The Sfat Emet (Likutim) wrote: We should investigate the matter of the question of the Mah nishtanah (the Four Questions), about which the sages were very meticulous. This question is also mentioned in the Torah “And when your son will ask you etc. and the son who doesn’t know how to ask, you open him up. What is the point of the question, “Why is this night different than all other nights?” It seems to me that the purpose is to draw down the mochin (intellect), meaning the great illuminations of the days of Passover, which come in a leap, not gradually, as is known, into the attributes of a person – the intellect and will. The Children of Israel should clarify in their hearts the matter of the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt. Through the question that comes from the person himself, from his intellect, just as a son asks about the change he sees, so too the entire Jewish people, who come to a high level all at once, not gradually, which is a great change – through this they will ask and investigate until they bring the light into the attributes and the intellect.
This is the promise that "when your son asks you," you will be able to answer him and help him understand so that the light enters his soul. And for the one who doesn't know how to ask, the Blessed One opens a gate for him as well, so that a person can investigate and ask.
The Seder night is filled with questions. It's as if we cannot begin without a serious inquiry. Thus in the Torah, "When your son asks you,"[1] and so the sages established that we recite the Haggadah as an answer to the question, "The son asks: Why is this night different…" And if he has no son, he asks himself.”[2] For one who doesn't know how to ask, we encourage him to question and open the way for him. The main thing is that he should ask.
All this is because the illumination of Passover comes in a manner of leaping (Pesach means to skip or leap), a sudden appearance of 'mochin de'gadlut' (expanded consciousness), without a gradual ascent in order and stages. This light, in and of itself, is "above the attributes and intellect," but the ultimate purpose is to draw the light inward, "so that the light enters his soul." For this to happen, a person must be aroused to ask of his own accord!
Only then can we respond appropriately, "he asks relevantly, and we answer according to the law." Each person will receive an answer suited to him according to his level, so that the expanded consciousness will be drawn into him, and the revelation of the miracle will illuminate his inner being.
"And it shall be when your son asks you tomorrow, saying, 'What is this?' [I promise you that there will be an answer] you shall say to him, 'With a strong hand God brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage.'"[3] Even the son who generally doesn't know how to ask is assured that today he will succeed in investigating and questioning, and then he will receive the correct answer.
Four Sons and Four Questions
The Sefat Emet (Pesach 5646) wrote that the four questions of "Mah Nishtanah" are arranged according to the four sons. For the matzah is the testimony and sign that the Blessed One commanded us. And the maror (bitter herbs) is the question of the wicked son who does not want bitterness. The answer is to blunt his teeth, for on the contrary, all the bitterness, which is a remembrance of the slavery, is for his sake, because from his perspective, there would have been no redemption at all. And the reclining is the question of the simple son – "What is this?" – which is a change noticeable in the physical posture of a person. And the two dippings of the vegetables are only so that the son will understand to ask, as it says in the Gemara, and this corresponds to the one who doesn't know how to ask.
Indeed, it is fitting to draw a parallel between the Four Sons and the Four Questions. According to the holy Arizal, the correspondence follows the fundamental structure of the Four Worlds:
The question about dipping relates to the World of Action, the lowest world, and corresponds to the wicked son. The question "it is all matzah" belongs to the World of Formation, corresponding to the son who doesn't know how to ask. The question about maror (bitter herbs) is in the World of Creation, corresponding to the simple son. And the question "we all recline" is in the World of Emanation, corresponding to the wise son (from "the nobles of the children of Israel").
But "there are seventy faces to the Torah," and the Sefat Emet is certainly entitled to interpret in an additional way: The wise son corresponds to the question "all is matzah." The matzah in its entirety speaks of nullification (without inflation, unnecessary volume), like the level of the wise tzaddik who dwells in self-nullification before God. The wise son asks "What are the testimonies, statutes, and laws," which fits with the matzah that serves as a testimony to the bondage and redemption.
The wicked son asks about 'maror' (bitter herbs). He does not desire the bitterness that has accompanied the history of Israel from then until today. The wicked person is full of inner bitterness (even towards himself), and he protests, 'Why do I need all this bitterness?'…
The simple son asks 'Why are we all reclining' regarding the noticeable change in body posture (especially in our era, when reclining is not at all customary). Reclining is as princes do, and this is what amazes the simple son, "What is this" that suddenly everyone is behaving like princes?”
And the son who doesn't know how to ask relates to the dipping, for indeed the dippings are specifically designed to arouse him, and thank God, he is asking.
[1] Exodus 13:14, Deuteronomy 6:20.
[2] Pesachim 116a, in the Mishnah and the Talmud.
[3] Exodus 13:14.
