Page:Birnbaum Haggadah.pdf/43

 37 ‘The Passover Haggadah “The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great awe, signal acts and wonders.”"

The Lord brought us out of Egypt not by an angel, not by a seraph, not by a messenger, but by himself, as it is written: “I will pass through the land of Egypt that night; I will strike down all the firstbom in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the Lord.’

I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, myself and not an angel; J will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, myself and not a seraph; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments, myself and not a messenger; I am the Lord, I and none else.

Mighty hand refers to the disease among the cattle, written: “Behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe pestilence upon your cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks

Outsiretched arm implies the sword, as it is written: “His drawn sword in his hand, outstretched over Jerusalem,’*

Great awe alludes to the divine revelation, as it is written: “Has God ever attempted to take to himself a people from the midst of a nation by trials, signal acts and wonders, by war and sheer force and awesome revelations, just as you saw the Lord your God do for you in Egypt?”’>

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‘The paragraph beginning with *rmay} (“I will pass through") conveys the thought already expressed in the preceding paragraph and elaborates on it. ‘The early Haggadah texts of Rav Saadyah Gaon and Maimonides omit this Passage.

‘The Targum renders xw and orxvm (Deuteronomy 4:34; 26:8) in the sense of vision and revelation agmm, as if xm (“awe”) and AND (“sight”) stem from the same root. Henco the statement that “great awe” alludes to the divine revelation. For a similiar use of these words as equivalents though they differ in otigin, see Friedmann, Sifré Deuteronomy 161, note 3.

‘Deuteronomy 26:8. *Hixodus 12:12. *Bzodus 9:3, I Chronicles 21: "Deuteronomy 4:34.

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