What does the wise child ask? What are these testimonies, statutes and judgments which the Lord our God commanded us: This passage is found in Parshat Va-etchanan (Deut. 6:20) It continues: "You shall say to your children: 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord performed before our eyes marvelous and awesome signs and portents in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his household.'" (Deut. 6: 21-22) This was the answer to the wise child. There is no doubt that a wise person is praised for his intellect, and his choice of words are a reflection of his intellect. In the words of Proverbs, 25:11: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver." This means that the wise person, when he asks a question or makes a statement does not repeat himself; each word deals with a separate matter and he chooses his words wisely. This is the intent of the wise child's question. When he asks about "these testimonies, statutes and judgments," he understands that there are different types of commandments regarding the Festival and Passover offering. For instance, we learn that the offering must be a male lamb; only those appointed to the offering were allowed to eat it; it had to be roasted; and it had to be consumed by midnight, as Scripture says, "This is the law of Passover." (Ex. 12:43) The wise child knows that these details are testimonies that teach us important matters about the reason for the offering. They testify to the events of the Exodus from Egypt. But he also asks regarding the statutes and judgments relating to the Passover offering; for example, "do not break the bones of the offering" and other details. One of the central statutes is the commandment to eat the Passover offering when one is already satiated from the festive meal, at the end of the meal, rather than when one normally eats one's favorite dish at the beginning of the meal. What purpose is there in eating delicacies on a full stomach and he is no longer able to eat any more? So you should explain to him, "You shall instruct him…no dessert (Afikomen) ought to be set before him after the Passover offering." That is, do not say, afiku mahn, "bring out the sweets" after the meal in order to remove the taste of meat from his mouth at the conclusion of the meal. That is why the Afikomen is delayed to the end of the meal. We can now explain the wise child's insightful question. We now eat an olives-size of sh'murah matzah at the end of the meal as a reminder of the Passover offering. We now understand why the wise child asks this question the way he does. He sees that members of his household and those appointed to eat their Passover offering sitting together. Each is given only a bit to eat of the offering at the end of the meal. He also sees that they are meticulous about eating it, something that they do not normally do at other times. He asks, "What are these testimonies and statutes…" That is, generally it is the custom when people gather to celebrate an occasion with the members of their household, they leave their house afterwards to visit their friends' houses. If it is because of the preciousness of the Passover offering that they gathered, then why don’t they send portions to their neighbors as we do on other occasions. The wise child does not remove himself from the gathering; rather, he says "which the Lord our God commanded you." He says "you" because he knows that the commandment was not given to him because he is still a minor. Yet he has already accepted upon himself the yoke of the commandments which is why he says, "the Lord our God."

So you should explain to him all the laws of Passover, including, "You shall instruct him…no dessert (Afikomen) ought to be set before him after the Passover offering." This answer implies that we are obligated to eat the Passover offering in one gathering and not with others. He will see that since we were appointed to this gathering, we cannot say "give me my cloak as I wish to go out from here," (afiku minai); we cannot go out from the house as on other festivals. Thus we explain why people don’t eat in their own homes as we do on other festivals but gather in groups to eat the Passover offering.

Ayn maftirin, comes from the same word as haftarah (from the liturgy) and has the meaning of 'finish' or 'complete.' When we recite the haftarah on Shabbat morning, we complete the Shacharit service. Another explanation of the word matftirin is 'to express' or 'to express intent.' The word Afikomen is Greek. According to the first interpretation of the word, 'finish,' this word means 'bring out the sweets,' as in 'We do not finish the meal with sweets.' According to the second interpretation, 'to express,' the word, Afikomen means, 'go out from here.' As in, "We do not say 'Let us go out from here.'"