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The hagadah (based on the discussion of Rav and Shmuel in pesachim) dedicates the bulk of maggid to expounded the verses of arami oved avi. But why is there very little discussion of the actual miracles (mainly the plagues) that took place as part of the exodus? We only have passing mentions of the plagues with no elaboration or additional midrashic material offered.

This stands in contrast to other holidays such as chanukah or purim where the focus is on the miraculous nature of divine salvation. Furthermore it seems to undermine the nature of the chag as a conduit from one generation to the next (v'higadeta l'bincha). Children are excited by miraculous tales by nature yet we seem to go out of our way to avoid talking these miracles in the hagadah. Why?

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but we do! why do we dip twice? so the children will ask why we dip twice. or from the other position, if the miracles are not part of how the bond was formed, why include them at all? – none Mar 1 '12 at 5:35
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Are you kidding??? #purimtorah? – Seth J Mar 1 '12 at 6:04
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@Moshe what "bulk of magid"? Count the words, they get equal treatment. – avi Mar 1 '12 at 7:46
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@Moshe The hagadah has many sections. A paragraph stating that we were slaves in Egypt etc, a section about the need to study, an analysis of arami oved avi, an alaysis of the 300+ plagues, an analaysis of matzah marror pesach for the seder, and then we eat. Each section is given roughly the same amount of focus and words. – avi Mar 1 '12 at 15:20
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@Moshe Ok, after answering your initial question more thoroughly, I think I realized what your actual question might be. Are you asking why we analyze the paragraph read by the baal habayit while giving over his Bikurim, instead of analyzing the section of the Torah which describes the events in Egypt? Cause that is a very different question, but might be better related to what you are asking. – avi Mar 1 '12 at 15:54
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closed as not a real question by msh210♦ Mar 1 '12 at 18:40

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

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I believe you need to take a look at the Hagadah again.

I'm using the hagadah found here, and using the word count feature of word:

http://207.232.9.131/moe/hagut/pesach/download/haggadah.rtf

The section where the Hagadah speaks about "arami oved avi" uses about 265 words to explain the passages, until it gets to the part where the Jewish people were saved by Hashem.

It then uses 300 words, to describe how god and not an angel rescued us, and took us out with an outstretched arm. While this section does not describe the plagues directly, it does speak about god rescuing us the miracles.

The hagadah continues with enumerating the plagues using another 246 words.

All in all, I'd say the treatment is about equal.

However, the hagadah also has a ritual related to the plagues which does not exist in recounting the earlier history.

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I want to give you a +1 for the points you are bringing, but you are not answering the question. This answer would best be brought in chat or the comments (the latter of which I know you've been doing). – Seth J Mar 1 '12 at 17:46
The answer to his question is that we don't avoid talking about them, but rather give them equal treatment to other parts of the hagadah. – avi Mar 1 '12 at 17:56
@SethJ oops, forgot to tag. – avi Mar 1 '12 at 18:23

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