The Rambam wrote (Chapter 7 of the Laws of Chametz and Matzah, Halacha 6) as follows: "In every generation, a person is obligated to see himself as if he himself has now come out of the subjugation of Egypt, as it is said (Deuteronomy 6:23), 'And He took us out from there, etc.', and regarding this matter, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, commanded in the Torah (Deuteronomy 5:15), 'And you shall remember that you were a slave', meaning as if you yourself were a slave and have gone out to freedom and were redeemed." According to our explanation, the reason for this obligation is well understood—it is not some detached thought or some sort of guided imagery... but a completely realistic scenario. For if the Holy One, Blessed Be He, had not taken our forefathers out of Egypt and thereby nullified the ownership of slavery, we would indeed be enslaved to Pharaoh, with the ownership of slavery.

This clearly explains Rambam's precise language when he said, 'as if he himself has now come out of the subjugation of Egypt,' implying that the nature of this obligation is for a person to see himself in his mind's eye as if he has been 'plucked' from the generation in which he was planted and 'travels' backward through the generations until the time of redemption. This might seem puzzling at first—how can the Torah demand that a person adopt a view detached from reality? Are we expected to engage in dreams and fantasies? But it is necessarily intended as we have explained, that a person must contemplate that even now, in his own generation, the reality of Egyptian slavery and the exodus to freedom is relevant. For if the Holy One, Blessed Be He, had not taken our forefathers out of Egypt and thereby nullified the ownership of slavery, we would indeed be enslaved to Pharaoh, owned in slavery, and awaiting a release document. When a person contemplates this, he fulfills the obligation to see himself as if he has now come out of the subjugation of Egypt.

Further, we can explain, based on the words of Rav Chaim, the seemingly redundant language of Rambam at the end of his words: "And you shall remember that you were a slave, meaning, as if you yourself were a slave and have gone out to freedom and were redeemed." At first glance, 'gone out to freedom' and 'were redeemed' seem synonymous, so why did Rambam repeat it? Indeed, based on Rav Chaim's words, we can interpret that 'gone out to freedom' refers to liberation from the hard labor, where the term 'freedom' is appropriate, as we mentioned earlier regarding the phrase 'redeemed us from Egypt.' Whereas 'were redeemed' refers to the nullification of the ownership of our bodies, for which the term 'redemption' is appropriate, as we mentioned earlier regarding 'and redeemed us from the house of bondage.'