Haggadah-How Not To Answer
The 5th of Nisan is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apt, the Ohev Yisrael. We find that when Abraham spoke in defense of Sodom, he enumerated fifty just men, forty-five, and so forth. God could have reply to him at once that Sodom did not contain a single just man, but He wished to teach a lesson, namely, that permission should be granted to one who argues, to bring out all his points. These should be answered one by one, with patience. It is not fitting that a man should give an abrupt answer immediately in order to silence his adversary. (Midrash R’Besh Tov, II, 28)
Haggadah-Ma Nishtanah: We break the middle Matzah, then speak of Lechem Oni – Lechem sh’onim alav, the bread over which we answer questions, as if to say, “We must answer each question, step by step, or, piece by piece.