In describing the requirement of reading the Haggadah on the Seder nights, the Mishnah states, that one must begin with a description of the low point in Jewish history and conclude with the highest level of Jewish history. (Matchil begnut umesayeim beshvach Pesachim 116a). There is a controversy in the Talmud (also at Pesachim 116a) about the exact meaning of that requirement. Rav states (other commentaries say it is Rava) the genut or negative aspect of Jewish history begins with the passage which states, “at first our ancestors were worshippers of idols.” This passage concludes in the Haggadah with praise by telling us that, “now, God brought us close to worship and serve him.”
Shmuel (other commentaries say it is Rav Yosef) states the passage beginning with, “we were slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt.” (Avadim Hayinu) is the lowest point in our history. This second passage concludes with a description of God taking us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Ad Locum
Thus, it appears that Rav and Shmuel are arguing over two different types of slavery. Rav says that the lowest point is when a person worships idols, or spiritual slavery. Shmuel appears to say that it is physical slavery which is the lowest point of man. There is no resolution of what is the correct passage to start from and thus, the Rabbenu Chananel tells us, “and now we state both passages.” Ad locum.
In the Haggadah the issue of redemption from Egypt i.e. our physical redemption from slavery (Avadim Hayinu), precedes the statement of our redemption from idolatry to the worship of God. The reason for this is that the Talmudic passage concludes with the statement that Rav Nachman began by stating, “we were slaves in Egypt.” There is no reason offered as to why Rav Nachman chose to begin with Avadim Hayinu.
The question then is why did Rav Nachman place our physical slavery before our spiritual slavery? Isn’t spiritual slavery, believing in idols, a more negative aspect than physical slavery? Shouldn’t that be the lowest point in our history?
We are thus forced to investigate in a deeper sense what physical slavery really means. The Torah teaches us that when Moses came to ignite hope in the people of Israel during their servitude, they were not able to listen to him because of, “their shortness of breath and hard labor” (Shemot 6:9). It is a remarkably accurate statement that a slave cannot even take a deep breath which is required for the process of thought. All the elements which define human life cannot exist if one is a slave.
A slave cannot possess anything of his own, his time does not belong to him, he has no ability to choose or to make any decision. The slave has no past and no future, and is no different than any domesticated animal. (Aristotle calls slaves, tools with life. Politics I:4) Ultimately, he loses the mind that a human being must have in order to imagine or entertain a true concept of God.
The idol worshipper may believe in false gods, but at least there is hope that he can use his reason to one day discover the truth. A slave, on the other hand, is precluded from even the possibility of spiritual development. And that is why Rav Nachman and the Haggadah deemed our physical slavery to be an even lower level than our spiritual slavery.
This explanation (that slavery prevents people from contemplating God) allows us to answer a classic question. We say in our Friday night Kiddush that the Sabbath, “is the first of the days that are called holy in memory of the Exodus from Egypt.” How does the Sabbath remind us of the Exodus? The answer is that God created the Sabbath in order to prevent us from becoming slaves again, - not slaves to Pharaoh, but slaves to other “taskmasters” such as our jobs, or other mundane issues in our lives.
God gave us the Sabbath to ensure that we would continue to take time out from the everyday world in order to contemplate Him and His Torah. A person who spends no time contemplating God is merely a "tool with life."
Thus, at the Seder, we begin with Avadim Hayinu to emphasize that we are not merely celebrating our freedom, but the ability to utilize that freedom to contemplate and grow closer to God throughout the year.