Praised is HaMakom who gave the Torah to Israel, praised is God. The Torah speaks of four children: one is wise, one is wicked, one is simple and one doesn’t know to ask. There are many things to explain in this brief passage. The first is the connection between the two statements, “Praised is HaMakom,” and, “The Torah speaks of four children.” There are a number of ways of explaining the order of the passages at the beginning of the Haggadah. First, the Maggid wants to prove the premise that it is an obligation to tell the story of the Exodus at length. After bringing examples from the sages as well as the statement of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, the Maggid tells us that the Torah speaks of the Exodus in many different ways. It tells us that the Torah speak of four types of children: wise, wicked, simple and one who doesn’t know how to ask. Each asks a different question and the Torah answers in a different way. For each one, a person must formulate an appropriate answer. As the Haggadah says (regarding the fourth child), “You must open it for him.” Therefore, the statements about four children prove that one must tell the story of the Exodus at length. After proving this, the Maggid begins the telling, with ‘disgrace,’ (“At first our fathers worshipped idols,”) and then concludes with, ‘praise,’ (“My father was a wandering Aramean.”) In this manner everything fits into its proper order.

The second way of explaining the order of the statements at the beginning of the Haggadah is based on a passage in Pesachim, Chapter 10: **“One should begin with disgrace and end with praise.**What is meant by disgrace? Rav said: ‘We begin with at first, our fathers worshipped idols.’ (Joshua 24:2) Samuel said: ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.’ (Deut. 6:21)” (Pesachim, 116a) According to Samuel the main topic of Passover is political liberation, and so we focus on the disgrace of slavery. Rav was of the opinion that the disgrace is that idol worship and the praise is that God brought them close to divine service by giving them the Torah at Sinai. For Rav the focus of the story is the birth of our faith. We tell the story of the Exodus in the Haggadah according to the opinions of Samuel and Rav. The Maggid first speaks of Samuel’s opinion by beginning “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.” Subjugation was disgrace and redemption was “praise.” We then continue with the story of the sages (in B’nai Brak), who spent the night recalling the Exodus. Afterwards comes the statement of ‘praise:’ “Praised is the Omnipresent who gave Torah to Israel,” and the interpretation of the four children. All of these passages deal with political liberation. This is the Haggadah according to Samuel. We then tell the story according to Rav, beginning with shame, “At first our ancestors worshipped idols.” The praise begins with the declaration³⁸ of the first fruits. In this fashion, the statements in the Haggadah are brought according to Samuel and Rav, so that we follow both of them.

footnotes: ³⁸ The declaration appears in Deut. 26: “My father was a wandering Aramean…” Originally recited as part of the ceremony of the first fruit on Shavuot, it became the central passage of the Haggadah.

There is a third way of explaining the order of the Haggadah: The Maggid begins by stating that it is a mitzvah to tell the story of the Exodus at length. He then explains how one should present the story: one should not simply present the literal text of Scripture or an explanation of the commandments, such as matzah, avoiding hametz and eating the Passover offerings. The Maggid says that it is not the intention to present the scriptural narrative or the laws and commandments; rather to present a ‘telling,” (Haggadah) according to ability and temperament of each child. If the child is wise, then, “Give instruction to the wise person and he will be yet wiser;” (Prov. 9:9) if he is wicked, then, “answer the fool according to his folly;” (Prov. 26:5) if he is simple, then, “The simple person walks in his integrity;” (Prov. 20:7) and for the one who doesn’t know to how to ask you have to open the discussion. The passage concludes that we offer each one an appropriate ‘telling.’ The telling should be fitting for each one. According to the Haggadah, when addressing the one who doesn’t know to ask, one, “Opens it for him, as it is states, ‘You shall tell (higadita) your child.’” The intention of this expression, “Open it for him,” is that you should make known everything about the story from beginning to end. That is why the next passage begins, “At first our ancestors worshipped idols.

