kt-you beat me to the explanation, thanks for it though. It is indeed a powerful opening to the Seder ritual. Even for an old, non-religious reprobate like me it is a powerful ritual every single year. Even though we are non-religious, we celebrate the Seder very year with a very good friend who is a very orthodox rabbi who is quite a scholar and a very impressive speaker. He usually has 15 to 20 people in his home for Seder dinner and it is always a great and meaningful evening.