Devarim 26: What Does Ara-mean?

The chapter begins with the commandment to bring the first fruits, but it also contains a passage that is a significant part of the Pesach Haggadah. The passage is a mini history of the Israelites. It describes them going down to Egypt, God saving them from the Egyptians with signs and wonders. God then brings the people to the land of milk and honey and now the people bring the first fruits to God.The passage opens with the phrase “Arami oved avi.” What does this phrase mean?“An Aramean was destroying my father, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a small number, and there he became a nation—great, mighty, and numerous.” (Deuteronomy 26:5)אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי וַיֵּרֶד מִצְרַיְמָה וַיָּגָר שָׁם בִּמְתֵי מְעָט וַיְהִי־שָׁם לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל עָצוּם וָרָבRashi translates this as “An Aramean destroyed my father.” The Aramean, according to Rashi, is Lavan. This is also how the Targum translates it. Some commentators say the word oved should be read with an ayin, meaning worked, as in Lavan worked Yaakov.The Pesach Haggadah follows this interpretation as well:“Go out and learn what Lavan the Aramean sought to do to Ya'akov, our father; since Pharaoh only decreed [the death sentence] on the males, but Lavan sought to uproot the whole [people]. As it is stated (Deuteronomy 26:5), ‘An Aramean was destroying my father and he went down to Egypt, and he resided there with a small number and he became there a nation, great, powerful and numerous.’”There are many questions about this interpretation. Why start this passage with Lavan without naming him? Going down to Egypt was not directly after the Lavan story, so why connect the two?Ibn Ezra raises many of these questions. He translates the phrase as “my father was a lost Aramean.” Oved is not used here as a transitive verb, but as an adjective. The Aramean is Yaakov, and he was lost because he was poor.This sets up a mirrored structure. Yaakov was poor and went down to Egypt with a small group of people on one side. The mirror image is that God intervened, and instead of remaining a small group, the people emerged from Egypt as a great nation. Instead of poverty, they entered a land flowing with milk and honey. This contrast highlights the journey from humble beginnings to abundance and explains why the penitent farmer brings his first fruits to the Temple.Rashbam goes even further back and explains that the Aramean here is Avraham, who was a wanderer. Avraham serves as a stand in for all three forefathers, none of whom had a permanent land of their own and all of whom lived as wanderers. Rashbam’s interpretation also preserves the mirrored structure.The question remains: did Rashbam and Ibn Ezra have a different version of the Haggadah?