Page 28 - Shemot-e-book-RF4-FP_Neat-221215-V24102-NPW

Audio: Track 6 28
1 The Book of Exodus – ‫חומש שמות‬

Torah Portion Bo

The following verse appears in the Torah portion of Bo:

"It will be when your sons will say to you: What is this service to
you?" (Shemot 12:26)

This is the question asked by the wicked son: one of the four sons that we
mention in the Haggadah of Passover.

The wise son also questions:

"When your son will ask you in time to come saying: What are the
testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which the Lord our
God has commanded you?" (Devarim 6:20)

The simple son has a different question:

"It shall be when your son will ask you in time to come saying: What
is this? You shall say to him: By strength of hand God took us out
from Egypt, from the house of bondage." (Shemot 13:14)

The fourth son is of course the son who does not know to ask.

It is interesting to note that the questions of the wise son and the simple son are
expressed in the singular – "your son" – while the question of the wicked son is
expressed in the plural – "your sons."

Rabbi Avigdor Amiel (Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv from 1936 to1945) commented

on this ironically: the question by the wicked son is asked in the plural, because
this type of son is the majority in many families today…

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