[Avodah] The Wise Son vs the Wicked Son and the word ''you''

[Zev Sero]

In my opinion the *simple pshat in the pasuk*, before any drashos, is 
that one son is asking "what is this avoda of *yours*"; the Baal Hagada 
understands him to be saying that it is not my avoda at all, I am merely 
curious about what *you* are doing.  Therefore he labels him "wicked".

The other son does not speak like that; his language is consistent with 
including himself in Am Yisrael and accepting the obligation of the 
mitzvos.  But he was not there at matan torah, so he must ask, "what are 
the mitzvos that Hashem commanded *you*, before I was born, so that I 
may do them too?".  Thus the BHG labels him "wise".


-- 
Zev Sero            “Were we directed from Washington when to sow
zev at sero.name       and when to reap, we should soon want bread.”
		    –Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.