Monday, April 28, 2014

The counterpart to the Rasha

We often think of the counterpart to the Chacham child is the Rasha, but it seems more like the counterpart to a wise child is a simple child, the Tam. Does that make the wicked child's counterpart the child that doesn't know to ask, the "eino yodea lishol"?

Perhaps the purpose is to show that the "eino yodea lishol" knows that he can't ask, so doesn't. Meaning, in his ignorance, he has not enough information to even formulate a question. Therefore, the response is to start him off. Give him information so that he could ask.

What makes the rasha a rasha is that he asks questions, even though he is ignorant. Meaning, he's aware that he lacks the information necessary to put forward a valid question, yet he is brazen enough to ask anyway. This type of personality requires you to cast him lower, take away some of his ego, by declaring him a person who would not have been freed in Egypt. Though this seems harsh, the solution is for his own good. Knock down his ego just a bit, the purpose being to show that he lacks the ability to really ask the question.

Although I suspect this educational suggestion would have an opposite effect today.

No comments:

Post a Comment