בס"ד
light of 1 Nisan 5781 — Hava haAharona Celebrates Am Yisrael's 3,333rd Birthday!
הוה האחרונה חוגגת את יום ההולדת ה-3,333 של עם ישראל
by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher | first published here
|
The
4 sons occupy a key place in the Hagadah. The Hagadah states their
questions, then spells out the answers, all of which are based on
biblical texts. כנגד ארבעה בנים דברה תורה.
The
Torah is realistic, not all children are Chachamim. Life presents us
with a variety of children, ranging from the wise to the wicked. Parents
cannot and should not ignore any of them. We have to listen carefully
to the questions of all of our children and seek to answer them. No
matter what the pressure or provocation, we must maintain our
relationship with all kinds of children. As long as they sit at the
Seder, ask questions and lend an ear to our replies and the teachings of
the Torah, there is hope and reason for optimism.
This
explains the rather unusual introduction in the Hagadah to the passage
of the 4 sons. ברוך המקום. ברוך הוא. ברוך שנתן תורה לעמו ישראל. ברוך
הוא.
4
times the word Baruch is repeated. This is to show that each of the 4
sons, good or bad, is a blessing. Every child, no matter what his
attitude is now, could potentially be a blessing. Today’s Rasha may be
tomorrow’s Chacham. And today’s Tam may very well become a wise disciple
the following year.
This
optimistic approach is given additional emphasis by the story of the
famous sages who were gathered in Bnei Brak onPesach night. They were
the greatest men of the generation, the outstanding and revered scholars
in Israel, but they were not all originally so. Rav Eliezar, who is
described in Pirkei Avot as “a cemented cistern which doesn’t lose a
drop” only began his Torah studies at the age of 22. Until then he was
an ignoramus.
Rabbi
Akiva, the greatest Tanna of the Mishna, was a total Am Haaretz until
the age of 40. Not only was Rabbi Akiva ignorant of Torah, he even hated
the very sight of a Talmud Chacham. (Pesachim 49b)
But
Rachel, his wife, with a בינה יתרה (women’s intuition) saw in him great
promise and potential. She recognized his qualities of potential
scholarship and leadership. She would not give up on him. How right she
was! Years later, because of her encouragement, Rabbi Akiva would occupy
the most revered and distinguished position in the Jewish community.
Can we then measure the potential of people? Are we justified in becoming discouraged too easily? Of course not!
Let
us then apply ourselves to all of our children, the bright and the
simple, the devout and the wicked ones. The light of Torah may well
perform wonders. Thus each and every child is a special blessing.
Let’s
keep in mind that every person has a component of Chacham, Rasha, Tam,
She’eino Yodeia Lishol in his being. Relative percentages differ, but we
are each ALL of the 4 sons.
***
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