Page 10 - Harlem Pesach Companion 2021

Editor’s Forward

By Kyle Savitch

What makes this year different from all other years?

For one, we’re asking a lot more questions. Why aren’t we all together? Why is everyone
still wearing a mask from last Purim? Why am I asking the four questions alone if I am
going to answer them myself?

Passover is the holiday of questions. But on Passover we ask questions differently. We
ask questions like children. Usually, as adults, we ask questions to learn. On Passover, we
ask questions to acknowledge. We do not ask the four questions to attain answers to
them. In this way, none of the four children have done anything wrong because, simply
by asking, they have succeeded. We don’t need to know why Passover night is different
from all others; we need to know that it is different.

In the Talmud (Pesachim 115b), there is a reference to a custom of removing the table
during the seder. The school of Rabbi Yannai holds that this custom’s sole purpose is to
spark inquiring minds. There is a fascinating story of a respected rabbi, Abaye, sitting
before Rabba, his teacher, when he was only a child. A hungry child, having the food
taken from in front of him before he could enjoy even one bite, Abaye asks why the table
is being removed. The response of Rabba is the response all children dread to hear from
adults: ‘because I said so’. Rabba has no deep or meaningful answer to Abaye’s question.
Rather, he says it is simply for the purpose of provoking children to ask questions. And it
worked wonders! Abaye did such a stellar job that, according to Rabba, they had fulfilled
their obligation of asking the four questions.

What is the purpose of asking questions, though, if we are not seeking answers? The
purpose is simply to acknowledge that Passover is different. Passover is a special holiday
partially because it is so different from other days and holidays throughout the year. So
when we ask questions at the seder, we are not truly asking at all, we are announcing.
This night is different from all other nights. In many ways, this is what a child is saying
when asking questions; ‘This new idea I am experiencing does not fit into my current
understanding of the world around me’. As a result, children recognize that this idea is
somehow different from others which they have experienced. Once these experiences
have been reconciled in this way, they are able to coexist independently in the mind of
the child.

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