What is the difference between the chacham (wise son) and the rasha (evil son)? They are both asking, why do you eat matza on Pesach? Sure, I need to use my teeth in order to get it inside me. But, the rasha begins to chew, to analyze what is this halacha – explain to me everything. What is the matza all about, the wine? So, I say, please, rasha, don’t chew around in my Torah.

I have seen many married couples going to marriage counselors and they chew around in their marriage. There is nothing left after that. So, Seder night is not only the fixing of our stomach – it s the fixing of our teeth. How to chew, when to chew, what to chew.

Why do we drink wine first? Because wine we don’t chew – we drink it just the way it is. It goes into us just the way it is. Matza requires chewing, but, certain things, you must take them the way they are.

What is an exile Jew? An exile Jew is anybody who chews on Yiddishkeit, who says, this is relevant, this isn’t relevant, this is good, this is not so good. What are the four cups of wine? Take it the way it is.

When you love somebody very much, when you kiss somebody, you put your teeth in your lips on that person. You know what you are telling that person? I am never going to chew. Our relationship is non-chewable. It’s the way it is.

When Yaacov aveinu brought wine to Yitzchak, he kissed him. Yitzchak didn’t ask for wine. Yaacov, when he came to be blessed, brought it himself. Wine represents taking the whole thing the way it is.

When the Haggadah says, “veata haclieh et shinov — and you break his (the evil son’s) teeth”. it doesn’t mean cut out his teeth.  It means cut out the teeth that destroy, teach him how to chew, and what to chew.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2