Welcome to our Bitachon class. We're now discussing Hagaddah. The unit that we're up to now is , the Four Sons. We're not going to go into the intricacies of four sons because that's really not the message of the Night of the Seder. I want to give some background of where the concept of the sons come from. The source is actually a Mishna in Masechet Pesachim116a, where it says, וכאן הבן שואל אביו. And here (at the point where we pour the second glass), the son asks the question. And אין דעת בבן, if the son doesn't have the knowledge, אביו מלמדו, the father, teaches him what to say . The Gemara is hinting at the concept that some children have more knowledge than others. The Rambam on the laws of Hametz UMatzah perek 7, clearly describes the baseline of knowledge of the children. He says, לפי דעתו של בן אביו מלמדו, depending on the knowledge of the son, the father teaches him , and he gives an example. אם היה קטן, If it's a young lad, אומר לו, you say to the child, בני, my son, כולנו היינו עבדים, we were all slaves, כמו שבחזו, like this maidservant, וכמו עבד זה,or like this slave And you point to the kitchen to indicate the people working in the house, and not sitting around the table- they're workers. In the times of the Rambam, a slave or a servant was not what we'd call our common domestic help. They were indentured slaves, as existed hundreds of years ago. So he was actually showing the child and saying, " This could have been you , ובלילה הזה, And on this night, פדה אותנו הקדוש ברוך הוא, God redeemed us, הוציאנו לחירות, and took us out of freedom . That's the baseline for the most simple of sons. The point being, and this is why the Hagaddah spends the time of telling us about the four different sons, that the obligation of the night is to teach the fundamental beliefs to our children, and every child is different. And he continues on, that if the son is older and wiser, then it's not enough just to say, We got out. We need to provide some details, and say what happened? And if he's older, and he can start understanding miracles, tell him about the miracles, all according to the child's understanding. Further, he goes on, that it's important to understand, what the message of the night is. And the Rambam, in his Sefer Mitzvot, positive commandment number 157, explains the messages that we're supposed to impart to our children. He says, Number one, To increase and make great what Hashem did for us. Hashem did great things for us. Forget about the punishments to the Egyptians, God did great things for us. Next, we have to discuss the acts of destruction, iniquity, and improper behavior that the did Egyptians did to us, such as slaughtering the babies, etc…. But that's not the end. We have to discuss how God took vengeance on them, to show that God is treating us like the father protecting his son from the bully. He's not just going to sit back and watch. He's not just going to save his son. It's not enough that he takes his son out of the bully's hands and buys him ice cream. No, he also beats up the bully. Number 3, after we've done that, we have to train our children to thank Hashem for all the things that He did . The more you can do that, the better. That's what it means that The more you tell about it, the more praiseworthy you are. That's what והגדת לבנך is all about. We have to understand our children, and know what capacity of understanding they have regarding these important concepts. How much do they understand how much Hashem did for us? Spiritually, physically, He gave us booty…. And we have to impart exactly what the Egyptians did to us. Can they understand the עבודת פרך, the back-breaking work? Can they understand how the Mitzrim interfered with our family life? Can they understand the pressure? That also has to be explained to your child. But again, you have to know your child. There are things that they can understand and handle and process, and things that they can't. It's not one size fits all. That's really the message of this unit of the four sons- To understand that you have to tailor it to their understanding. Can they understand the concept that God protects us like a father protects the son from the bully? And again, for a young child, explain what that means. And so on and so forth. It's important to understand who your audience is. That's really the unit of the Four Sons- Who is your audience and how do you prepare to reach them on their level? People use all kinds of props, and whatever it may be. Even the custom we have of putting the Matzah on our shoulders, or any of the other many customs are in order to make it understandabl e for all ages .