We must explain why the Maggid introduced the four children with, “Praised is the Omnipresent who gave the Torah to Israel; Praised is God.” Such a statement does not preface the other passages in the Haggadah. There are a number of explanations:

Having stated that the Torah is divinely given, the Maggid suggests that it teaches people of all backgrounds and abilities: whether the person is a “wise person with eyes in his head,” (Eccl.2:14), a wicked person, “the net that he hid shall catch him,” (Ps. 35:8), or simple, “One who dwells in tents,”³⁹) who dwelled in tents.” (Gen. 25:27), or one who doesn’t know how to ask (like the vast majority of people.) We praise God who watches over all human beings and gives knowledge to all beings. That is why the Maggid begins, “Praised is the one who gave the Torah to Israel, praised is God.” God’s teachings are geared to all types of people, answering them “according to each person’s needs.” (Esther 1:8) In this way, God is praiseworthy to all people. This is similar to the statement of King David, Israel’s great poet, “Praised are You Adonai, who teaches me Your statutes.” (Ps. 119:12) David praised God for teaching him His laws.

footnotes: ³⁹ Jacob is described in Genesis as “a simple man (tam

A second explanation: The Maggid found four places in Scripture which use the word ben/child: “Draw out and take a lamb:” – “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say to you,” (Ex.12:26); then, “Sanctify to me all the first born:” – “You shall tell your child on that day,” (Ex.13:8); then, “When Adonai shall bring you:” – “And it shall be when your child asks you in time to come,” (Ex. 13:14) and finally, in Parshat Vaetchanan, “When your child asks you in time to come.” (Deut. 6:20) It is not a coincidence that these passages all use ben. They offer four different explanations for the same subject. This proves the divinity of Torah. The Torah organizes its ideas to include all the possible ways of speaking about the Exodus. Divine matters, in contrast to human matters, are similar to the contrast between natural vs artificial⁴⁰ matters. There are multiple meanings for natural matters. Something artificial, on the other hand, has a single purpose while something natural many have many purposes or meanings, some related to their material purpose, others to their structure and some to a combination of the two. Some of its meaning might even be hidden so that we do not know their purpose except through experience. On the other hand, human creations have only one meaning or purpose while the divine includes many levels of meaning. This is the meaning of the saying: “The Torah has seventy faces,” (Zohar, V1, 47b) All of these meanings are the words of the living God, since they all are implied by divine wisdom. The Maggid prefaces this passage by saying, “Praised is the Omnipresent who gave Torah,” meaning that it was given to them in this fashion to include many meanings in these passages. While the Torah and the commandments are one, the Torah speaks of four types of children with regard to this commandment. This introduction is meant to be a statement of praise and acclaim.

footnotes: ⁴⁰ Artificial implies things that are man-made as opposed to things that come directly from God.

Why is God called, HaMakom, “The Place” (the Omnipresent in translation). Does HaMakom refer to God and if so, why use the name “Place,” for God. Or, is HaMakom a reference to a special place. There are those who explain that HaMakom refers to Mount Sinai, the choicest of all places, at which Israel received the Torah, “Moses received Torah at Sinai.” Thus, it also says in the Midrash: “The moment when the Holy One came to give the Torah on Sinai, all the mountains came running and arguing with each other… Mount Tabor came from Bet Elim and Mount Carmel from Espania… This one said ‘I was called!’ and this one said ‘I was called!’ The Holy One said ‘Why do you lurk, you lofty mountains?’ You are all high mountains, but what does lofty (gavnunim) mean… Idolatry was done on all of you, but idolatry was never performed on Mount Sinai, the mountain that God desired for His dwelling,” (Ps. 68:17) “The Lord descended upon Mount Sinai…”⁴¹

footnotes: ⁴¹ Bereshit Rabba 99:1

This explanation is far from the true intention of the text, for HaMakom is a true name of God, as the sages said, “God is the place (HaMakom) of the world and the world is not God’s place….” God⁴² is sometimes referred to as HaMakom because of certain qualities God shares with the concept of place or location. First, all things have their natural place. They are at ease when they are in their proper place and in a state of tension when they are removed from it. Similarly, God is the natural home of the soul which longs for attachment to God. Second, all objects are totally encompassed by their location. Similarly no aspect of man’s existence is hidden from God who knows our innermost thoughts. Third, an object is on the same level as its place. Similarly God has put Himself on our level by directing, through divine providence, every facet of our lives. Fourth, a location is an entity distinct from the object within it. Similarly God is an entity utterly transcending all else. Fifth, the idea of an object’s station, whether it is above or below, falls within the concept of location. Similarly, God encompasses all stations…This, ultimately, is the reason we refer to God as HaMakom at this point in the Haggadah…

footnotes: ⁴² This is a paraphrase of a complex passage is summarized in the Abarbanel Haggadah, translated and edited by Yisrael Issir Zvi Herrzceg, Mesorah Publications 1990 Page 39

