Pesach

One of the highlights of the Haggada is the passage that deals with the four sons. It starts out ברוך המקום ברוך הוא blessed is Hashem blessed is He. Then it goes on to list the four sons. Rav Schwab asks an interesting question ; normally when we refer to Hashem as המקום, the Place, it's at a time of sorrow. It's the word we use when we comfort a mourner or someone who had another great loss. So why at this point of the seder, which is such a joyous time that most of us sing that stanza, do we refer to Hashem as המקום? 

The Navi tells us that the prophetess, Devora, was the wife of Lapidies . The תנא דבי אליהו asks what was the greatness of Devora that she was chosen to lead the Jews. While she was a prophetess, at that time פנחס בן אלעזר was also around to lead the Jews so why was Devora chosen.

Her husband was a very simple man; he wasn't really able to learn so she told him to make wicks to bring to Shilo so that he would illuminate the Mishkan. That way he, too, will merit Olam Habba. He took it to heart and made the best wicks possible. ‎

Hashem said to Devora, "you wanted to ‎make the Mishkan bright & made nice wicks that shine brightly, I will make your light shine in Klal Yisroel. She wasn't the wife of a scholar, rather the wife of a simple person but because of their pure intentions on a simple thing that was done just for the glory of Hashem, she merited to be a leader in Klal Yisroel. 

The sefer Musser Haneviem says that this demonstrates how a person should view himself, that even if one feels he could never be a great Torah scholar, he shouldn't let that delude him into thinking he can't do anything & will never rate.  As we see by the husband of Devora, who was a simple man yet he did one mitzva with absolute sincerity. For that, he merited such greatness which shows that no matter who we are or what we do, as long as our intentions are in the right place in Hashem’s eyes, we rate. 

Rabbi Paysach Krohn explains that in that paragraph, the Haggada repeats ברןך four times, ‎one for each type of child. What the Haggada is telling us, says Rav Schwab, is that sometimes a parent or grandparent might be at the table, look around & think how did my child or grandchild turn out this way. This is not how I wanted my family to look like; so for them it's sad. That's why it opens with המקום ‏. However, the Haggada is telling us by saying Baruch four times, that every child is a blessing & it doesn't matter what they look like; each one is a blessing & each one has the potential for greatness & now together at the seder it's time to make each ones individual light shine through! 

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