The liturgical book containing the ritual for the SEDER held on PASSOVER eve. The Haggadah narrates the story of the Exodus from Egypt, illustrated through symbolic foods and embellished through a line-by-line interpretation of Deuteronomy 26:5–9.
The ritual found in the Haggadah is first referred to at Mishnah Pesahim Chapter 10, which describes a festival meal marked by a set order (Hebrew: Seder) of foods and a required liturgy. At the heart of the meal, there is an explanation of the significance of three foods (unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and the Passover burnt offering) and the recitation of psalms. In Talmudic times, this ceremony was expanded through the addition of a discussion of Israelite history leading up to and including captivity in Egypt. In later developments, continuing to the present, liturgical poems and other homilies have been added to the basic format set in the Talmudic period.
The body of the Haggadah begins by associating unleavened bread with “the bread of affliction” consumed by the Israelites in Egypt. This passage expresses the hope that all who participate in the Passover will, in the coming year, enjoy freedom in the land of Israel.
Next comes a set of questions regarding the ways in which the night of the Passover seder differs from all other nights (“Mah Nishtanah,” “The Four Questions,” traditionally recited by the youngest child present). The answer to these questions, beginning in the passage Avadim Hayinu (“We were enslaved by Pharaoh”), introduces several stories regarding the obligation to recount the story of the Exodus and the recitation of that story itself. This recitation is introduced by Deuteronomy 26:5–8, interpreted in the Haggadah to mean “An Aramean would have destroyed my father” and embellished by homilies that focus upon the inability of the Egyptians to break the spirit of their Israelite captives. These passages expand as well upon the plagues and the dividing of the sea that allowed the Israelites to escape the pursuing Egyptians.
The actual Passover meal is introduced by a passage cited in the name of Rabban Gamaliel, who states that during that meal one must explain the significance of the Passover sacrifice, the bitter herbs, and the unleavened bread (see Exodus 12:8). The meal is followed by the usual grace and then a medieval exhortation, Shefokhamatkha (“Pour out your wrath”), comprised of Scriptural verses that urge God to take vengeance on nations that oppress the people of Israel and to bring ELIJAH the prophet, the precursor of the messiah. Recitation of psalms follows, and the Haggadah is concluded by a number of passages and songs that praise God as the source of all life. See PASSOVER.
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amatkha (“Pour out your wrath”), comprised of Scriptural verses that urge God to take vengeance on nations that oppress the people of Israel and to bring 
