Maayan and Sophie Dialogue

Haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning

“In Every Generation”

This piece is based on the repetition of the line "In every generation,"

and the meaning behind it

Maayan: Instead of reading the phrase as בכל דור, meaning “in every generation”, it should be read as בחול דור, meaning “in the generation of sand”. The generation of sand refers to people that traveled for forty years in the desert after leaving Egypt. What God really meant was that the people that left Egypt should remember what happened. God never said that the people who came after had to do the same. Therefore, it is not all that important.

Sophie: No, you are absolutely wrong. Instead of looking at it through this pun, you should rather interpret it through the lines in which the phrase is present. The lines include, “...everyone is obligated to see themselves as if they personally left Egypt,” and “...there are those who rise against us. But God saves us those who seek to harm us.” Considering at the topics presented here, it is absolutely clear that these lines, along with their repetition, are showing us that we should constantly remember the story as if we were there because it is a very important part of our Jewish identity. We should also credit God for saving us in this event and other events similar to this.

Maayan: Fine. You believe it is important that the story is remembered in every generation. Therefore, it should be repeated when a new generation begins and ends. We should recite the Exodus story every time a child is born or when someone dies. It should be told at bnei mitzvahs, where children join the generation of adults. If we are told to repeat it in every generation, we should tell the story of Exodus at every major life milestone.

Sophie: The idea, as I mentioned earlier, has directly to do with the constant remembrance, not through simply a “birth or death.” From generation to generation means from a person of one age to the next younger person. Instead of having to do with two specifically people, it should be told to be remembered by all, therefore we can all know it. If the idea was referring to “from birth to death,” then it would be phrased differently.

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