Pesach - 5779 The Four Sons
Pesach - 5779 The Four Sons
Rabbi Hal Miller
What does the wise son say? "What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the
laws that Hashem our God has commanded you?" And you even should tell him
the laws of Pesach: it is forbidden to eat anything after the korban Pesach."
What does the wicked son say? "What is this service to you?"
The question of the wise son comes verbatim out of the verse in the Torah [Devarim
6:20]. The answer there, [6:21-25] says, "You shall say to your son, 'We were slaves
to Pharaoh in Egypt and God took us out of Egypt with a strong hand, etc.," which
we just read, although not quite verbatim, a moment before in the Haggadah as
"Avadim Hayinu", in answer to the Four Questions.
The question of the wicked son is answered in the Haggadah in two parts, first that
we should "blunt his teeth", and then verbatim from the Torah [Shemos 13:8], "It is
because of this that God acted on my behalf when I left Egypt."
The question of the naive son, and our answer to him in the Haggadah is also
verbatim from the Torah [Shemos 13:14], "What is this? Say to him, God took us out
of Egypt from the house of bondage."
The fourth son does not actually ask, yet we tell him the same response we give to
the wicked son.
So, where does the Haggadah come up with the answer to the wise son about not
eating after the Pesach, rather than what the Torah specified? How does the
Haggadah's answer to the wise son address his question at all? Why does the answer
to the son who does not know how to ask equate to what we say to the wicked son?
The Torah's version of the answer to the wise son explains that because God took
us out of Egypt, we are bound, and we merit, to receive and keep His laws. Thus,
the laws that the son is asking about are our way of honoring God and thanking Him
for what He did for us. What is the Haggadah saying? We are seeing a shortened
version. Instead of reading the entire Torah during the seder, we are only telling over
a subset, the laws of Pesach. So how does the idea of not eating dessert fit into this?
The Haggadah again is cutting things short for us, saying that we should tell over all
the laws of Pesach right through to the end, this being in effect the last of the laws.
Rav Yosef Soloveitchik answers that the wise son asked about "kol hachukim haeileh",
all of these statutes. He says, "and therefore one must explain what these are" before
answering any why or how. Thus "and you even should tell him the laws of Pesach",
in addition to other things you will explain throughout the evening.
Abarbanel writes that the answer to both the wicked and incapable sons was actually
meant only for the latter as instructive. The wicked son is first given a punishment,
"you shall blunt his teeth", only after that do we find that despite his poor attitude,
we still attempt to teach him, starting from the basics.
Rav Hirsch agrees, explaining that there are times when children will rebel against
everything, but they will eventually return if properly handled and taught even while
rebelling. Therefore we teach the rebel at the level he needs to keep in mind for
another time. He also notes that the question of the wise son includes no reference
to Pesach, just a general question about halacha. Thus we fine tune our answer to
address the halachas of this night.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reads the four sons as the cycle of development and growth.
He notes that the wicked, simple, and incapable sons relate to the entire people of
Israel at the time of the Exodus, and that the wise son relates to 40 years later. This
is reflected in where in the Torah the answers are found. The three in Shemos
demonstrate curiosity without agenda, followed by asking of questions, then followed
with challenging the answers. The wise son is the culmination of wisdom, "the point
at which we have internalized the values of our heritage." Our answers relate to
these developmental growth points.
The Dubner Maggid understands the four sons to be various portions of the people
in their different levels of acceptance of God and Torah. The wise son represents
those who say "na'aseh v'nishma", "we will do and we will hear", in other words, we
accept the Torah and its laws sight unseen, and are ready to hear what they are.
The wicked son represents those who say that they will only accept what they
understand and agree with, in effect judging God's laws in accordance with their own
opinion. The simple son is those who make no judgment but want to know what is
going on. The son who does not know to ask is not even at the level to know that
something is going on. The Torah, and the Haggadah, give answers to people at
their own level.