Friday, March 29, 2013

DIVAR TORAHS ON THE HAGGADAH 2013 PART 1

There is a beautiful dvar torah that Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach zt"l said over on the Hagaddah Shel Pesach. Why do we respond to the Rasha son in the Hagaddah in such a harsh way ("Hakeh es shivov"....strike him in his teeth)? Isn't it at least to his credit that he is here, sitting around the seder with his family, good enough? What does it mean, "Hakeh es Shinov"? So he answers, 'kedarko', with a fantastic and inspiring 'vertel'. He quotes a teaching in the name of the (4th) Belzer Rebbe, Reb Aharon Roke’ach zt"l. Reb Ahrele taught that everything in this world, every aspect of reality, has within it a pnimius and a chitzonius, an inner and outer manifestation. The word Rasha is spelled ר-שׁ-ע. The outer letters is ר-ע which spells רע - evil. That is what this person is - but only on the OUTSIDE! The שׁ, which is the letter on the inside has three branches each representing the 3 Avos of Klal Yisroel. And that is the pnimius, the INNER manifestation of this yid. That despite his evil wayward lifestyle and attitude, and regardless of our worthiness, b'zechus the Avos we are all included in this redemptive relationship with Hashem. Reb Shlomo says, do what the Haggadah says to do to the Rasha, strike his Shin[av] – his שׁ – his inner manifestation – agitate, stimulate and arouse the Shin, the awareness of our Avos to awaken the body to the existence of the Neshama. R' Carlbach’s teaching is profound. Don’t just hit the child, or reject the child, but find a way to encourage your child and to accept your child, let YOUR good speech bring out the best in your rebellious child’s speech.(summary from ywn coffee room)

No comments: