Dear
Friends,
There
is a section within the Passover Haggadah which opens with the
following statement:
“Concerning
four children does the Torah speak: a wise one, a wicked one, a
simple one, and one who is unable to ask.”
Rav
Yehudah Leib Chasman (1869-1935) was a noted teacher of mussar
– Torah teachings related to the ethical and spiritual development
of our character. Rav Chasman offers an interpretation of the above
statement from the Haggadah which can guide each of us. According to
Rabbi Chasman, the '”four children” should not be understood as
four distinct personalities, for the traits exemplified by all of
them struggle within each of us.
One moment we are the wise child, the next moment the wicked child;
one instant we are the simple child, the next instant we are unable
to ask.
According
to this interpretation, the metaphor of the “four children” is
referring to personality traits within us that need to be developed
or changed. In this sense, we are “children” in need of further
growth or change; thus, the “wicked child” is not referring to a
particular person, but to an attitude or trait which needs to be
changed in order to experience growth. The “wicked child” will be
the focus of this letter, as a deeper understanding of this metaphor
can lead to a deeper understanding of the true freedom which gives
Zion its spiritual and universal purpose.
In
the following passage from the Haggadah, we learn that the “wicked
child” questions the value of the avodah
– service – of Passover:
“The
wicked child – what does he say? ‘Of what purpose is this service
to you?’ He says, ‘To you,’ thereby excluding himself;
moreover, by excluding himself from the community, he denies the
essential principle.”
This
“child” has noticed that the entire spectrum of the Passover
mitzvos – from
cleaning the house of chametz
(leavened food) to the detailed rituals of the Passover Seder –
consists of service.
The child cannot help but wonder: “Is this how we celebrate the
Festival of Freedom? The entire celebration seems to consist of
nothing but burdensome service!” According to the Jerusalem Talmud
(Pesachim 10:4), the “wicked child” is asking the parent: “What
is this bother with which you burden us every year?” Based on this
interpretation of the Jerusalem Talmud, a noted classical commentator
on the Haggadah, Rav David Abudarham, states that the “wicked
child” is offering the following challenge: What
is this bother with which you burden us every year which delays our
meal and which darkens the joy of the Festival?
In
other words, this “child” is not against having a Passover meal
to celebrate the Festival; this “child” is against the spiritual
service of mitzvos which accompanies the festival meal.
The
“child” who rejects the spiritual service of Passover says, “Of
what purpose is this service to you?” According to the Haggadah,
this “child” has separated himself from our community. Why is
this so? After all, this child still wants to eat the Passover food.
As we discussed in this series, our prophets stress again and again
that the raison d’etre of our community is to serve the Divine
purpose through fulfilling the mitzvos of the Torah; thus, someone
who willfully rejects our raison d’etre has separated himself from
our community.
The
Haggadah also stated that this “child” has rejected the essential
principle of our heritage. In order to begin to understand this
statement, we need to remember that the Torah, the heritage of our
people, is described in the following manner:
“She
is a tree of life'” (Proverbs 3:18).
The
Torah is a tree of life which extends her “branches” – her
mitzvos – into every area of life. Within each area of human
existence, the Torah provides a sacred service which elevates and
sanctifies that aspect of life.
We
may not always find it easy to follow this elevating path of sacred
service. If we're honest with ourselves, we can probably find at
least one area of life where we are not always eager to serve, and we
therefore find ourselves saying with some resentment, “What is this
service to you?”
