And He brought us to this place
and gave us this land,
a land flowing with milk and honey (Deuteronomy 26:9).

1. “And He brought us to this place” — this is the holy Temple. Or might it refer to the Land of Israel? When it says “and gave us this land,” that refers to the Land of Israel. So what must “and He brought us to this place” mean? It means building the holy Temple. “And He brought us to this place and gave us this land”: In the merit of our coming to this place did He give us this land.

2. “And gave us this land,” as He promised us: “And I will bring you to the land that I raised My hand in pledge to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as an inheritance. I am Hashem!” (Exodus 6:8). And it also says: “And when Hashem brings you to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivvite and the Jebusite which He swore to your fathers to give to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall perform this service in this month. Seven days shall you eat matsot and on the seventh day hold a festival to Hashem” (Exodus 13:5-6).

3. “A land flowing with milk and honey” — Rabbi Eliezer says: “Milk” means the richness of the fruit, and “honey” means honey from dates. Rabbi Akiva says: “Milk” means actual milk, as it says: “And it shall happen on that day: The mountains shall drip fermented juice and the hills run with milk” (Joel 4:18). “Honey” means honey of the forests, as it says: “And the people came into the forest, and there was a flow of honey” (1 Samuel 14:26).

4. Another interpretation: “A land flowing with milk and honey” as it says: “My beloved had a vineyard on a hillside rich with oil (qeren ben shamen, literally ‘horn son of oil’)” (Isaiah 5:1) — Just like the highest part of an ox is its horns, so too is the Land of Israel higher than all other lands. Or might it mean that just like nothing goes to waste in an ox other than its horns, so is the Land of Israel like the waste of other lands? Therefore it says: “A land of oil olives (zeit shemen) and honey” (Deuteronomy 8:8) — rich (shemenim) like milk and sweet as honey. This teaches you that the Land of Israel is higher and sweeter and deserving of praise more than all other lands.

5. Another interpretation: “A land flowing with milk and honey” — and it says after: “Look down from Your holy dwelling place, from the heavens, and bless your people Israel and the soil that You have given us as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:15). We have done what You commanded us! You, too, do as You promised us: “Look down from Your holy dwelling place, from the heavens, and bless your people Israel” with sons and daughters. “And and the soil that You have given us” bless with dew and rain and with offspring of cattle. “A land flowing with milk and honey” in that You may give good flavor to the fruits.

The idea that Deuteronomy 26:9 (and discussion of it) should be included in the Passover Haggadah, especially since the establishment of the State of Israel, is not new. It is clear from the words of the Mishnah that it should be done. However, credit for the first practical application of the idea belongs to Rabbi Dr. David Mescheloff for his wonderful “Completion of the Haggadah”. The addition to the Haggadah offered here is inspired by his example, but the collection of midrash on the verse has been compiled from scratch. All available midrashim on it (and on parallel verses that mention “a land flowing with milk and honey”) were checked anew, a new selection from them was made, and their texts were re-edited to fit their new context within the Haggadah. The sources for the five paragraphs are as follows: (1) Sifrei Devarim 401 and Yalkut Shimoni Devarim 938. (2) Exodus 6:8; 13:5-6. (3) Joel 4:18; 1Sam 14:26; Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shim`on bar Yoḥai 13:4 and Midrash ha-Gadol on Exodus 13:5 (Hoffmann ed. p. 121). (4) Isaiah 5:1; Deuteronomy 8:8; Yalkut Shimon Yesha`yahu 401 corrected according to Sifrei `Ekev 37. (5) Deuteronomy 26:15; Mishnah Ma`aser Sheni 5:13. Direct links to all of these sources can be found in the Hebrew edition. It is important to notice that the first interpretation (namely that “this place” means the holy Temple) is close to the plain sense of the verse, because in the initial verses of the chapter it says: “And it shall be, when you come into the land… you shall take from the first yield of all the fruit of the soil… and go to the place that Hashem your God chooses to make His name dwell there.”