2020/5780

The Parashah opens up by saying “Vayikra El Moshe, The Seder begins with a kid raising their hand to ask a question: “Why are there some people wearing a white bed sheet with holes?” To which someone responds: “so the kids should ask”. Although there are many different reasons given as to why we wear a Kittel at the Seder, it is noteworthy that one of the answers given is, “so the children should ask”. Thus, if this is indeed the answer, then the child was never answered. Why should the children ask if the answer contributes nothing to the discussion at Seder? Quite often, at the Seder, children ask questions to which the answer is “so the children should ask”! What is the need for these questions? Furthermore, the Gemara teaches that if someone is alone, “He asks himself. And even if two Torah scholars who know the Halakhot of Pesach are sitting together alone, they should ask each other” (Pesachim 116a). To summarize: Why is it so critical to ask questions at the Pesach Seder? 

The answer lies in understanding the purpose of the Makot.[1] Hashem chose to take the Jews out of Egypt by bending nature, but why did he have to bend nature when He could have just taken them to Israel on a magical school bus? Moreover, when Moshe Rabbeinu warns Pharoah of Makat Bechorot,  Moshe says that it will occur, “KaChatzot HaLeila,” “At around midnight" (Shemot 11:4). The obvious question raised is why Moshe says that the last Makah will occur “around midnight”? The Gemara (Berachot 4a) answers that maybe one of Pharaoh's astronomers would have had the wrong time when the plague occurred and Pharaoh would then have called Moshe Rabbeinu a liar. To give an analogy: if a guy calls the local radio station and claims to be a prophet. He says that at four o’clock PM Eastern time zone on Tuesday there will be an earthquake and the radio host hangs up on him and calls him crazy. Then, on Tuesday, there is an earthquake at 4:03 PM Eastern time zone. The next day, the local newspaper runs the headline: “He was a liar, not a prophet”. This sounds ridiculous. However, upon deeper investigation, this answer makes a lot of sense. 

When Pharaoh asked Moshe to stop the plague of the frogs, Pharaoh says that he wants the plague to end, “LeMachar,” “Tomorrow” (Shemot 8:6). Moshe Rabbeinu responds by saying he will do as Pharaoh wishes, “LeMaan Teida Ki Ein KaHashem Elokeinu,” “So that you will know that there is none like the LORD our God”(Ibid). Why would Pharaoh ask for it to be done tomorrow? It is clear that throughout the Makot Pharoah is not testing Hashem’s power but His precision. Pharaoh is willing to let his nation suffer for another full day to test Hashem’s precision

Thus, Moshe Rabbeinu’s final remark is also fitting. Pharaoh believed in polytheism where there is a constant battle among the gods. The gods could never be precise with what they did because they were unable to plan when they would defeat another god. If the rain god wanted it to rain, he had to battle the cloud god for the right to determine the weather that day. However, as there is only one God, like Moshe Rabbeinu said, He can be as precise as he desires. This is why Pharaoh was interested in Hashem’s precision and why Moshe said that Makat Bechorot would occur “around midnight”. If the astronomers were off by a minute, Pharaoh would have been convinced that polytheism was the truth. However, Hashem proves that he is the only God and that polytheism is not real. This is why the Makot are so diverse. Hashem needed to prove that it was not the river god being angry at Egypt, then the frog god becoming mad at Egypt, and so on and so forth, but it was one God who had control over everything who was mad at Egypt. 

This theme of Emunah in Hashem, that he is the only God who is in complete control is why we have so many questions at the Seder. We open up to questions because we are not afraid of them. People often think if I could just ask that Jew one question he would not believe in Judaism, but that is not true. The Pesach Seder is when everyone comes together and asks questions about difficulties which were troubling them and we try to provide answers. As Jews, we are not afraid of questions because we are confident in our religion. Our roots of emunah are based in Yetziat Mitzrayim. The purpose of the questions is to get the ball rolling and open up the floor for people to ask their questions. We then answer them, not with a quick response to merely get rid of the question, but an answer that is correct and meaningful to strengthen one’s emunah.

Ultimately, there is no answer of “so the children should ask”. For example, in regards to the Kittel, what is meant by “so the children should ask'' is that we should pique a child's interest in the kittel. The goal is to get the children to ask so that they can be answered in a way that strengthens their Emunah or even their observance of Mitzvos. So when the child asks why their dad is wearing a kittel, the dad should say he wanted him to ask that. The father should then go on to explain why he wears the kittel, whether it be because it symbolizes how the Geulah came entirely from Hashem (as suggested by the Divrei Negidnim) or any other answer. The purpose of practices like wearing a Kittel is to generate simple questions for children to ask, but it is also to allow adults to raise more complex questions. The goal for everyone is to strengthen their commitment to Hashem. Ultimately, as the Arizal said, “the questions of the Pesach Seder are meant to break the covering that blocks one’s heart from the light of emunah”.

[1]  Note: This understanding of the purpose of the Makot is largely based on Rav David Forhman’s book The Exodus You Almost Passed Over