bread, bread of 'ani' (distress) — for you departed from the land of Egypt hurriedly", and the recitation serves as "the first official explanation for matza in the Hagaddah". Invitation to guests Abravanel teaches that Ha Lachma Anya should be recited at the entrance to the house, with the door open, so that paupers can hear the invitation and enter". Sol Scharfstein also notes that in times past, the head of the household would go out to the street to say Ha Lachma Anya, thus inviting poor people to join him at the Seder. Modern interpretations Anisfeld, Mohr, and Spector have suggested that Ha Lachma Anya adds "a sense of immediacy and urgency to our telling" of the story of the Exodus, and that the recitation "establishes the intimacy of our connection to the ancient Israelites" because participants in the Seder will "eat the same bread they ate" and will "experience the taste and texture of their lives as slaves". Zion and Dishon have also suggested that the reference to matzah in Ha Lachma Anya "is a memorial not of liberation, but of slavery". Isaacs and Scharfstein have also stated that the process of beginning the Magid by looking at matzah "is a visual reminder of events in Egypt" and that the Ha Lachma Anya "also stresses the importance of opening one's house to the poor and sharing one's meals with them, because it is through such generosity that one can aspire to redemption". Full text Gallery See also Afikoman Ma Nishtana References Citations Bibliography Matzo Passover Haggadah of Pesach Aramaic words and phrases Aramaic words and phrases in Jewish prayers and blessings