**Blessed is the One who gave Torah to His people Israel. The Torah speaks about four types of children.**Ma’aseh Hashem explains that the wise child is Isaac, the wicked one is Esau, the simple one is Jacob, and the one who doesn’t know how to ask refers to Ishmael. Why was it necessary to mention these four people in this statement? Furthermore, why does the Torah say that “God gave Torah to HIS PEOPLE, Israel” – isn’t the fact that Israel is God’s people obvious? The Haggadah could have said, “Blessed is the One who gave Torah to Israel.” We learn that the Torah resided with God for the first two thousand years from the time of creation until the time of Abraham. It was only in the time of Abraham that the teachings of Torah were revealed. The Torah says, that “Abraham made souls in Haran;” the Aramaic translation explains that this means that Abraham taught Torah to others; it implies that the Torahbegan to be revealed in the time of Abraham. If the Torah was to be revealed after two thousand years, why wasn’t it revealed immediately in the time of Abraham? Why wait until the Exodus? A poet, in one of the Yotzrot³⁵ is a special liturgical poem which was recited following the Borchuin the Shacharit service. Special poems were written for other holidays and occasion which were added into the service. which is recited on Shavuot, writes that the Torah could not be given in the time of Isaac because he flattered Esau.³⁶ to Jacob so the Torahwas not given in his time Jacob was not worthy of receiving the Torah n the Bible says of him: “My ways are hidden from the Lord”³⁷ It would appear, then, that Isaac or Jacob were both willing to accept it but they were not worthy of receiving. The Torah did not want to fall into their hands. Ishmael and Esau were both offered the Torah and they rejected it; Ishmael rejected it because he didn’t want to accept the commandment, “Do not commit adultery,” and Esau because he rejected, “Do not murder.”³⁸ Deuteronomy 343 – a slightly different version - Ishmael rejects the commandments because it says “Thou shall not steal.” The Torahdid not reject them; they rejected the Torah! In Masechet Shabbat we learn that the reason the nations of the world are impure is because they did not stand at Mount Sinai: because Israel stood at Mount Sinai they were cleansed of impurity. Had God given Israel the Torahsooner we would not have been impure so long. So why did God wait? There are two answers. First, the Holy One waited until there were 600,000 Israelites, similar to the number of letters in the Torah. That way every Israelite could take hold of one letter in the Torah. The word Yisrael hints at this explanation; it is an abbreviation for, *Yesh shishim ribbo otiot latorah,”*there are 60 times ten thousand letters in the Torah.” And second, had God given it earlier who would have received it since Isaac and Jacob were not worthy and Ishmael and Esau rejected it? Now we can understand the words of the Haggadah.We bless God who gave the Torah to an entire nation and not to a single individual such as Isaac and Jacob, or Ishmael and Esau for that matter. He goes on to say, the Torah speaks AGAINST³⁹ is here understood as “against” rather than theTorah speaks of four children… four children. It was because of these four individuals that the Torah could not be given to the world sooner. The poet of the Shavuot poem also mentions Abraham; he too was unworthy of receiving the Torahsince he questioned God. He said, “O God how am I to know⁴⁰ the observance on the original Passover, and the laws of *Pesach dorot,*Passover as it was observed in later generations. if I am to possess it?”⁴¹

footnotes: ³⁵ A Yotzer (Yotzrot) ³⁶ Isaac favored Esau over Jacob! He could not be trusted to give the Torah ³⁷ 37Isaiah 40:27 ³⁸ See Sifre ³⁹ The Hebrew word Keneged ⁴⁰ The rabbis distinguish between Pesach Mitzvrayim, ⁴¹ Genesis 15:8