The
following basic teachings which we discussed in the previous letter –
“Rediscovering the Freedom of Passover” – explain why a
rejection of this path of service is a rejection of the basic
principle of our heritage:
The
Torah states:
“And
Hashem God took the human being and placed him in the Garden of Eden
– l'avdah u’l’shamrah
– to serve it and to preserve it. (Genesis 2:15)
“To
serve it and to preserve it” – This two-part mandate reveals the
altruistic purpose of the human being’s creation. And the following
ancient teaching reveals that this two-part mandate expresses the
altruistic purpose of all the mitzvos in the Torah:
The
Divine mandate to “serve” the Garden represents mitzvos
aseh – the mitzvos of the Torah
which call upon us to engage in actions which nurture and elevate the
world, including ourselves. And the Divine mandate to “guard” the
Garden represents mitzvos lo sa’asay
– the mitzvos of the Torah which prohibit actions which damage and
degrade the world, including ourselves. (See “Tikunei Zohar” 55)
When
we serve Hashem through the mitzvos – the Divine mandates of the
Torah - we gain the freedom to become the altruistic human beings we
are meant to be.
The
resentful “wicked child” has failed to understand that the
mitzvos which we do at the Passover Seder are deeds of service which
express the very purpose of the Exodus from Egypt, for these deeds of
service give us true freedom. The Haggadah therefore instructs us to
cite the following verse in our response to the “wicked child”:
“It
is because of this
that Hashem acted for me when I came out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8)
“It
is because of this”
– So that I will fulfill in the future the mitzvos of Passover.
(Commentary of Rashi)
Unlike
the “wicked child,” the “wise child” realizes that the
mitzvos of Passover remind us of the following essential principle of
the Torah: We were created to serve!
The Haggdah therefore states that
the “wise child” asks the parent this question:
“What
are the testimonies, statutes, and social laws that Hashem, our God
has commanded you?”
The
“wise child” is eager to learn about the mitzvos of our God and
also eager to fulfill them. May we all rediscover the “wise child”
that is within each of us.
Have
a Good and Sweet Shabbos,
And
a Joyous Festival,
Yosef
Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)
P.S.
There are other interpretations of the “four children” which
understand them to be four distinct personalities, including one that
is called a “rasha” – a wicked person. It is a topic for
another discussion, but we need to be aware that our tradition
usually defines a Jewish rasha as
a member of our people who received a good Torah education and grew
up in a good Torah environment, but who willfully rebels against the
sacred teachings and precepts of the Torah. A member of our people
who fails to fulfill the Torah due to a lack of a good Torah
education and the lack of a good Torah environment is not considered
to be a willful and wicked rebel. We cited in a previous letter the
following related teaching of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld regarding
the Jews of his era (late 19th
and early 20th
centuries) who were not Torah-observant:
“Most
Jews today who have abandoned mitzvos are prisoners of alien cultures
and improper education. Were it not for the effects of the long and
bitter exile, they would certainly find their way back to their faith
and origins.”
An
Excerpt from the ''Hirsch Haggadah''
''We
shall thank You with a new song for our redemption and for the
deliverance of our souls.'' (Passover Haggadah)
Rabbi
Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his commentary on the above statement,
writes:
As
for the redemption of Yisrael and humanity - though mankind has
expended its entire store of virility and morality and though Yisrael
has forfeited its independence, energy, even the consciousness of its
mission, as well as the power and strength to carry it out, yet:
''their Redeemer lives'' (see Job 19:25). The One Who lives forever,
the God of Yisrael and the Redeemer of mankind, He is their Goel
(Redeemer). Every human soul that
has lapsed, every Jewish man or woman who has opted out of his or her
mission, humanity forfeiting its destiny, Yisrael not attaining
theirs - they are His
loss!'' When a human being suffers,'' Rabbi Meir teaches us, ''the
Shechinah - Divine Presence - expresses it thus: 'My
head is heavy, My
arm is heavy''' (Sanhedrin 46a). And in the words of Isaiah: ''In all
their troubles, He is troubled'' (63:9).
''Hashem
will not cast off His People, nor forsake His inheritance'' (Psalms
94:14). He has life for every death, strength for all weakness,
freedom and independence for any enslavement. Mankind and the Jewish
People are His! He rises up on their behalf when they are prostrated.
He is their Father, redeeming them from bondage and perdition to
freedom and life. (Page 159)
The
''Hirsch Haggadah'' stresses the universal message of Passover, and
it is published by Feldheim: www.feldheim.com
