25 The Passover Haggadah
Zoma explained it at last by quoting: “That you may remember the day you left Egypt al the days of your life.”* The Torah adds the word all to the phrase the days of your life to emphasize that the nights are meant as well. The sages declare that “all the days of your life” includes the world of today and the messianic times,
Blessed be God who has given the Torah to his people Israel; blessed be he.
The Torah speaks of four sons: a wise one, an evil one, a simple one, and one who is not able to ask a question.
The wise son asks: “What is the meaning of all the statutes and laws that the Lord our God has commanded us?” Explain
to him the laws concerning the Passover, to the very last detail that “no dessert may be had after the Passover feast. ” generations that must be informed concerning the exodus from Egypt (Hsodus
12:26; 13:8, 14; Deuteronomy 6:20).
‘The wise son, showing an interest in all the laws and precepts of the Torah, should be taught every detail prescribed for the observance of Pesaly. Th word yo7 is frequently used in the sense of impiousness, lacking in reveren for the Supreme Being. For example, “he who recites his prayers behind the synagogucis called ?mpious (Berakhoth 6b: yor Xp3 noran ma Mynx dbp >>).
Tho name testimonies «mry) is applied to God's laws as being a solemn declaration of his will, nvtya, the lestimony par excellence, is a technical term for the Ten Commandments (Exodus 25:16, 21; 40:20). A later usage extended the term nmy to the Torah in general (Psalms 19:8; 78:5). In the question of the wise son, however, the term testimonies is applied to the precepts which commemorate God's wondrous works; the stalules «api are laws for which the Torah gives no reason; m'vsvn are laws for the improvement. of human society.
‘The rule concerning afikoman is quoted from the Mishnah (Pesahim, end) to the effcet that when your son desires to know all the law on the subject of Pesah, teach him all. The word afikoman is of Greck derivation and denotes cither after-dinner entertainment or after-dinner dessert. Accordingly, the meaning of prrppn px is said to be: one should not break off the communion meal of the paschal lamb by starting another entertainment; after the paschal lamb one must not wind up by saying, “Now to the aftermeal entertainment!” In other words, the joy of the Pesal) meal with its symbolism must not turn into an ordinary entertainment. The traditional interpretation, however, is that the paschal lamb must be the last thing eaten and one must not finish with des-
'*Deuteronomy 16:3; 6:20.
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