We continue with keeping the flavor of the Haggadah in our mouths.
As we know, there are four sons and they ask different questions.
People think the four sons show up in the Torah asking these questions at the seder, but that is not the fact. It’s important to know, and most people don’t realize, that these questions were not asked at the seder.
This is quite clear from the Torah, from the Parasha in the tefilin that men read every day called והיה כי יבאך
/V’Haya Ki YeviAcha (which is actually the sefer Torah reading of the first day of Chol Hamoed). It says, “You will come into the land and have first born animals…. And a first born donkey is redeemed on a sheep. And if you don’t redeem it, you decapitate the donkey. And then it says, “Your son will ask you, ‘Ma Zot/What is going on?“
Why did you just decapitate that donkey? Poor donkey. What did the donkey do? Firstly, this is a halacha that is still kept today in Israel, and even in America sometimes. A sheep is switched with a donkey. It’s a whole procession.
The son asking this question of ‘Ma Zot?What is going on?” Is the תם /tam. He only asks questions when he sees something different going on. And you answer him by saying, “With a strong arm God took us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.. And when Paroah hardened his heart, we killed all the firstborn Egyptians.”
This is all simple pshat that we say every day. But how does it answer the question?
The Seforno explains that we are really acting out a play. The Jewish people are compared to a sheep, and Paroah and the Egyptians, who are stubborn, are compared to a donkey.
So we tell the donkey, who is Paroah, “If you’d like, we can take the kedusha out of you (which means let the Jewish people out of your country) That kedusha would be redeemed on the sheep, which would then be let go.
The first born donkey symbolizes the kedusha of the first born Egyptians. Letting the Jewish people go is symbolized by the transfer of kedusha from the donkey to the sheep. And if you don’t want to let the sheep go, we will decapitate the donkey. Which is why the first born Egyptians were killed
(We say this every day, and it’s in our tefilin).
So that’s the tam. He needs to be prompted to ask questions, which is why we do things differently and change things up at the seder. He only asks when he sees a change.
On the other hand, the hacham/smart son, who asked a deeper question about the different types of Mitzvot, asks his question unprompted. Smart people analyze things without a prompt, like Rabbi Miller, who was always thinking, analyzing and trying to understand things. We are supposed to be like the hacham and ask about things, not only when something is strange.
That is the lesson for us. And if we can’t be like the hacham, we should at least be the tam. That’s also a level. The lowest fellow on the totem pole doesn’t even know how to ask. If you see a prompt, you should ask a question. As it says in Mizmor Shir L’Yom HaShabat , “וכסיל לא יבין את זאת /the fool doesn’t understand this.“
What is this?
I heard a great mashal for this, many years ago, from Rabbi Hillel Zaks,z’l, Rosh Yeshiva of Hevron,
A little boy walks into the cockpit of a plane and he looks at all the gadgets, notices a big red button and asks the pilot,
“What is that?”
The pilot cheekily responds, “And the rest of the cockpit, you do understand? The only question you have is the red button?
Ma Zot/What’s this? That’s what you’re asking about? That is the tam. He goes through life asking “What’s going on?” when something extraordinary suddenly happens.
They ask Why is this happening to me or to the Jewish nation. That is the tam.
But the hacham looks at everything in amazement. He wonders about all the wonderful things that are going on. He doesn’t just ask when there’s a strange aberration.
So, at the very least, we should ask a question when we see a strange thing. At least be a tam. Look at Putin. Look at the Ukraine. What is going on? Ma Zot?
Otherwise, just continue on your merry way, because you don’t even know how to ask a question.
But the aleph- bet level is to at least be a tam. Start looking around and seeing. Ma Zot?What is going on?
When you see the donkey getting decapitated, notice that there’s a question there.
That is one of the lessons of the night of the Seder. Ma Zot? What is going on?
Have a wonderful day and a happy, Kosher Pesach.