The Wise Son – What Does He Say?
THE QUESTIONS:
- And you should even instruct him regarding
the laws of the Pesach. “After the Pesach offering, no dessert is to be eaten!”
This is the
answer which the Haggadah instructs us to give to the wise son. However, the
Torah explicitly specifies, at length, a different response to the wise son:
And you shall
say to your son, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but God brought us forth
from Egypt with a mighty hand. God brought signs and wonders, great and terrifying,
upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household before our eyes. And He
brought us forth from there, in order to bring us and to give us the land which
He swore to our fathers. God commanded us to keep all of these statutes, to
fear Hashem our God, for our good all the days, so that He will keep us alive
like today. It will be righteousness for us if we observe to do all of this law
before Hashem our God, as He commanded us” (Devarim 6:21-25).
- And you should even instruct him regarding....
What purpose
does the word “even” serve? It would have sufficed to say, “And you should
instruct him regarding...” and not, “And you should even instruct him
regarding...”.
- And you should even instruct him regarding
the laws of the Pesach....
Why do we say
kehilchos hapesach, literally,
“...instruct him regarding like the
laws of the Pesach”?
- ...instruct him regarding the laws of the
Pesach: “After the Pesach offering, no dessert is to be eaten!”
Why is “laws”
in plural, when the response concludes with only one law? The Haggadah should
have said, “...instruct him regarding a law
of Pesach...”.
- “After the Pesach offering, no dessert is to
be eaten!”
Why was this
law, of all the laws of Pesach, chosen as the response to the child’s question?
Furthermore, how does this law answer the question, What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the social ordinances which
Hashem our God has commanded you?
*
The wise son
– what does he say? Perhaps a more accurate translation of ma hu omer would be, The wise son – what does it [the verse in the
Torah] say [about him], and
not, what does he say.
This
understanding of ma hu omer makes
sense, because the previous sentence stated, The Torah spoke about four sons; now the Haggadah logically asks
what the Torah said about those four sons.
The wise son – what does the Torah say
about him? The Haggadah
answers with the verses of the Torah which discuss the wise son. Although the
Haggadah cites only the son’s question, What
are the testimonies, the statutes, and the social ordinances which Hashem our
God has commanded you? (Devarim 6:20), it is clear from these verses that
the Torah is talking about a wise and righteous son.
First, the
Torah introduces this son’s question with the words, “When your son will ask
you in time to come, saying...”. In contrast, when the Torah introduces the
question of the wicked son, it says, “...when your children will say to
you...”. The difference in diction is obvious; in one place the Torah says the
child will ask you, and in the other
it says the child will say to you.
What does this difference mean?
When the
child asks you, “What are these testimonies...”, he is questioning sincerely.
He earnestly desires the knowledge he lacks and is making an honest attempt to
obtain it. His mind is open and he is fully prepared to give ear to the answer,
to listen, to understand, to accept and to fulfill all that we tell him. This
is the righteous son.
When the
child says to you, “What is this
service to you?”, even though his words are in question form, he is not
questioning, but making a statement. He is saying outright that these laws mean
nothing to him. This is the wicked son.
Second, “When
your son will ask you in time to come” implies that the son will ask in the
future, because he himself did not experience the Exodus and did not witness
the miracles God wrought. His motive for questioning is to fill the gaps in his
knowledge concerning the events in history which he was not present to behold.
“In time to come” tells us that he is not asking out of malice or resentment.
This differs
from the wording the Torah uses in regards to the wicked son’s question. There,
the Torah does not say “in time to come”. This indicates that the son is asking
even though he witnessed the departure from Egypt and is not lacking knowledge
of it; rather, he is questioning out of his spirit of rebelliousness.
Third, the
son, in his question, distinguishes between three types of commandments:
What are the testimonies. These are the commandments which testify
to the miracles and wonders that God performed for us.
and the statutes. These are the commandments whose
reasons are beyond human comprehension.
and the social ordinances. These are the commandments which
regulate the relationships between man and his fellow (such as providing
charity and respecting the property of others), for which our common sense
would oblige us even without the Torah’s command.
This
distinction between the various types of commandments displays a keen awareness
of the Torah, expresses an ardent desire to understand its many facets, and is
additional evidence that the enquirer is indeed wise. This is in stark contrast
to the wicked son’s question. The wicked son includes all of the commandments
in one general term – “service”, making no differentiation between the varied
forms of service. This shows a feeling of apathy at best, and derision at
worst, for what the Torah has to offer.
Fourth, the
son says, “...which Hashem our God has commanded...”. Not only does he include
mention of the Almighty in his question, but he also says “our God”, thus
including himself as one who faithfully trusts in and serves God. The wicked
son, on the other hand, makes no mention of God in his question.
...which Hashem our God has commanded
you. When the wise son
says “commanded you”, and not “commanded us”,
he does not intend to exclude himself from the commandments, as the Haggadah
indeed deduces from the wicked son’s use of the same phrase – “to you, but not
to him”. What is the difference?
We have
already seen that the wise son’s question arises from his lack of knowledge,
which itself is merely a consequence of not personally witnessing the Exodus.
Just as he did not experience the Exodus, he was also not physically present
for the Revelation at Sinai, when the entire nation heard God speak to them.
Therefore, he asks, “What are the testimonies...which God has commanded you,” which God spoke unto you; I am
certainly included in the commandments, but God did not speak directly to me as
He did to you.
The wicked
son, however, says, “What is this service to you”; even though he may have experienced the Revelation and heard
God speak to him, he still says “to you” to stress his self-imposed exclusion
from the community.
This
difference between the “you” of the wise son and the “you” of the wicked son is
evident in the two Hebrew forms of what seems to be the same pronoun. The wise
son says eschem, which literally
means “with you”. He is not implying that God’s words were directed to you and
not to him; he is merely asking what God said when he spoke with you. He
understands that God’s words are directed to every Jewish person without
exception, but that God only actually spoke with those who lived at the time of
the Revelation. The wicked son says lachem,
which literally means “to you”. He believes that even though he may have heard
God speak, God’s words were directed not to him, but to you.
The Haggadah
began this section with a question, The
wise son – what does the Torah say about him?, and proceeded to guide us to
the section of the Torah which addresses the question of the wise son. Once it
has informed us where in the Torah the wise son’s question is discussed, the
Haggadah has no need to tell us what to answer him. The answer is already there,
in the Torah, and we now know where to find it. It is quite obvious that we
answer the wise son with the reply that the Torah teaches us to answer.
Nevertheless, the Haggadah wishes to emphasize that we must answer the wise son
by teaching him all of the laws of the Pesach offering, from the beginning of
the service until the end.
And you should even instruct him. In addition to what the Torah commands
you to answer him, you should even tell him...
...like the laws of the Pesach.... Just as you teach him all of the laws of
the Pesach sacrifice – which is what he asked for – from the beginning of the
service until the end, you should also teach him all of the laws which apply
after the consumption of the Paschal lamb, such as “After the Pesach offering, no dessert is to be eaten!”
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