Rabbi Horowitz now turns to the question of the wicked child. What is implied by his question? He delves into the wicked child’s question and suggests that the difference between the wise and wicked child is when each one asks his question. The wise child asks after having performed the commandment while the wicked child asks before, as a condition to his fulfillment of the mitzvah. He also contextualizes the question: the Passover offering is of such great importance that his question is tantamount to denying the whole Torah. **What is this service to you?Since the wicked child says “to you,” he is separating himself from the community. And yet, as we have already seen, how is this question different from the wise child who seems to exclude himself when he says, “What are these commandments …which God commanded YOU?” The difference between the wicked and the wise child is when the question is asked. The wise child asks after performing the commandment while the wicked asks his question before the performing the commandment! Wisdom comes through obedience first, as we see in the case of the Jewish people. When the people of Israel said “we will do (na’aseh) we will listen (nishma),” the Holy One responded, “Who revealed this secret to my children?”⁹t 88b This can be explained in the following way: when a faithful servant is commanded to perform a task by his master, he doesn’t ask why; he does whatever he is told, whether he understands the reason or not, as in the case of Abraham who took his son to Mount Moriah prepared to offer him as a sacrifice. If the servant finds favor in the eyes of his master, then his master might explain the reason to him afterwards. This is why the people of Israel placed “We will do” before “We will listen.” Israel was prepared to do whatever God commanded even before they heard an explanation. These commandments are incumbent upon all Israel; some of these laws are statutes (hukkim), for which there is no rational explanation. “Nishma” (hearing or understanding) is reserved for those who are favored by God. The wise child who has engaged in the commandments of Pesach, matzah and maror can now ask the reason for the commandments. The wicked child, on the other hand, asks even before he performs any of the commandments. He figures that if the explanation suits him he will perform the commandment and if not, he will reject it. What does the Haggadah mean when it says that the wicked child “separated himself from the community?” This means that he has rejected the two commandments that epitomize the very essence of faithfulness to covenant and community. Commenting on the verse, “I said to you, “Through your blood shall you live” and I said to you, “through your blood shall you live,”¹⁰” the sages suggest that Israel was redeemed because of the two mitzvot: the Pesach offering and circumcision. Circumcision is equal to all 613 commandments;¹¹ when God commanded Abraham to circumcise himself, he said to him, “Walk before me and be whole.¹² can mean whole or blameless. Horowitz understands the idea here that circumcision encompasses the whole person.” There is a numerical allusion to the importance of circumcision in the word brit, which has the numerical value of 612 – when we add the word/mitzvah itself to this number it is equal to 613. Thus, circumcision is equal to all the commandments. Similarly, the Pesach offering is equal to all 613 commandments as well. Since these two commandments encompass the entire human being¹³, which is often used as a reference to the divine person; the commandments symbolize, Israel was deemed worthy of being redeemed. That is why the sages interpreted the verse “You shall keep the commandments (mitzvot)” as “You shall keep unleavened bread (matzot),¹⁴ and mitzvot are written with the same letters!” since the Pesach offering is equal to all the other commandments. Similarly, we find yet another statement regarding the importance of the Pesach offering in the following discussion in the Talmud: “He broke the Tablets:” how did Moses learn (that it was permissible to smash the tablets when the people worshipped the calf)? He argued: If the Passover sacrifice, which is but one of the 613 precepts, and yet the Torah said, “No alien eat thereof.” Here is the whole Torah, and the Israelites are apostates, how much more so should I smash the tablets (and not allow them to fulfill any of these commandments)! ¹⁵ 87a In this passage, Moses compares the Pesach offering to all the other mitzvot in the Torah. This is not true in other cases; for instance, if one denies one’s faith, one’s Terumah offering is not exempt. The Passover offering is different since it is equal to all the commandments of the Torah. Furthermore, if you add up the numerical values of the letter names in Pesach (pei – samekh – heit) it equals 613! By not performing this commandment, he separates himself from the k‘llal¹⁶ means community – here he understands it as the combined mitzvot of the Torah. of mitzvot, the sum total of the commandments, and he denies the essential teachings – such a person is considered to be like one who worships idols. We can now understand the reasoning behind the wicked child’s question. The wicked child begins with the assumption of the Haggadah, that “Every generation should see itself as if it were present in Egypt.” This means that each person is connected to those who were present in Egypt. The wicked child says, “Since I was present with you in Egypt and I‘m considered to be like “a gentile” because I have denied the most essential commandments, then all those in Egypt with me could not consume the Pesach offering either.” Therefore, he says, “What is this service to you,” since you could not eat it. Our response to the wicked child is to say, “Your presence does not disqualify the rest of us from eating the Pesach offering. In fact, a mixed multitude of others left Egypt with Israel even though they did not accept the mitzvot. This caused the exile to be prolonged but it did not remove the possibility of redemption. We are commanded in scripture to remove, “the dross from the silver,¹⁷” even if the people, even if the evil became mixed into the nation again.¹⁸ It is our responsibility, then, to “remove the evil from our midst.”

footnotes: ⁹ Babylonian Talmud Shabba ¹⁰ Ezekiel 16:6 ¹¹ Tradition is that the number 613 is made up of 248 positive commandments, equal to the number of parts of the human body and the 365 negative commandments, equal to the number of days in the year. ¹² Genesis 17:1 – the word tamim ¹³ Horowitz uses the expression shiur komah ¹⁴ Exodus 12:17 – the words matzot ¹⁵ Babylonian Talmud Shabbat ¹⁶ Usually, the word k’llal ¹⁷ See Jeremiah 6:29 - The bellows puff; the lead is consumed by fire. Yet the smelter smelts to no purpose – The dross is not separated out. They are called rejected silver for the Lord has rejected them ¹⁸ That is, at the time of the Exodus the evil was removed from Israel but afterward it returned to make the nation impure once again.