Four Children | Passover haggadah by Shayna Kobrinetz

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We now say four blessings for the four Torah passages we are about to read in the story of the Four Children.

Recite together:

בָּרוּךְ הַמָּקוֹם, בָּרוּךְ הוּא, בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּוֹרָה לְעַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל, בָּרוּךְ הוּא.

Baruch hamakom, baruch hu.

Baruch shenatan torah le'amo yisrael, baruch hu.

Blessed is the omnipresent One, blessed be God!

Blessed is God who gave the Torah to God's people Israel, blessed be God!

The wise child asks his parents: "What is the meaning of the rituals, rules, and laws that the Eternal our God has

commanded you?" (Deuteronomy 6:20) I want to understand all the rules surrounding our seder.

His parents answer: We are so happy you asked! Wise children want to understand what is going on during the seder, so they can participate now and, one day, explain the seder to their

children. One of the important rules is found in the Mishnah, a very old book of Jewish stories and laws. It says,

"We may not eat any dessert after we eat the Pesach sacrifice." (Mishnah Pesachim 10:8) A long time ago, Jews used to honor the holiday by sacrificing an animal. Today, we do it with this seder and by eating matzah. This law is one of the last ones we are supposed to learn about the seder. We are teaching it to

you because you are very curious and seem to want to know a lot of the details and reasons behind why we do what we do.

The wicked child asks his parents: "What is this service to you?" (Exodus 12:26)

His parents answer: That's actually not a nice thing to say, but you might not even realize why. In your question, you asked why Passover matters "to you." A better question would be,

"Why does this worship matter to us?" By saying "to you," you act like you are not part of the Jewish people. Feeling connected to one another is a very important part of Judaism. The Torah says, "For the sake of what the Lord did for me when I went out of Egypt." (Exodus 13:8) Notice how it says "for me." When we read that line we are all supposed to remember that God freed all of us.

By the way, we know the wise child also asked a question ending in "you." Maybe we said his question was wise and your question was wicked because we weren't paying enough attention to you. Parents can be totally unfair. Or maybe we didn't pay attention to how the wise child ended his question, because he seemed more interested in the seder and his question was very specific.

The innocent child asks her parents: "What is this?" (Exodus 13:14)

Her parents answer: We will start with a simple explanation. "By the strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slaves." (Exodus 13:14) You don't seem to understand very much about the seder yet, and that is OK! You are doing the right thing by starting with simple questions. Eventually, when you learn more, you might ask more specific ones.

The child who doesn't know how to ask her parents anything.

Her parents observe her silence and realize they need to help her start the conversation. Maybe this is because she doesn't understand anything, or maybe it is because she thinks she

already understands everything. But no matter how much you know, or think you know, there are always more questions to ask.

Her parents answer: The Torah says that parents are responsible for teaching our children about the Exodus. "And you shall explain to your children that day, 'It is because of what the Lord did for me when I went free from Egypt.'"

(Exodus 13:8) We are supposed to do this with all children, no matter what kind of questions they ask, no matter if they ask them kindly or rudely or not at all. No matter how a child is acting or how he or she learns best, we must now find a way to teach them the lessons of Passover.

It's easy to read these questions and think, "which child am I?" Which one is my sibling, my parents, my relatives? A famous 20th-century Rabbi named Menachem Mendel Schneerson once wrote that we should all think of ourselves as all four children. Each and every one of us have moments when we are wise, wicked, simple, and disconnected. The story of the Four Children reminds us to be aware that we all have all of these sides within us.

haggadah Section: -- Four Children