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Sefer Shemos
Parashas Bo
Shemos: Chapter 12
And it will be when your sons will say
what is this worship of yours. And you will say
this is a Passover sacrifice to G-d who skipped over the homes of the Jews
in Egypt as he attacked the
Egyptians thus saving our homes.
I
saw a commentary of the Abarbanel on a Haggadah that explains the above passage making maximum
use of the flexibility of the Hebrew words in the verse.
Unlike
two other places in the Torah where the son ASKS a question, here the Torah
uses the word "say" implying that this is a statement and not
really a question at all. And because the word sons is plural, the Abarbanel learns that you can read the statement of
this son in two different ways:
(1)
What is this! This ceremony is YOURS and not a commandment from heaven!
(2)
What is this! This worship is for YOU and YOUR pleasure. Since the
sacrifice tastes good, you agree to do it. If it had been a less pleasant
activity you would have refused!
The
Torah tells the parents the proper reply to each statement:
(1)
This is a Passover sacrifice to G-d - we were commanded by G-d to perform
this exact sacrifice.
(2)
Since we were in danger in Egypt and were saved by G-d, we owe it to Him
to serve Him in whatever way He sees proper. Which means
to say, had the mitzvah come in a different form, we would still perform it
since we are grateful for having been saved during the Exodus.
There
are two additional points to make here:
(1)
Since the son said that the Passover sacrifice was not commanded from
Heaven, he is not permitted to eat it since only Jews who believe in Torah
Judaism can eat the Passover sacrifice. This is the idea of the Haggadah when it mentions to "inflict his
teeth", in other words we are not to put a portion of the meat in his
mouth.
(2)
If the son does not believe in Torah Judaism he certainly won't care what
the words of the Torah are saying. On the other hand, it is an historical
fact that many Jews did not leave Egypt and perished there during the last
plague before the Exodus. If this son had been in Egypt and did not believe in G-d, he would
perished there and not exited with the Jewish people! This is the idea of
the Haggadah when it mentions that had he been
there he would not have been redeemed - a reply meant to "shock"
him before relating to him the truth of the Torah's words.
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