make connections to find where I could go for the Seders, I felt the impact of Ha Lachma Anya. This time, I was the hungry person in the street in need of a place to go.
The Deeper Hunger
Even before arriving at Seder I felt the power of Ha Lachma Anya and receiving the invitations from two different families to join them at their Seders. Knowing that I had a place to go put my mind at ease. And after six weeks of travel, I was looking forward to a home-cooked meal.
As I sat at each Seder, I realized that Ha Lachma Anya isn’t about the physical nourishment of the matzah or satiating the physical hunger.
I was hungry for connection within my tribe. Creating connection with people who share my common values. Fostering community.
People who understand where you’ve been — who also feel the depths of pain of slavery. And who can rejoice together because they’ve experienced the joy of freedom.
Other people can seek to understand cognitively what it’s been like. They can sympathize. Even empathize. but there’s nothing like true knowledge — embodied understanding — of what it’s like. Only your tribe gets it.
This, by the way, is why Ha Lachma Anya is in Aramaic. That was the language of the day. It was a call to the tribe in the language of the tribe.
Ha Lachma Anya says, We speak your language here. You are part of our tribe. You are welcome here.
A Shared Experience
The Seder is a visceral physical experience that integrates learning. We don’t merely read about the Exodus; we integrate the feelings into our bodies through ritual. We experience the physical feelings of the journey from slavery to freedom.
A crucial element of this experience is that it is a shared experience.
A shared experience creates collective memories; it brings people together and fosters deeper relationships.
The hardship and bitterness of life are diminished when we share them with others. Joy and celebration are magnified and enhanced when we share them. The Seder brings us through both extremes.
Creating Continuity
The major pieces of the Seder are consistent from one household to the next, but each family has its own rituals.
Both families I joined for Seder left an imprint on me. I will bring a piece of their specific traditions, rituals, and customs back to my family’s seder. I left my imprint on them, sharing specific insights and my own family’s rituals that they will remember each year as they gather around their tables.
Every Seder I attend in the future will be infused with the spirit of these Seders and what I learned. This is how collective memory gets shaped. It’s how we create continuity in tradition.
That’s what Ha Lachma Anya is about.
This is our bread of affliction. We share it to diminish our pain and suffering..
Let all who are hungry come and eat. Not just hunger for food, but hunger for spiritual nourishment, for tradition, community, and shared experiences.
Let all who have need to rejoice come here. We share in the celebration and magnify our joy.
This is why we invite people to our table rather than bring the food to them.
Ha Lachma Anya is not about the food at all. At least it’s not about the physical food.
It is a call to those who are hungry for the spiritual nourishment of a shared experience with the people who know what they’ve been through.
It is an invitation to feast on “soul” food.
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