Thanks (part 2) – Tzav
Here is an extra bonus for the Pesach seder.
In the previous part we discussed the “magic” number four and how the entire chag of Pesach itself is actually a Korban Toda. We brought numerous examples of the repetitious number four and here I would like to concentrate on the Four Sons.
In discussing this, I would like to correlate the four sons to the four breads of the Toda and at the same time, to a Mishna in Pirkei Avot (4, 1), one of my favorite Mishnas that embodies incredible depth beyond the pshat regarding many things, for example the four main keilim of the Mikdash (it is one of the foundation principles of Sefer Meir Panim). Not surprisingly its structure is based on the number four.
בֶּן זוֹמָא אוֹמֵר:
אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם? הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים קיט, צט): "מִכָּל מְלַמְּדַי הִשְׂכַּלְתִּי, כִּי עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ שִׂיחָה לִּי".אֵיזֶהוּ גִבּוֹר? הַכּוֹבֵשׁ אֶת יִצְרוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי טז, לב): "טוֹב אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם מִגִּבּוֹר, וּמשֵׁל בְּרוּחוֹ מִלֹּכֵד עִיר". אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר? הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים קכח, ב): "יְגִיעַ כַּפֶּיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל, אַשְׁרֶיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ", "אַשְׁרֶיךָ", בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה "וְטוֹב לָךְ", לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. אֵיזֶהוּ מְכֻבָּד? הַמְּכַבֵּד אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמואל א ב, ל): "כִּי מְכַבְּדַי אֲכַבֵּד, וּבֹזַי יֵקָלוּ". (אבות ד, א)
Everyone is familiar with famous drash of Ben Zoma in the Hagadah –
אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה: הֲרֵי אֲנִי כְּבֶן שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְלֹא זָכִיתִי שֶׁתֵּאָמֵר יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם בַּלֵּילוֹת עַד שֶׁדְּרָשָׁהּ בֶּן זוֹמָא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: "לְמַעַן תִּזְכֹּר אֶת יוֹם צֵאתְךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ" (דברים טז ג). "יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ" – הַיָּמִים, "כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ" – הַלֵּילוֹת.
However, Ben Zoma features a second time in the Hagadah (although this time his name is not mentioned), regarding the four sons. His Mishna in Avot above, amongst other things, is referring to - the Four Sons, in the same order as they appear in the Hagadah. By connecting the sons to the types of people in this Mishna and also to the breads of the Toda, we gain an incredible insight into who the Four Sons really are and …… it is not what most people think.
The Four Sons referred to in the Hagadah are in fact Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and Eisav (not in that order).
חכם
Let’s begin with the wise son, the חכם. It is not difficult to tie this in with Ben Zoma’s Mishna above - there too, the first type of person is the חכם. We also find similar terminology in the question of the חכם in the Hagadah to the passuk relating to the חכם in the Mishna –
חָכָם מָה הוּא אוֹמֵר? "מַה הָעֵדוֹת וְהַחֻקִּים וְהַמִשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה' אֱ-לֹקֵינוּ אֶתְכֶם? (הגדה)
אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם? הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "מִכָּל מְלַמְּדַי הִשְׂכַּלְתִּי, כִּי עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ שִׂיחָה לִּי" (אבות ד, א)
Who is the חכם? A wise man is someone who acquires his wisdom by learning from others - מִכָּל מְלַמְּדַי הִשְׂכַּלְתִּי. A wise man is not necessarily a genius with an IQ of 180, an innovator, who invents a totally new world of knowledge or study. It is someone who draws from the accumulated wealth of knowledge from the previous generations and adds his small contribution, an additional link in this chain, for the next generation. The essence of the חכם is propagation and perpetuation, which is symbolized by the Menorah in the Mikdash, symbolizing תורה שבעל פה, that propagates the Torah from the Aron Habrit outward to the world via the lights of the Menorah. The archetypical חכם is Yaakov Avinu, the last of the Avot, who learned from his father Yitzchak and grandfather Avraham before him and was the last link in the chain before the next stage of Am Yisrael, the Twelve Tribes - propagating the wisdom of the Avot to Am Yisrael.
Yaakov Avinu is יושב אהלים, he spends a good portion of his life studying in Yeshiva, all of his life before departing for Charan and also when he returns to Eretz Yisrael, he builds a Yeshiva וְיַעֲקֹב נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה וַיִּבֶן לוֹ בָּיִת. (Yes the passuk says יעקב איש תם יושב אהלים, Yaakov is also תם, that is one of the additional attributes he acquired from his forefathers, but he is not the archetypical תם).
