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 | What gets me about Schwartz is that he ain't stupid. He has brains, but all he does with them is tickle his own brains. Schwartz' brain stands outside life peering in, like a surgeon examining a cadaver...
22 Comments Posted
Nu, what do we say to the 5th child who is AWOL? How do we show the 5th he/she is one, like Jack Schwartz? What did the Rebbe say on child 5?
I am looking for to Pesach in large part because of your essay, Mr. Freeman
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Interesting article, but there are people out there with the name Jack Schwartz who aren't wicked and may take offense.
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Very, good! You've added a bit more to my understanding of the seder this year.
Shalom
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Very interesting anthropological discussion of an ancient feast.
*Sorry but you asked for that.
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Thank you, Rabbi Freeman! It never came to my mind, that the wicked child (or also the other three children, then) could be part of me. And after some thinking about it, I saw, it is true. From this year on I will listen to that in a different way, and hope, that the part of the wicked child in me will be less
wicked...
What I am unable to comprehend, is, that the "darkness itself will shine" That is greater than the ability of my imagination.... And nothing outside, not even us. We are not really existing??? That I can not grasp nor believe, nor wish. If that would be so, so why all this work and suffering and hope against all hope? Then I could commit suicide, it just would not matter.
No seeing my dead husband again be Olam haba, as all is dissolved in G-d, the Infinite Light. How could the Mashiach melt the ice of the arctic sea, when the ice does not exist? I am sorry for my simple mind.
I liked your article. As always. Happy Pessach!!
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A wonderful article that makes me want to learn more about a man who could see and illuminate the essential connection between the wise, the wicked, the simple, and those unable to ask.
Thank you for giving me something new and so good to bring to my sedar table this year.
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You did it! my name is Jacob (Ya'akov) Shwartz, and I am insulted!
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If you were insulted, then you are definitely NOT the Jack Schwartz in the article. He would just find the it interesting and comment on the prose.
Besides, he spells his last name differently than yours.
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beautiful article.
thank you.
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Actually, I feel that there are two interpretations of who is the wicked child. The first is a natural offshoot of the first generation being a wise guy about Judaism. A wise guy's kid is naturally going to turn wicked, and his son will be the one who asks "What is this?"
A second interpretation is that the wicked child is Rabbi Eliezer ben Abbuye, who represents the Drash in Pardes. Because he could not reconcile conflicting commandments, he became Drash, leading to heresy.
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Characterizing interest in intellect and philosophy as "evil" is an easy and faulty way to dismiss a much more complex approach to Judaism. Seriously, this story is offensive. I connect a great deal to Judaism, and I find that looking at it with a sociological and historical lense often enriches my understanding of it. Just as everyone is "wired" differently, individuals need to find their own path in interacting with a seder. For some it is unbridled emotion, and for others it is a lengthy process of dissecting the traditions and trying to connect the dots between what happens in our homes every year to the traditions of Jews throughout the centuries. Perhaps this year you should reframe how you see "Jack;" rather than and "evil" observer, he is a Jew trying to figure out his religion the only way he knows how.
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Hey, nothing wrong with philosophy and intellect. This is Chabad--which translates as "wisdom, understanding and knowiedge." The issue is with the cold, outside observer approach. If you want to understand something and really know it, experience it from within.
Actually, I think it was Fritz Perls who said, "Intellect is the concubine of intelligence." Well, he used a different word, but...
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The detached intellectual who always exists at the meta-level, observing, but never fully participating, is corrosive even of intellect and rationality. However, the intellectual who chooses intellect, thinking, and rationality is fully committed to reason and thought. This person is neither wicked nor wise. This person recognizes that everything is open to question and examination except questioning and examining. So, when at the seder table this person may sound like the wicked child, but with one difference: this person of intellect and self-examination, does not spare herself from the examination. She asks: why do I do sit at this table? and, why do we do what we do? The wicked child not only excludes himself from the seder as a committed participant but also excludes himself from himself as committed to thinking and questioning.
