by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin,
the chief rabbi of the city of Efrat and dean of Ohr Torah Institutes in Israel.

One of the most delightful parts of the seder is the portion concerning the four children: the wise child, the wicked child, the simple child, and the child who does not know what to ask. At our seder — attended by 50-plus guests — I ask for volunteers to explicate the personal or contemporary significance of whichever of the four children the participant feels most comfortable with. To my surprise, the “wicked child” gets the most raised hands!

Let us explore what the Haggada ascribes to the “wicked child.” “What does the wicked child say? ‘What is this service to you?’ To you and not to him. And because he has taken himself out of the category [of Israel], he has denied the basic principle [of Judaism]. You must then soften [with warmth] his sharp teeth [or tongue] and say to him: ‘Because of this [service] did God do [all these miracles] for me when I came out of Egypt.’ For me and not for him; had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.”

Although the exact words of this question are derived from the biblical text — “And it shall be when you come to the land…and you observe this service [of the paschal sacrifice], and then, when your children shall say to you, ‘What is this service to you,’ you shall say to them, ‘It is a paschal [Passover or love] sacrifice to the Lord, who has passed over [or loved] the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He brought the plague [of the death of the first-born] upon Egypt, and He saved our homes.” (Exodus 12:25, 26) — the Bible gives no hint of any pejorative attitude toward the question or the questioner. The author of the Haggada does not cite the biblical response to the question, which appears one chapter later: “You shall tell to your children on that day [of the festival of matzot], “Because of this service did God do [all these miracles] for me when I came out of Egypt.’” (Exodus 13:8). Why does the author of the Haggada cite the question negatively and change the biblical response?

Apparently, the author is struck foremost not by the words of the question, but rather by the music! Generally the Bible precedes a question with “And when your child will ask you….” Here, however, the Bible states, “And when your children shall say to you.” The wise child asks his parents; the wicked child tells, informs, his parents. And if the music is off, the Haggada author takes the liberty of interpreting the words in a negative fashion. This child is not trying to understand the significance of the Passover ritual so that he can incorporate it into his own life; he is rather addressing the ritual in a derogatory way, “What possible meaning can this difficult, detailed, and bothersome work have for you?”

The author suggests that parents soften such sharp cynicism with the warmth of familial love and the passion of their personal identification with Jewish history and the exodus from Egypt. Therefore the author finds the generic substance of “telling to the child” more fitting: “It is because of this ritual and the lessons it can teach one about resisting slavery, helping the underdog, and striving to form a free and productive society that the Lord took me out of Egypt.”

In effect, the Haggada teaches parents how to react to a negative and cynical child: with love and warmth and all the passion and commitment that marks the Jew who defines his personal and existential being by the special times and events that have shaped his family-nation.

But how do we account for the end of that segment, which seems to be so negative: “Had [this child] been [in Egypt], he would not have been redeemed.” In the first instance, it is a fact of Jewish life: Those who see themselves as being outside the Jewish family will not be privileged to share in Jewish destiny.

A strange change of person appears in the Haggada text: “…And you shall say to him, ‘Because of this [service] did God do [all these miracles] for me…’ — for me, and not for him; had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.” Now this last exchange is what the parent is to say to the wicked child; the Haggada text ought then read: “And you shall say to him — for me, and not for you. Had you been there, you would not have been redeemed.” Why does the author have the parent speak to the child in the third person, as if were not there?

Indeed, the wicked child is not there. He said his piece and checked out before the main reading of the Haggada and the meal. I further suggest that this interpretation sheds new light on our opening the door for Elijah the prophet. If Elijah can make it to every single seder all over the Jewish world, he doesn’t need the door opened for him. I believe we open the door not to let Elijah in but rather to send parents out. If Elijah’s message is to restore the hearts of the parents to the children and the hearts of the children to the parents, then the parents must find the wicked child — wherever he may have gone — and bring him back into the seder, with warm acceptance and unconditional parental love.

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