The answer given to the question of the חכם is אֵין מַפְטִירִין אַחַר הַפֶּסַח אֲפִיקוֹמָן. When Eisav returned from hunting to receive Yitzchak’s blessing, Yitzchak says to him בָּא אָחִיךָ בְּמִרְמָה וַיִּקַּח בִּרְכָתֶךָ. Rashi says that בְּמִרְמָה means בְּחָכְמָה. Yaakov gave Yitzchak food to eat. Chazal in the Midrash say that he gave him two goats, one for Korban Chagiga and the second for Korban Pesach - since that night was Pesach (Yitzchak is the first person the Torah describes as having an entire Pesach seder, including matzot, wine, etc.) Yaakov, who was a חכם and knew the halachot, knew that it is not permitted to eat anything after the Korban Pesach. The Korban Pesach is the last thing eaten in the seder (today we remember that by eating the Afikoman – a piece of matza). Since Yitzchak had already eaten the Korban Pesach/Afikoman, he could not eat anything after that – he could not eat Eisav’s food and bless him. Yaakov’s חכמה prevented Eisav from receiving the blessing.
Yaakov corresponds to the Rekik of the Toda, the most spiritually elevated matza, with the oil spread on top - that corresponds to the category of הולכי מדברות. Am Yisrael, descended from Yaakov/Yisrael were הולכי מדברות when they left Egypt.
רשע
The next son is the רשע. The Mishna in Avot explains how a person becomes a רשע – it is by failing to fight your yetzer harah. A true גיבור is someone who battles their yetzer harah. The root of evil is the inability to transcend your animalistic nature. When a person tries repeatedly and fails they have two options. The first is to continue trying, to spend the rest of their lives battling with the yetzer harah, even if they do not always succeed – this is the true גיבור. The second option is to submit and rationalize. When a person begins to rationalize their yetzer harah, they lose a sense of right and wrong. Not only do they feel no guilt when committing a sin, they wear it like a badge and flaunt it. From there it is a downward slippery slope which results in evil.
The archetypical רשע is Eisav. Eisav and Yaakov are twin brothers. They both are born in Yaakov and Rivka’s home, raised as tzaddikim, by parents who are tzaddikim. However, each has different starting statistics. Yaakov is predisposed to being a יושב אהלים, while Eisav has “ants in his pants”. He is predisposed to being יודע ציד איש שדה. Eisav has a greater נסיון than Yaakov, his yetzer harah is stronger. This does not mean that he does not have the capability to overcome it, in addition to being a יודע ציד, he is also an איש שדה. The word שדה refers to Gan Eden, the Beit HaMikdash (when Yitzchak smells Yaakov dressed in Eisav’s clothes, it smells like שדה – Gan Eden). Yes, Eisav has a harder battle with his yetzer harah than Yaakov, but he has the potential to overcome it. Instead, however, not only does he succumb to his yetzer harah – he becomes a different kind of גיבור, the bad kind לֹּכֵד עִיר, someone who is all כוחי ועצם ידי, like Nimrod. Instead of continuing to battle his yetzer harah and never giving up, Eisav became like Nimrod. He rationalized his yetzer harah.
Even though the archetypical רשע failed and set off on the wrong path, there was still something in him that gave a faint glimmer of a spark. This is why Yitzchak allowed him (and his idol worshipping wives) to continue living in his home and did not cast him out, like Avraham did Yishmael. The tikkun for Eisav was accomplished by his descendants, Shmaya, Avtalyon and Rebi Akiva. Yitzchak learned from HKB”H who did not destroy the עץ הדעת in Gan Eden and left it in place, because it would eventually achieve tikkun (via the Lechem Hapanim).
The answer given to the רשע is וְאַף אַתָּה הַקְהֵה אֶת שִנָּיו. Every encounter between a חכם and a רשע embodies, on the one hand the struggle to strengthen our connection with HKB”H and, on the other, the struggle to sever that connection. When Yaakov reunites with Eisav it says וַיָּרָץ עֵשָׂו לִקְרָאתוֹ וַיְחַבְּקֵהוּ וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוָּארָו וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ וַיִּבְכּוּ. The Baal Haturim says Eisav tried to “bite” Yaakov in the neck. The neck symbolizes the Mikdash – two pipes, one directed upwards (קרבנות) and the other downwards (ברכות שפע ורוחניות). Eisav tried to sever the connection. The answer to the רשע is to הַקְהֵה אֶת שִנָּיו, to blunt (knock out) his teeth so he cannot cause us harm. We achieve this by remaining failthful to HKB”H and the Torah.
