Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Ulangan 10:12

Since He has multipled you, you are bound to love Him (which has been said before, but here Scripture adds always).

The wise child, what does he say (Mah hu omer)? The wise child’s question could have been Mah omer; the word hu is unnecessary. The statement could have simply been, “the wise child says...” The expression, then, is both a question and an answer. The Haggadah says “The wise child is saying Mah.” The first three children each phrase their ‘question’ and ‘answer’ with the word, Mah. In each case the word Mah has a different connotation.
For the wise child, the opening statement is, “The wise child says mah!” The word Mah implies fear and love of God, as in “And now O Israel WHAT (Mah) does the Lord demand of you? Only this to fear the Lord your God and to walk only in His paths and to love Him,”⁸⁹Deuteronomy 10:12 and “He who suspends the earth over nothingness (b’li –mah)”⁹⁰Job 26:7 The word MAH is associated with the Sephirah of Chokhmah, wisdom. Because it is among the first of the Sephirot (the Ten Sephirot are divided into two groups: the first three: Keter, Chokhmah, and Binah and then the seven lower Sephirot. Keter is beyond human knowledge, so Chokhmah is the first Sephirah through which we even begin to understanding the unfolding of the divine. It is existence, undifferentiated, the primal dot – the very beginning of existence. It is so unknowable that we call it Mah, what. But it is also divine wisdom. Sephirot are the ten enumerations or emanations in the inner life of God through which we can understand the universe. Each of them is connected with a complex series of symbols and terms so that language, knowledge, and all existence are connected to them. When the wise child asks Mah, he is acknowledging the divine source of all existence. The one who worships God faithfully begins with this word. The statement of the wise child then is both a question and an affirmation. “Mah includes the testimonies and the statutes and the laws which the Lord has commanded you.” We are called on to fulfill the commandments out of love and reverence which is called Mah, what! The wise child says, “Which the Lord commanded YOU,” out of a sense of humility. When we see how beloved the commandments are to him we should teach him all the commandments down to the law of the afikomen, so that the taste and the love of the commandments should remain in his mouth.
The wicked child, on the other hand, mocks and ridicules the commandments. He also says, Mah. But for him the word ‘Mah/What’ implies something small and inconsequential. “He says Mah/what’s (the big deal about this service?” His statement is also not a question but a rhetorical question since he has no interest in observing God’s commandments. He says, “what is this ritual lakhem/to you,” in order to remove himself from the community.
The simple child sees the deep thoughts and analysis of the wise child as well as the sarcasm of the wicked child. Both of them use the word Mah, and so he formulates his question with this word: “Mah/what is this?” What is the meaning of the word Mah? He says, “I don’t understand all the discussion in which you are engaging or why you are debating with one another on this particular night!” To him we answer, “It is with a strong hand…” that is, it is the things that happened on this night that have caused us to worship the Lord with reverence and love.
The word Mah can be used to express a question (as in Mah she’eilatekh, “What is your request?”⁹¹Esther 5:6) or a general statement (as in, Mah tovu ohalekha Yaakov, “How Good are your tents O Jacob”⁹²Psalm 133:1) It can also be used as an expression of surprise (as in Mah ta’arkhu lo, “What form can compare to God!”⁹³Isaiah 40:18 Or Mah enosh ki tizk’renu, “What is man that you should be mindful of him!”⁹⁴Psalm 8:5) The wise child uses the word Mah in the sense of a general statement (Mah tov - how good are these statutes and judgments!); he is asking out of a desire to fulfill the commandments. The wicked uses Mah as an introduction to a rhetorical question (mah ha’avodah – what’s the point of this ritual?) and the simple child asks as a sincere question (mah zot – what exactly is this all about?)

When the Torah repeats the four Baruch expressions, it is telling us that the Torah is speaking about four educated people who are preachers and teachers of Torah and ethics. Each begins his homily with a prayer of praise to God. They know that before one interprets Torah, one begins with a prayer. However. one cannot necessarily rely on each of these preachers or assume that they are righteous leaders. They are righteous, intermediate, wicked and ignorant. If you want to distinguish who is wise and righteous and who is wicked, you only have to know how each uses the word mah, "what," in his question about Passover. By understand what is implied by this word, one can know what is in the heart of the preacher. There are many verses in the Torah that use the word mah, such as, "And now, O Israel, what (mah) does the Lord you God demand of you? Only this: to fear the Lord your God…" (Deut. 10:12) The one who chooses this mah, interprets both the commandments that define our relationship to God, and those commandments that define our relationship to our fellow man. Such a person is both wise and righteous. This is what the author of the Haggadah means when he says, Chacham "mah" hu omer. This can be translated as a statement: "The wise child is the one who says mah." He not only explains commandments that define interpersonal relations, but seeks to understand matters relating to a person's relationship to God as well. That is why he asks, "Mah - what are the testimonies, statutes and judgments." Sabbath, the holidays, fringes and Tefillin are "testimonies." These commandments are thus called because they testify that God constantly renews His will to create. Other commandments are called judgments because they are based on reason, including all the commandments between a person and his fellow: not stealing or killing, loving ones neighbor and similar mitzvot. Finally there are statutes such as not mixing milk and meat, shatnez (not mixing linen and wool), the prohibition against shaving with a single edge blade, the law of the red heifer, and the prohibition against eating pork. One can tell from his homilies that he is righteous. Regarding such a person, the Mishnah says, "sit in the dust at their feet and with thirst drink in their words" (Pirkei Avot 1:4). Ask them about all the laws. The Haggadah alludes to this when it says, "You must tell him all the detailed regulations of Passover." That is, engage him in a discussion and ask him about all the laws of Passover, from the most difficult to the easiest laws, such as "don’t eat anything after the Afikomen." Because he is a righteous person you can engage in a discussion with him and he will guide you in an honest way because he reveres God. He has not exempted himself from explaining even the simplest of the simple commandments.