Explanation of the last two sentences of הא לחמא עניא

“This is the bread of affliction…
Now we are here, next year we will be in Eretz Yisrael.
Now we are slaves, next year we will be free men.”

Behold, the last sentence seems to be repeating the same idea as the previous one. But we find that the gemora brings a dispute between R. Yehoshua and R. Eliezer concerning in which month the future redemption will take place - R. Yehoshua holds that it will be in Nisan and R. Eliezer holds that it will be in Tishrei. And it is well known that six months before the redemption from Egypt the servitude to the Egyptians ceased. And presumably as it was in Egypt, so too it will be in the future, and six months before the final redemption our servitude to the four kingdoms will cease.

According to this we can explain that the Tanna is repeating the matter according to R. Yehoshua and R. Eliezer, each one according to his opinion. Initially he took the position of R. Yehoshua that we will be redeemed completely in the month of Nisan. Therefore, he expressed the hope that “now we are here, next year we will be in Eretz Yisrael”. That is, we pray that the servitude will cease in the coming Tishrei, and that at he end of six months from that time, which is next Nisan, there will be the complete redemption and we will be in Eretz Yisrael.

Afterwards he took the position of R. Eliezer that in the month of Tishrei we will be redeemed completely in the future. Thus he expressed the hope that "now we are slaves, next year we will be free men". That is, since we have not seen any sign that our servitude to the four kingdoms has ceased, the most we can pray for concerning the coming Nisan is for the beginning of the redemption when we will be free men, and then afterwards in Tishrei of the following year will be the complete redemption.

Why were Yisrael redeemed after only 210 years?

“And Hashem heard our voice and saw our affliction and our labour and our oppression. Our affliction - this refers to the separation of husband and wife. Our toil - this refers to the children. And our oppression - this refers to to the pressure.”

The Midrash brings three reasons why Yisrael were in Egypt only 210 years instead of the 400 years that had been originally decreed - either because the nights completed the number, or because they were very fruitful, and so they multiplied in 210 years as much as it would normally have taken 400 years, or because the difficulty of the servitude made up for the shorter amount of time..

And these three reasons are being alluded to here in the Haggadah: “He saw our afflliction - this is the separation of the husband and wife”, because they had to work also at night; “and our labour - this is the children”, that we were very fruitful; “and our affliction - this is the pressure”, the difficulty of the servitude. All these things help to hasten the end. Therefore, “Hashem sent an angel and took us out” - even though it was before the time.

Who knows seven? Who knows eight?

“Who knows seven? Seven are the days of the week.”
“Who knows eight? Eight are the days of the bris.”

These questions of the Haggadah can be explained according to the gemora in Shabbos which teaches that there is an uncertainty as to the definition of twilight - it is either part day and part night, completely day, or completely night. We can explain that the question of the gemora is dependent on what is written in the gemora in Chagigah 12b, which teaches that there are seven firmaments, and Vilon, the seventh one, does not serve any purpose except that it enters in the morning and goes out in the evening. Rashi explains that this means that in the morning it enters into its sheath and the light is seen, and in the evening it emerges from its sheath and is spread below the light so that the world becomes dark. Tosafos, however, explain the opposite - in the morning it enters into the world and from it the light goes out, and in the evening it goes out from the world and its light is removed.

Now, it is forbidden on Shabbos to make even a temporary tent, and this rule applies to Hashem as well, so to speak. If so, the explanation of Tosafos is difficult, because it would mean that Hashem is making a temporary tent on Shabbos morning! And the explanation of Rashi is also difficult unless we say that twilight is completely day.

This is the intention behind the Haggadah’s question who knows seven? Who knows whether the explanation of Vilon which is the seventh firmament is like Rashi or Tosafos. It answers that from the seven days of the week we can know which explanation is the truth. Because the seven days include Shabbos, and so it is difficult to explain like Tosafos since it would mean that Hashem is making a tent on Shabbos. We must therefore explain like Rashi, that Vilon is spread out in the evening into the world.

But even with this explanation there is a difficulty, because maybe twilight is already nightime. Therefore, the Haggadah asks who knows eight? These are the eight days of the bris, and from this we can prove that twilight is day. Because the gemora in Shabbos 132a says that two phrases are needed to teach that circumcision should be performed on the eighth day - one is needed to exclude the seventh day and one is needed to exclude the ninth day. But why would I have thought that one can perform circumcision after the eighth day, so that an extra posuk is needed to exclude this? Surely we learn from Avrohom that the zealous do mitzvos at the earliest opportunity, as it says "and Avrohom rose early in the morning"! If so, once we know that circumcision can take place on the eighth day, it is obvious that it should be performed only the eighth and not on the ninth. And the exclusion of the ninth day cannot be where he was unable to do it on the eighth day because of circumstances beyond his control, because certainly the law in that case is that the circumcision is done on the ninth day.

We must conclude that the reason why this exclusion is needed is because I would have thought that when he is born during twilight then the circumcision should be on the ninth day. Therefore, it teaches that that it is specifically on the eighth day and not on the ninth. For example, if the baby was born on Sunday evening during twilight, I might have thought that the circumcision should take place on the ninth day, which is Monday. Therefore, the gemora teaches that it should be on Sunday, which is the eighth day. (This is not the actual halachah.)

Now, this only makes sense if we say that the gemora holds that twilight is day. Because if twilight is night, then certainly the circumcision would take place on Monday, because that is the eighth day, since the night belongs to the following day. Thus, the Haggadah proves from the eight days of the bris that twilight is day, and so the explanation of Rashi concerning the seventh firmament is correct.