בָּרוּךְ הַמָּקוֹם, בָּרוּךְ הוּא, בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּוֹרָה לְעַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל, בָּרוּךְ הוּא. כְּנֶגֶד אַרְבָּעָה בָנִים דִּבְּרָה תוֹרָה: אֶחָד חָכָם, וְאֶחָד רָשָׁע, וְאֶחָד תָּם, וְאֶחָד שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל.
חָכָם מָה הוּא אוֹמֵר? מָה הָעֵדוֹת וְהַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֶתְכֶם. וְאַף אַתָּה אֱמוֹר לוֹ כְּהִלְכוֹת הַפֶּסַח: אֵין מַפְטִירִין אַחַר הַפֶּסַח אֲפִיקוֹמָן:
רָשָׁע מָה הוּא אוֹמֵר? מָה הָעֲבוֹדָה הַזּאֹת לָכֶם. לָכֶם – וְלֹא לוֹ. וּלְפִי שֶׁהוֹצִיא אֶת עַצְמוֹ מִן הַכְּלָל כָּפַר בְּעִקָּר. וְאַף אַתָּה הַקְהֵה אֶת שִׁנָּיו וֶאֱמוֹר לוֹ: "בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה יְיָ לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם". לִי וְלֹא־לוֹ. אִלּוּ הָיָה שָׁם, לֹא הָיָה נִגְאָל:
תָּם מָה הוּא אוֹמֵר? מַה זּאֹת. וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו "בְּחוֹזֶק יָד הוֹצִיאָנוּ יְיָ מִמִּצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים".
וְשֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל – אַתְּ פְּתַח לוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר, וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר, בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה יְיָ לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם.
בָּרוּךְ הַמָּקוֹם Blessed is the Omnipresent –
blessed is He.
Blessed is the One
who gave His people Israel, the Torah –
blessed is He.
כְּנֶגֶד אַרְבָּעָה בָּנִים The Torah relates
to four types of sons –
one who is wise,
one who is wicked,
one with a simple nature,
and one who does not know how to ask.
The
WISE SON
what does he say?
“What are the testimonies, the statutes and laws,
that the LORD our God commanded you?”
And you must tell him the laws of Pesaḥ:
“After eating the Pesaḥ offering
one does not eat anything more.”
The
WICKED SON
what does he say?
“What is this service to you?”
“To you,” he says, not to him.
When he sets himself apart from the community,
he denies the very core of our beliefs.
And you must set his teeth on edge and tell him,
“Because of this
the LORD acted for me when I came out of Egypt.”
“For me,” and not for him;
had he been there he would not have been redeemed.
The
SIMPLE-NATURED SON
what does he say?
“What is this?”
And you must tell him,
“With a strong hand the LORD
brought us out of Egypt,
from the grip of slavery.”
And the
ONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW
HOW TO ASK
you must open [the story] for him,
as it is said:
“And you shall tell your child
on that day,
‘Because of this the LORD acted for me
when I came out of Egypt.’”
(20) When, in time to come, your children ask you, “What mean the decrees, laws, and rules that our God יהוה has enjoined upon you? (21) You shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and יהוה freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. (22) יהוה wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household; (23) and us [God] freed from there, in order to take us and give us the land promised on oath to our fathers. (24) Then יהוה commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere our God יהוה, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. (25) It will be therefore to our merit before our God יהוה to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as [God] has commanded us.”
(14) And when, in time to come, a child of yours asks you, saying, ‘What is this?’ you shall reply, ‘It was with a mighty hand that יהוה brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage. (15) When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, יהוה slew every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt, the first-born of both human and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to יהוה every first male issue of the womb, but redeem every male first-born among my children.’ (16) “And so it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand יהוה freed us from Egypt.”
(7) Throughout the seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten; no leavened bread shall be found with you, and no leaven shall be found in all your territory. (8) And you shall explain to your child on that day, ‘It is because of what יהוה did for me when I went free from Egypt.’ (9) “And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead—in order that the Teaching of יהוה may be in your mouth—that with a mighty hand יהוה freed you from Egypt.
This is a continuation of my earlier sheet - The Wicked Child's Invitation, so please read that one first.
One thing that supports my idea that the Four Children are meant to make us question the responses we are told to have to our children is that the replies for each question are different from the replies the Torah says to give for each question that’s a quote from Torah.
The simple child’s question, “what is this?” the answer given for how to respond to them in the Torah is “by strength of hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” Which is the same answer given in the Haggadah, but then the responses continue by explaining how this relates to the mitzvot one is doing - the connection between history and present.
The child who doesn’t know how to ask doesn't have a question, so this question isn’t mentioned in the Torah, but the answer is mentioned, and again - the connection is made between history and present.
The wicked child and wise child have different answers in the Torah and Haggadah. To the wise child’s question, the answer given in the Torah is “we were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharoah and all his household. And God freed us from there, in order to take us and give us the land promised by oath to our forefathers. Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere our God, for our lasting good and survival, as is now the case. It will therefore be for our merit before our God to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as God has commanded us.”
The answer given to the wise child in the Haggadah is not the best answer either… it focuses on the law without the story and history. Again, the Torah answer combines history and ritual, past and present.
The wicked child’s question is in the Torah too. The answer given in the Torah to the question “what is this service to you?” Is “it is 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.” This is the exact opposite of the answer given in the Haggadah— the “wicked child” is told in the Torah that he is a part of the “our” and would be saved. He is part of the "our." This is where the answers given in the Torah and Haggadah diverge the most - getting our attention, and making us look at all the answers and wondering why the four children's answers are different from the Haggadah and encouraging us to create a better Judaism for our children than maybe we are told to.