Chad Gadya, One Little Goat: What is the Connection to the Seder Haggadah?

Everyone is familiar with the last song in the Ashkenazic Haggadah, Chad Gadya, One Little Goat:

One Little Goat, One Little Goat, that father bought for two zuzim,
One Little Goat, One Little Goat.
And then came a cat, and ate the goat that father bought for two zuzim,
One Little Goat, One Little Goat….
And then came the Holy One, blessed is He, and killed the angel of death, who slew the slaughterer, who slaughtered the ox…that beat the dog that bit the cat, that ate the goat that father bought for two zuzim,
One Little Goat, One Little Goat.

However, the question is: What is the Connection to the Seder Haggadah? This song could easily be better related to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when we all stand before God in judgment.

According to Rav Dovid Cohen, the answer may lie in the Rambam’s description of the mitzvah to recount the exodus from Egypt (Note: Even though the Rambam did not have Chad Gadya in his Haggadah).

We are commanded to recite the story of the Exodus from Egypt, with all the eloquence at our command, on the eve of the fifteenth of Nisan. One who expands on this theme is to be commended, enlarging on the iniquity of the Egyptians and the sufferings which they inflicted upon us, and on the way in which God wrought His vengeance upon them…. (Sefer HaMitzvos, Aseh 157)

Chad Gadya’s inclusion in the Haggadah reminds us of the message that in the end God’s takes His vengeance, justice is done and everyone gets their just deserts.

The lesson of Chad Gadya is, therefore, very much connected to the Seder, even though, it has a broader mussar message for everyone all year. In the end, as they say, whatever goes around comes around, whether at home or at work, at school or at play -- justice is done and everyone gets their just deserts.