What Would Have Once Sufficed Us...
How many levels of favors has the Omnipresent One bestowed upon us: If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had smitten their first-born, and had not given us their wealth Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had fed us the manna, and had not given us the Shabbat Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had given us the Shabbat, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Beit Habechirah (Chosen House; the Beit Hamikdash) Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! Thus how much more so should we be grateful to the Omnipresent One for the doubled and redoubled goodness that He has bestowed upon us; for He has brought us out of Egypt, and carried out judgments against them, and against their idols, and smote their first-born, and gave us their wealth, and split the sea for us, and took us through it on dry land, and drowned our oppressors in it, and supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and fed us the manna, and gave us the Shabbat, and brought us before Mount Sinai, and gave us the Torah, and brought us into the land of Israel and built for us the Beit Habechirah to atone for all our sins. Rabban Gamliel used to say: Whoever does not discuss the following three things on Passover has not fulfilled his duty, namely: Passover (the Passover-sacrifice), Matzah (the unleavened bread)
and Maror (the bitter herbs). Passover - the Passover-lamb that our fathers ate during the time of the Beit Hamikdash - for what reason [did they do so]? Because the Omnipresent passed over our fathers’ houses in Egypt, as it is said: “You shall say, It is a Passover-offering to the Lord, because He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians with a plague, and He saved our houses. And the people bowed and prostrated themselves.” Take the broken Matzah into your hand and say: This Matzah that we eat for what reason? Because the dough of our fathers did not have time to become leavened before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them. Thus it is said: “They baked Matzah-cakes from the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, because it was not leavened; for they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay, and they had also not prepared any [other] provisions.” Take the maror into your hand and say: This maror that we eat for what reason? Because the Egyptians embittered our fathers’ lives in Egypt, as it is said: “They made their lives bitter with hard service, with mortar and with bricks, and with all manner of service in the field; all their service which they made them serve with rigor.” In every generation a person is obligated to regard himself as if he had come out of Egypt, as it is said: “You shall tell your child on that day, it is because of this that the Lord did for me when I left Egypt.” Thus it is our duty to thank, to laud, to praise, to glorify, to exalt, to adore, to bless, to elevate and to honor the One who did all these miracles for our fathers and for us. He took us from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to festivity, and from deep darkness to great light and from bondage to redemption. Let us therefore recite before Him Halleluyah, Praise God!
From one of many versions of the Haggadah used as the key to the annual ritual of the Passover Seder, which for this year will take place beginning this Thursday, April 9.