The Answer
LEADER: We will now answer the four questions and begin to tell the story of our enslavement in Egypt
ASSEMBLED: Once we were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt, and the Lord, in His goodness and mercy, brought us forth from that land, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
LEADER: Had He not brought our ancestors out of Mitzrayim, we and our children and our children's children would still be enslaved to Pharoh in Mitzrayim and deprived of liberty.
ASSEMBLED: We, therefore, gather year after year, to retell this ancient story. For, in reality, it is not ancient but eternal in its message and its spirit. It proclaims man's burning desire for freedom.
PARTICIPANT: The first question asked concerns the use of Matzoh. We eat these unleavened breads to remember that our ancestors, in their haste to leave Egypt, could not wait for bread to rise, and so removed them from the ovens while they were still flat.
PARTICIPANT: The second question asks why we eat only bitter herbs tonight. We partake of the Morror, bitter herbs, on this night so that we might taste of some bitterness to remind us how bitter is the lot of one caught in the grip of slavery.
PARTICIPANT: The third question asks why we dip on this night. We dip twice in the course of this Seder: Greens in salt water and Morror in Charoset, once to replace the tears with gratefulness, and once to sweeten the bitterness and suffering.
PARTICIPANT: The fourth question asks why, on this night, we eat in a reclining position. To recline at mealtimes in ancient days was the sign of a free man. On this night of Passover, we demonstrate our sense of complete freedom by reclining.
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