Haggadah: The Four Sons
Blessed is the Omnipresent One, blessed be He! Blessed is He who gave the Torah to His people Israel, blessed be He! The Torah speaks of four children: One is wise, one is wicked, one is simple and one does not know how to ask.
(כ) כִּי יִשְׁאָלְךָ בִנְךָ מָחָר לֵאמֹר מָה הָעֵדֹת וְהַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֶתְכֶם.
(יד) וְהָיָה כִּי יִשְׁאָלְךָ בִנְךָ מָחָר לֵאמֹר מַה זֹּאת וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו בְּחֹזֶק יָד הוֹצִיאָנוּ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים.
(14) And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying: What is this? that thou shalt say unto him: By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage;
(8) And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.
(כו) וְהָיָה כִּי יֹאמְרוּ אֲלֵיכֶם בְּנֵיכֶם מָה הָעֲבֹדָה הַזֹּאת לָכֶם.
(26) And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you: What mean ye by this service? (27) that ye shall say: It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s passover, for that He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.’ And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
Haggadah: The Four sons cont'd
וּלְפִי שֶׁהוֹצִיא אֶת עַצְמוֹ מִן הַכְּלָל, כָּפַר בְּעִקָּר
By thus excluding himself from the community he has denied that which is fundamental.
Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, Meshekh Chokhma, Exodus 13:14
והיה כי ישאלך בנך מחר לאמור. התבונן הא שבכל הבנים כתיב "כי ישאלך בנך לאמר" לבד בהבן הרשע כתיב "והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם" (לעיל יב, כו), ולא כתוב "לאמר". - השיבנו תשובה וכו'. והנה החכם ששואל "מה העדות" והתם ששואל "מה זאת", רצונם לדעת ולשמוע תשובה, כי אותה הם מבקשים. לא כן הרשע, ששאלתו "מה העבודה הזאת לכם" הוא רק לועג על העבודה, שלדעתו הוא דבר בטל, ואין רצונו בתשובה להוסיף דעה, כי לא יחפץ כסיל בתבונה, ורצונו הוא שיהיה הקושיא |אלומה כדי שיהיה הלעג חזק. ולכן לא כתיב כאן לא "שאלה" ולא "לאמור
By all of the sons, it is written "when your son asks you saying..." except for the wicked son, for by him it is written, "and behold when your son speaks to you." It does not write "saying," as in "answer my question," (but rather just speaks to you, as a projection of words). When the wise son asks "what are these testimonies?" Or the simple son, "what is this?" Their intention is to hear an answer. However the wicked son is different. When he asks, "what is this service to you?" he is merely mocking your practices, for to him they are irrelevant, for his desire is not to receive an answer but rather to mock others.
Jerusalem Talmud, Pesachim, 10:4
בן רשע מהו אומר [שם יב כו] מה העבודה הזאת לכם מה הטורח הזה שאתם מטריחין עלינו בכל שנה ושנה
What does the "wicked" son say? What is this service to you? What is this trouble that you are burdening us with every single year?
The IKEA Effect, Dan Ariely, Doctoral Abstract
In a series of studies in which consumers assembled IKEA boxes, folded origami, and built sets of Legos, we demonstrate and investigate the boundary conditions for what we term the “IKEA effect” – the increase in valuation of self-made products. Participants saw their amateurish creations – of both utilitarian and hedonic products – as similar in value to the creations of experts, and expected others to share their opinions. Our account suggests that labor leads to increased valuation only when labor results in successful completion of tasks; thus when participants built and then destroyed their creations, or failed to complete them, the IKEA effect dissipated. Finally, we show that labor increases valuation of completed products not just for consumers who profess an interest in “do-it-yourself” projects, but even for those who are relatively uninterested.
Malcom Gladwell, Outliers (Summary)
A common theme that appears throughout Outliers is the "10,000-Hour Rule", based on a study by Anders Ericsson. Gladwell claims that greatness requires enormous time, using the source of The Beatles' musical talents and Gates' computer savvy as examples.[3] The Beatles performed live inHamburg, Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1964, amassing more than 10,000 hours of playing time, therefore meeting the 10,000-Hour Rule. Gladwell asserts that all of the time The Beatles spent performing shaped their talent, and quotes Beatles' biographer Philip Norman as saying, "So by the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, 'they sounded like no one else. It was the making of them.'"[3] Gates met the 10,000-Hour Rule when he gained access to a high school computer in 1968 at the age of 13, and spent 10,000 hours programming on it.[3]