The רשע corresponds to the chametz bread in the Toda and the category of חבוש בבית האסורים ויצא. Chametz is likened to the yetzer harah and amazingly enough it is included in the Toda. The רשע is also present at the Pesach seder, because there is still that faint glimmer in him that has the potential to turn the tables. By showering love on him and exposing him to the beauty of HKB”H and the Torah, there is a faint chance we can make him do tshuva. The רשע has the possibility of being set free from the hold the yetzer harah has over him and it is our job to do whatever we can to help him achieve that. There is no greater Kiddush Hashem than a total רשע doing tshuva. Just as a tzaddik constantly battles his yetzer harah, even though he may repeatedly fail, so too must we constantly strive to mekarev the רשע and get him to do tshuva.
The רשע corresponds to the Mizbeach Haketoret, the purpose of which is to eliminate evil influences דבטיל וכפית לכמה סטרין בישין (זוהר חלק ב, ריט א). One of the ingredients of the Ketoret is חלבנה, a foul smelling ingredient, symbolizing the רשע. He is surrounded by ten other sweet smelling ingredients and the end result is that the Ketoret is all sweet smelling. The influence of the ten on the רשע converts him into a sweet smelling spice. The influence of the Torah (עשרת הדברות) is like a תבלין that changes the yetzer harah into something good and positive, which is why the Shtei Halechem (the chametz component of the Toda) is offered on Shavuot, when we receive the Torah.
This is the second part of the answer to the רשע, which says בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה ה' לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם. The word זה is 12 in gematriya, referring to the Twelve Tribes, the concept of כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה.
תם
The תם in the Hagadah corresponds with the עשיר in the Mishna and Ben Zoma gives us a deeper insight into what kind of person the תם is. אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ, the truly “wealthy” person is someone who is content with their lot in life (according to Meir Panim, someone who smiles at life). The Torah tells us תָּמִים תִּהְיֶה עִם ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ. The essence of תם is not that he cannot distinguish between blessing and suffering - when HKB”H rains down שפע on us and when He gives us נסיונות. The תם can tell the difference between good periods of שלווה, שלום, נחת in his life and periods of hardship, sickness, suffering, etc. However, he understands that they are flip sides of the same coin – they are all “good”, even the hardships (which come to do tikkun for our neshama so that we get greater reward and wealth where it really matters – in Olam Habah). The תם leads his life בתמימות, and even though he has questions, sometimes tough questions, he refrains from asking them and is שמח בחלקו.
The archetypical תם is Avraham Avinu. Avraham had both sides of the coin in his life. HKB”H blessed him with great material wealth, longevity, health and nachat from his spiritual descendants. On the other hand HKB”H gave Avraham ten incredibly tough נסיונות in his life, culminating with the עקדה. All his life Avraham represented HKB”H and the Torah and tried to stamp out avodah zarah, which involved human sacrifices. Suddenly, HKB”H tells Avraham to take his spiritual heir, Yitzchak, and sacrifice him as an olah, completely contrary to everything he believed in. Does Avraham have questions? Sure he does! However, he leads his life and his relationship with HKB”H is בתמימות, he is שמח בחלקו, whatever it may be, in the knowledge that כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד.
The question of the תם is מַה זֹּאת?. According to the Zohar Hakadosh the word זאת refers to עולם הזה. The תם is saying “What is the significance of this world”, indicating that he understands that the real essence is Olam Habah and that everything that occurs in this world is simply a preparation for that. Similarly, the answer to the תם reflects this message בְּחֹזֶק יָד הוֹצִיאָנוּ ה' מִמִּצְרָיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים. Even though we were living lives of hardship and slavery in Egypt, the end result was that HKB”H intended it all for good, to atone for the sin of Adam Harishon, so that we could receive the Torah and reset the world to before the sin. This is why when HKB”H told Avraham that his descendants would be exiled in Egypt for 400 years, Avraham did not negotiate with HKB”H like he did with Sdom – maybe 300 years? Maybe 250?
The תם corresponds to the murbechet matza in the Toda, the “richest” matza (boiled, baked and fried – from personal experience I can tell you that this matza tastes the best of the three). He belongs to the category of יורדי ים, those who cross over the sea. When Am Yisrael reached ים סוף they saw the sea in front of them and the Egyptians behind them, with nowhere to go. Did they have questions? You bet they did, but Nachshon ben Aminadav acted בתמימות, he jumped in the sea, up to his neck, causing it to split. If HKB”H tells us דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִסָּעוּ then it must be for our good and we follow, בתמימות.
The תם corresponds to the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim whose underlying principle is אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ, it is a symbol of “wealth”, true (spiritual) wealth, but also material wealth, which is also יורדי ים referring to the tribe of Zevulun, who were seafaring merchants. When Avraham died, all the kings of the world said ואוי לה לספינה שאבד קברינטא (בבא בתרא צא, ע"ב). There is an intricate connection between Avraham and the Lechem Hapanim shaped like a ship.
שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל
Now we have the big surprise of the shiur. Most people think that of the four sons, the חכם is the highest level. However, the ספרי חסידים come to tell us – no. The most elevated of all the sons is the שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל. The תם has questions, but he refrains from asking them. The שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל, on the other hand, has no questions – he doesn’t even know what the concept of a question is! The ספרי חסידים say that the שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל is equivalent to Adam Harishon before the sin.
What is a question? What is the concept of a question? (this subject is especially poignant for me because my special, youngest daughter, has no understanding of the concept of what a question is and is incapable of answering a question). A question is the result of uncertainty. When someone is unclear about something they use a question to clarify. For example, when someone asks a halachic question, like “Is it already שקיעת החמה or נץ החמה?” it is because the position of the sun in the sky is uncertain – is it over the horizon, under the horizon? However, nobody would ask such a question at midday, because when the sun is high in the sky, there is no doubt, no uncertainty.
Adam Harishon before the sin was in that state. Everything for him was totally clear! There was no uncertainty whatsoever. This is what is called אספקלריא המאירה, viewing the pure, unfiltered light of ששת ימי בראשית, also called the אור הגנוז. This is a total awareness of HKB”H with no masks, no obstacles and is something the angels possess. Angels never ask questions, they don’t even know what the concept of a question is.
When Am Yisrael left Egypt they were at the lowest rung of מ"ט שערי טומאה, they were afflicted with all kinds of handicaps, both physical (from their years of hard labor) and also spiritual. To cure them from these maladies HKB”H gave them Mann to eat and water from באר מרים to drink. This cured all their ailments and elevated them to the level of angels so that they could stand at הר סיני and receive the Torah, at the level of אספקלריא המאירה.
They had completed the tikkun for the sin of Adam Harishon and were equivalent to Adam Harishon before the sin. When HKB”H offered the Torah to all the other nations – they had questions – “What is written in it?”. Only Am Yisrael had no questions – they were like angels, the concept of a question did not even exist for them.
The archetypical שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל was Yitzchak. Before the Akeida, Yitzchak had questions וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה הָאֵשׁ וְהָעֵצִים וְאַיֵּה הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה?. However during the Akeida, Yitzchak was reborn. He ascended to Gan Eden and came back with a different neshama, the neshama of an angel. Everything we read about Yitzchak in the Torah does not sound like a human at all, because Yitzchak had returned alive from Gan Eden like an angel. After the Akeida his entire life was באספקלריא המאירה.
The שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל does not ask questions, not because he doesn’t have questions, but because he lives in a reality where the concept of a question does not even exist! like Adam Harishon before the sin. What caused Adam Harishon to sin? Meir Panim says because he was not diligent in fulfilling פרו ורבו because he was lacking שמחה, which is why Chava gave him wine to drink – to add simcha! There is no question from the שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל, but there is an answer - אַתְּ פְּתַח לוֹ. What a strange answer! It is a conundrum of an answer! If it is referring to the mother/female – that she should mekarev the שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל son, then the grammar is incorrect. The Hagadah should say אַתְּ פתחי לוֹ! The Hagadah is describing a different answer. There is a concept in gematriyot called אתב"ש. If you take the Hebrew alphabet, each letter has a “mirror image” on the opposite side of the alphabet. The mirror image of the first letter א is the last letter ת. The mirror image of the second letter ב is the second last letter ש, and so on as follows - א-ת, ב-ש, ג-ר, ד-ק. etc. The answer of the Hagadah is to use אתב"ש to פתח to “open” to decipher the word לו or, אַתְּ פְּתַח לוֹ. The word לו in אתב"ש is the word כף. In Meir Panim I prove that the word כף means “Smile”. In other words the tikkun, what caused Adam to sin in the first place was that he was lacking simcha, he was not smiling.
The שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל corresponds to the Challat matza in the Toda, which belongs to the category of מי שהיה חולה ונתרפא, like Am Yisrael before Matan Torah who were cured of all their ailments. This corresponds to the fourth person mentioned in Ben Zoma’s Mishna - אֵיזֶהוּ מְכֻבָּד הַמְּכַבֵּד אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת, corresponding to the Aron Habrit, the most מכובד of all the keilim in the Mikdash. The word בְּרִיּוֹת refers to the first בריה – Adam Harishon who was also מְּכַבֵּד אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת, he gave them all names. It also refers to the two sets of Aron Habrit, one for the broken Luchot and the second for the whole Luchot - the tikkun for Adam Harishon’s sin, just like the עץ הדעת and the עץ החיים in Gan Eden, standing side by side. This is incidentally why the answer to the שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל is the same as to the רשע, because it is the tikkun.
