[Avodah] Avos uBanim

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

In the thread "Vihgadto Levincho", R' SBA asked about "the father ... and his son", while I responded regarding "the parent and child".

I will begin by conceding that that overwhelming majority of hagados and seforim in English do use the words "father" and "son" in this context. However, it has been my habit to choose gender-neutral words in this context, and this is what I wish to discuss in this thread.

As far as I know, V'higadta Levincha applies equally to the father and the mother, and in fact, it applies just as strongly to any Jew above the age of bar/bas mitzvah, even if childless, and even if unmarried.

Further, the Hagada's audience would also seem to be gender-neutral. For example, Rambam Chametz Umatzah 7:3 (and many others before him and after him) writes: "If one has no 'ben', then his wife asks him; if he has no wife, then they ask each other." It seems to me that if the proper translation of 'ben' would have been 'son', then the halacha would probably have specified and additional step: If he has no son, then his daughter asks; if he has no daughter, then his wife asks. But because of this omission, it seems to me that sons and daughters are equal in regards to the Hagada.

(If anyone points out that the Rambam is very gender-specific as far as 'he' and 'his wife', I would answer that *someone* has to lead the seder, and given the generally-assigned gender roles of Torah Judaism. it does not bother me that this role is usually taken specifically by the father. If this does bother others, I will not stand in their way. In any case, this is only a practical consideration of who would lead the seder, and not a halachic point of who is obligated in V'higadta Levincha, which applies to both parents equally.)

It is not surprising that I have not found this issue discussed anywhere, because it is a question which would only occur to people who speak a language which has gender-neutral words like "parent" and "child". Someone who speaks a language with ambiguous words like "av" and "ben" would not think to ask such a question, because, I suppose that the bottom line is that my question has nothing to do with halacha, but relates purely to translation style.

Even so, I am curious if perhaps someone, somewhere, might have written an article on this topic. Perhaps there are relevant sources that someone else has seen. Any ideas? Thanks!

Akiva Miller
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