| As a father and a teacher I cannot help but think | | | | they're asking: |
| about the concept of the wicked son in the | | | | I can't count how many times a student has asked |
| Passover Haggadah. (The Passover Haggadah is a | | | | me an intelligent question, and I frustratingly |
| text read by Jewish people at the beginning of | | | | attempted to answer, but found he wasn't paying |
| Passover, a holiday which commemorates the Jewish | | | | attention, or cut me off in mid-answer, or smiled |
| people's exodus from Egypt.) | | | | triumphantly at having victoriously "stumped me," at |
| Who is this wicked son? | | | | least in his own mind. |
| He inundates his father with questions about the | | | | He didn't ask the question with a desire to learn and |
| Passover Seder and the longstanding traditions of the | | | | expand his mind. Nor did he ask because he wished |
| Jewish people. | | | | to seek the truth. Nor did he ask with a sincere |
| But why is this a problem? | | | | desire to find out the answer. No! He asked because |
| In the Jewish religion we strongly encourage | | | | he wanted to hear his own voice. He asked because |
| questioning. I sometimes have classes where | | | | he wished to antagonize me and disrupt the flow of |
| students sit and just accept the things I say. | | | | the class. |
| Honestly, they bore me. There's nothing like a class | | | | His purpose was disruptive and self-serving. How can |
| filled with students who pummel you with in-depth | | | | I have respect for someone who has no desire to |
| question after in-depth question. Education, in my | | | | understand things, just a simplistic desire to be the |
| opinion, is all about a give-and-take. When I give and | | | | center of attention for that brief moment. |
| give, and they simply absorb, it's fleeting. The | | | | The wicked son deserves no praise. He is not asking |
| information leaves as quickly as it goes in. When I | | | | because of curiosity. He is asking because of |
| push and they push back, and somewhere along the | | | | animosity. He wishes to disrupt his own father. He's |
| way concepts and ideas make their way inside, it's | | | | trying to get under his skin, to get a rise out of him. |
| there forever. | | | | And therefore will eternally be referred to as wicked, |
| That's true learning. | | | | having within himself a base human trait. And he |
| So how could we be upset when this son shoots out | | | | serves as an example to us all, since anyone of us |
| his question? Especially at the Passover Seder where | | | | could exhibit this trait at any given moment. |
| we perform countless traditions which are for the | | | | May we all be blessed to hear so many sincere |
| sole purpose of getting our children to ask questions!? | | | | questions throughout our lives, and to ask just as |
| How can we be angry at our children for doing | | | | many. And may they never be for the wrong |
| exactly what we ask them to do? | | | | reasons. |
| The answer lies in the nature of the questions | | | | |