The Point of Seder Night

 With literally hours before the start of Sabbath here in Jerusalem, I would like to share a very quick thought. Rabbi Moshe Shapira of blessed memory related in his weekly shiur that the whole point of seder night is to take the speechless child, and imbue him with the self-confidence to open his mouth - and become a tam, loosely translated as a simple child. 

The purpose of the seder night is to give pitchon peh, or an invitation, to one who doesn't have the gumption or confidence to speak up. To take people, perhaps, who are farther away, and add one more insight, to give them the inspiration to pipe up, to say something they wouldn't say otherwise.

Interestingly, vis a vis the "wicked son," the medrash shares a different account. It does not say one should "blunt his teeth" - not "knock out his teeth" as it's commonly mistranslated - but rather, the medrash states, "Seeing that this person is still asking questions, you have a mitzvah to bring him closer." 

The medrash, thus, takes a different approach - seeing the infinite potential of each and every person, perhaps explaining why it's so important to fight apathy, to instill curiosity in students, and get them talking, get them asking, because then, just maybe, they'll hear you out, and start listening. (A few days before my grandfather of blessed memory, Rabbi Israel Orenstein, passed away, he shared that dvar Torah with me. That was the last dvar Torah he shared after an illustrious career in which he had given thousands of sermons from the pulpit.)