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 33 The Passover Haggadah

With a small family, as it is written: “When your ancestors went down to Egypt they were only seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.”

There he became a nation means that they became a distinct people in Egypt.

Great, mighty, as it is written: “The people of Israel were fruit ful and increased greatly; they grew exceedingly strong and the land was full of them.”

And numerous, as it is written: “I made you thrive like a plant of the field; you grew up and became tall and beautiful; your breasts were formed and your hair grew long; but you were bare and naked.”

“The Egyptians treated us harshly and oppressed us;

they imposed hard labor upon us.”*

The Egyptians treated us harshly, as it is written: “Let us deal with them shrewdly lest they multiply and, if we happen to be at war, they may join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the country.”§

Like a plant that grows better after each cutting. The prophetic descrip- tion refers to the Israclites in Egypt, who were greatly increased in numbers but were much distressed (“bare and naked”).

‘The full quotation from Ezekiel 16:6 cpota noprann 7) Poy 7ayR) on porta 7px yn paTa 7 “wR is not included at all in the old Hag- gadah texts. It was inserted here by the famous Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria of the sixteenth century on account of the repeated expression *n Pu7a 9 1B. midrashically interpreted as an allusion to the Passover offering and the precept of circumcision.

‘unk yw" is the equivalent of wy wr (Numbers 20:15). However, some commentators follow the suggestion of Heidenheim who renders un WP) penn the Egyptians suspected us of evil. Thus, Goldschmidt translates: “Die Agypter verdichtigen uns als schlecht.” The verb yon is followed by the accusative sign ans) in two more biblical passages (Numbers 16:15; I Samuel 25:34).

1Deuteronomy 10:22, *Bzodus 1:7, *Hzekiel 16:7. ‘Deuteronomy 26:
 * Brodus 1:10,

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