Why does the Maggid order the four children, wise and wicked, simple and one who doesn’t know to ask? What is the nature of their character that it is necessary to contrast them in this way? After all, wise is not opposite of wicked, nor is simple the opposite of one who doesn’t know how to ask, as is pointed out in the questions. Some people have tried to explain the four children (allegorically) as representing the four elements,⁴³ while others have compared them to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. The wise child has the quality of loving-kindness like Abraham. The wicked is associated with judgment and Isaac since Esau came from the loins of Isaac. The simple one is like Jacob who is called an eesh tam, “simple,” and the one who does not know to ask, is associated with David, of whom it is said: “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.” (Ps. 86:1) This interpretation is farfetched, in my opinion. There are three other explanations that are more reasonable for the order of the four children.

footnotes: ⁴³ The four elements play an important role in medieval science and philosophy. They are water, air, fire and earth.

First, the four children are divided into those who ask questions and those who don’t ask questions. There is no intermediate category between these categories. Among the children who ask, there are three reasons why they ask: to show off their knowledge, to cast doubt upon the matter in a spirit of heresy, or to ask out of a desire to gain knowledge. These are the reasons for the wise, the wicked and the simple children. ● The wise child knows the truth of the matter and asks questions in order to show the people the richness of his Torah and wisdom. ● The wicked child does not believe in the commandments and casts doubt on them. ● The simple asks so that we might answer him. These three ask questions with his own purpose in mind. ● For the fourth child there are no divisions or categories since his response is an absolute negation. Of him, it is said “he does not know to ask.” If he asked out of evil intent then he would be in the same category as the wicked child.

A second explanation: complete knowledge of a matter includes four types of explanation: material, creative, purposeful and structural/ideal. One or more of these explanations can be used to answer each type of questioner according to his or her intellectual aptitude or deficiency. This might be explained in the following way. If an ignorant person were to see a building he might ask, ‘How was this built?’ One might answer, “It is made of wood and stones.” This material answer would appease his uncultivated mind… If this did not appease him, he might say: “I’ve seen wood and stones but never a building like this.” One might say: “It is constructed by a carpenter.” Because of the limits of his intellect these two answers would satisfy him as to the nature of the building. But others, more perceptive, might still not be satisfied and want an explanation of what purpose the building serves – it was built for shelter or storage. One whose intellect is still not satisfied might ask why this particular kind of building and not another. (Why this form?) One would then have to explain its idealized form, thereby combining all four types of knowledge for a complete explanation. There are four groups of people who seek to understand the divine wisdom regarding the Exodus, so we organize the four types of explanations with the four types of people. The wise child seeks to integrate all four types of explanations, comes first. (“It is a commandment, given by God, to remind us of the exercise and to convey God’s wisdom.”) The passage dealing with the wicked child attempts to address three categories: the purposeful, the creative and the material. The passage adds creative. (It is a commandment, given by God to remind us of the exercise.) To the simple child we would give a material and creative explanation. (It is a commandment given by God.) And the one who doesn’t know to ask, is satisfied in learning the material aspect alone. (It is a commandment.) I have now explained the reason for the division of the four children, and the order in which they appear in the Haggadah, which is according to the reasons that have been given.

The third explanation for the order of the four sons: the children are divided, each one with its opposite. The wise and the wicked are mentioned together. The simple who is pure of evil desires is the opposite of the wicked….so, too, the wise and the one who doesn’t know to ask are opposites. The wise one wishes to display his understanding... while the one who doesn’t know to ask is lacking in knowledge and understanding so that doesn’t even know how to how to ask a single question.⁴⁴. Philosophers have already stated “Asking is half of wisdom.” If this is so, then the four children can be divided into two opposite pairs: the wise and the one who doesn’t even know how to ask, and the wicked and the simple child.⁴⁵ They are organized according to the level of their wisdom. First, the wise child who shows great respect for the Torah, then the wicked one who uses his wisdom to denigrate the Torah; then the simple child who has only limited knowledge of the Torah, and finally the one who doesn’t know to ask who is completely lacking in any knowledge at all.

footnotes: ⁴⁴ The inability of the fourth child to ask is a reflection that he is the complete opposite of the wise child ⁴⁵ In other words, the four children are listed in a chiastic fashion, A-B-B-A. and not A-A and B-B