On the Wise Son

In the Haggadah, the wise son asks about the laws of Passovor (מה העדות והחקים והמשפטים אשר צוה ה' אלהינו אתכם) and is referred to the laws concerning the Afiqoman. The word "afiqoman" (אפיקומן) is not of Hebrew or Aramaic origin, i. e., it does not originate in an ancient Jewish language - but it comes from the Greek expression, ἐπὶ κῶμον, referring to an "after dinner past-time" or a "dessert," particularly a dessert eaten at the conclusion of a συμπόσιον, or a "drinking together" held by the Greeks. The Symposium of the Greeks was a religious ceremony that involved drinking four cups of wine in honor of a particular Greek god. The drinks were consumed in a lying down or reclining position. Often speeches were made in honor of the god in between the drinking of the four cups of wine. In Plato's Symposium, one such ceremonial, religious symposium is described where Socrates, Aristophanes and some others make speeches in honor of the Greek god of love, Ἔρως. In Hellenistic times - during which the Haggadah was undoubtedly composed, symposia took on philosophic themes, following the example of Plato's Symposium. The themed discussion of the Exodus and freedom coupled with praises of God, four cups of wine, reclining, and ending in the consumption of the afiqoman in no doubt based on the Hellenistic symposium.

Another source on wine popular in Hellenistic times was Plato's Laws (see esp. Book II), familiar to medieval Jewish thinkers including Maimonides through its Arabic translation and commentary by Alfarabi. In the Laws, wine is said to encourage people to sing and dance. Thus, it can be used to encourage the young to sing and dance to songs about virtue. In this way, wine can be used to encourage the imitation of the virtues, especially the virtues promoted by the laws. Wine can be used as a teaching tool. But wine must be used in this way in moderation, not "for amusement only." Otherwise, it would encourage immoderation and make it harder to follow the laws. It is perhaps following this model that the seder has only four cups of wine, but much singing and discussion of the laws.

The wise son's question concerned the laws surrounding the seder. Perhaps he is wise because he understands that the drinking is to inculcate the laws in him. He is, nevertheless, pointed to the Greek part of the seder, i. e., the part outside of the purview of the Law.

Moral Sentiment and Fairness

People of my generation are adopting a kind of moral sensitivity that precludes politics and political action. This moral sensitivity praises fairness and fair treatment and blames all unfair action, whether that be killing innocent people or even inconveniencing the innocent. As nearly all political action, especially war and violence, but also tax law, inconveniences some who are not deserving of inconvenience, the moral sentiments of my companions are constantly insulted. This is nowhere more apparent, perhaps, than in Israel, where people, following wars and terrorism, and in the undying, overwhelming shadow of the holocaust, pay constant and serious attention to their moral sentiments. Yet, at this point in time, the politicians cannot (or at least do not) speak honestly or frankly about what political actions they intend to take. In the previous election, as in many elections, Israelis voted on the Palestinian issue; yet the candidates avoided precisely this issue. When Israel went to war with Lebanon, Olmert and Peretz talked of returning captured soldiers to Israel; yet an examination of the action of the war indicate that this could not have been a serious goal. Similarly with Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Israeli moral sentiment, like that of so many Westerners, cannot handle the thought of committing oppression, even oppression that leads to the greater good.

Historians and Philosophers on Change

A rule: historians are interested in things that change, insofar as they change. Philosophers are interested in things that do not change, insofar as they do not change.

Philosophers may examine change itself and the things that change, but their interest in change and changing things lies in those aspects that do not change.

It is in the nature of such a rule that, if true, no historian could ever accept it.