S.A.L.T. - Wednesday

Who is the “rasha,” the wicked son described by the Haggada?  Why do we consider him wicked, and what exactly did the Haggada have in mind when it calls for a harsh response to this son?

Our understanding of the wicked son begins with an obvious discrepancy between the response to this son mandated by the Torah and that given in the Haggada.  The question identified by the Haggada as that of the wicked son – “Ma ha-avoda ha-zot lakhem” – “What is this ritual for you?” – appears in Parashat Bo (Shemot 12:26). The Torah there gives us a very specific answer with which to respond to this question: “You shall say: It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.”  Many commentators have asked why the Haggada offers a different response to the wicked son’s question.  The Haggada instead has us scold the rasha and let him know that “were he to have been there, he would not have been redeemed.” Why?

Many writers explain based on a subtle nuance in the Torah’s wording when foretelling the rasha’s question.  In presenting the questions of the other sons, the Torah writes, “When you son shall ASK…” (see Shemot 13:14; Devarim 6:20).  Here, by contrast, the Torah writes, “When you sons say to you” (“Ki yomeru aleikhem beneikhem”).  This would perhaps indicate that the wicked son does not ask; he tells.  In fact, this may very well be the reason why Chazal attribute this “question” to the wicked son, because the son described by the Torah here does not ask, he is not interested in an answer.  Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch claims that the wicked denies the authority of his parents and the previous generation.  He sees them as relics of the past, of an outdated system that has outlived its own relevance and must be replaced.  He sees it as his duty to free his parents from the shackles of the past and bring them by the hand into the new ideas of the modern era. He therefore does not ask, but says to them, “What is all this to you?!”

The Torah tells us to respond, “You shall say: It is the passover sacrifice…”  Significantly, the Torah does not have us “say to him,” but simply “say.”  We cannot speak to someone who has no interest in listening.  If he tells rather than asks, then we should not respond.  We should instead reinforce our own faith and resolve, and we must focus our attention on the other sons who sincerely ask, inquire and express interest.

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