Grade 7-GESHER Wonders About the Rasha

Gesher has been wondering about the Haggadah’s four children (wise, wicked, simple and the one who does not know how to ask). We were troubled by the concept of a wicked child.  In an effort to understand what the rabbis meant when they labeled one child ‘wicked,’ we looked at four mishnayot from Pirkei Avot (5: 10-14) each of which examined personality types and each of which identified one personality type as a rasha or wicked person. Taken together, we now understand that the rabbis may have identified a rasha as person who is

• greedy (“what is yours is mine and what is mine is mine”),
• quick to anger and slow to appease,
• does not want to give Tzedakah nor does he/she want others to give,
• one who neither learns (Torah) nor does mitzvot. 

One student may have asked the most important question of all: Is the Rasha able to change his/her ways?

In our final session before Pesach, we will learn about Elijah the Prophet and why he attends our sedarim, entertain ourselves with Passover wordlets and make 3 different kinds of (nut-free) charoset.