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The wicked son comes to the Passover table and welcomes himself. The wicked son likes arrangements, especially arrangements that are disturbing. Wickedness gives balance to craftiness, immaturity, and simplicity, as the crafty son in all his complexity is likely to have the simple son left out or at least intimidated, so does wickedness put off the crafty son while he encourages immaturity and comforts simplicity.
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In the author's "conversation" with Jack, he tells him that there is a correct way to experience the Seder, and an incorrect way. I find this very disturbing. Many Jews do not feel spiritually connected to the characters in the passover story, and instead find their connection to Judaism to be more intellectual. Is this wicked? I hope not. To me, insisting that there is a correct way to relate to an organized religion is far more evil than merely viewing the Seder from an emotionally removed place.
Additionally, why does the wicked child feel disconnected from the Jewish people. Is he gay, and told that his sexual orientation is unacceptable? Does he wish to intermarry, and is forbidden to ensure his children will be raised Jewish?
I bring up these points, not to be facetious, but instead to argue that there are many legitimate reasons one could feel removed from the Jewish people that are far from wicked.
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R. Freeman is a true master. Master writer, philosopher, scientist, and above all, master Jew.
I was cold as a fish going into this Pesach. Just was. By Divine Providence, I came across this article and suddenly I found myself crying.
It was R. Freeman´s book Bringing Heaven Down to Earth that not only changed my life but also got me close to Chabad.
Sorry to make this too personal.
I just felt compelled to share with you, R. Freeman, the immense gratitude someone in another part of the world and probably light-years away in upbringing is moved by your words and outlook. This is my first-ever comment on chabad.org although I´m a regular reader.
This article (BTW, Is Jack Schwartz Amalek?) and My Plastic Pharaoh (hope is still posted) are essential before-Pesach reading. Year after year.
May G-d bless you and your family.
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note that the 1st son is not good or righteous but wise.
and see pierke avot 'if there is no fear of G-d there is no wisdom, if there is no wisdom there is no fear...'
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Thank you so much for this very inspiring teaching. I needed this soooo much.
May Hashem bless you with revealed good. May you continue your wonderful teachings to all of Klal Ysiroel.
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Would it help this discussion to suggest that there are two uses of intellect: for power over, and for power to. The wise son's question uses intellect and reason to acquire knowlege that will give him the power to do Jewish things with more understanding and enjoyment. The wicked son as R. Freeman describes him is using his intellect (and historical knowledge) to take power over the event and over others at the table. Power over is a form of control, and an affirmation of superiority and pride, as well as of distance.
R. Freeman's article was trying to give us power to by explaining that the seder is something to be experienced, and that we're missing the core of it if we don't know that. He avoided power over by saying that Schwartz (however spelled) is part of him and of each of us.
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What a pity, I wanted to be a part of you yal, but have not been accepted. Should I feel like the wicked child? My determination is that I will not give up until my roots spring up as I was called from Above. Hope ya all have a blessed Pesach with your family and friends. I shall be blessed alone at home, with Elijah. I do not have a silver cup but a glass one, and some Jewish grape juice. Shalom.
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Going on 21 years and respecting the Jack Schwartz more than ever. So far from my time frame of being a benoni. Grateful for good writing and a way in for the part of us that needs a way in to bring the others of us and ours in. Thank you so much for what you wrote. And thank you for continuing to address the guts and stuff of our unbelievable great luck.
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I am surprised to read your comment, "three out of four ain't so bad after all, " in the above piece. We shouldn't be writing these souls off as lost and gone. I read a piece yesterday on the Chabad site about the broken Matza of Yachatz representing Israel - the smaller group who observe mitzvot are represented by the piece on the table, and the millions of souls 'lost' out in the diaspora - many not even knowing they're Jewish - are represented by the bigger piece set aside for Afikoman. The gist was that Mashiach can't come till all are united as one. I am often puzzled when I hear people and leaders in the orthodox communities speak derisively about this remnant of our people. They are still a part of Am Yisrael, and I think we should be reaching out to do kiruv, especially any ba'aley t'shuva who often have many nieces and nephews with very little connection to yidishkeit. You can't ignore the stragglers and then tell yourself you are One, complete, and whole.
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