הא לחמא עניא

We say הא לחמא עניא - This is the bread of affliction etc. anyone who is hungry should come and eat and anyone who is needy should come and have the Pesach.

Why do we open with an invitation to the poor to join us, a practice we don't find anywhere else. Obviously this has something to do with Yetzias Mitzrayim, but what??

We were in Egypt and were under foreign rule. This caused a psychological pressure that prevented us from being our true selves. What is a Jew? Let's check the DNA! We have CHESED throbbing through our veins. We are the children of Avraham Avinu, the paragon of chesed. When we were in Egypt this natural inclination was repressed. When were were released [as we are every year on Pesach night] it was like a spring that was held down was let go. We can finally be ourselves so we instinctively cry out "Poor unfortunate people PLEASE come join me. I need to GIVE." That is the first expression of our new found freedom. Not only that but we add כל דכפין ייתי ויפסח - anyone who is needy should come and have the Pesach. Meaning we don't just want to give food, we want to give SPIRITUAL food - the holy korban pesach.

I must say - מי כעמך ישראל. There is no nation that is as deeply imbued with the ethic of tzedaka and chesed as the Jewish People. I was thinking about that once when I was in Manhattan. I was watching people rummage through garbage cans looking for some "shirayim" [and it didn't matter to them which "Rebbe" left it. All that mattered was that it was edible]. If a Jew is hungry he can go to any Jewish community and be swamped with invitations to eat. We don't just do chesed - we love doing chesed.

 

[עפ"י הרב קוק]