Reply To: The Wicked Son, and the Kiruv System

I don’t know the boy, but I’m not shocked. I think that I and most people have done similar things, although perhaps to a lesser degree. I don’t know if I would have ever said that I was angry at Hashem, but I have certainly done aveiros in my life because I was upset with other people, which is kind of the same thing but to a lesser degree if you think about it (since everything comes from Hashem).

It’s not the same thing at all. Being upset with someone else can be a cause to lose yourself in anger, and forget about Hashem. (And even though the knowledge is still there, it is like that of a smoker who knows that smoking kills, and is aware that the doctor told him he only has a year left to live etc. etc.) I was talking specifically about doing the avierah out of a solid awareness of Hashem. There’s a difference. And it’s difficult to explain why I was shocked if you’ve never met this guy. I would explain, but if I give away any details, there are too many people who know me and will be able to work out the identity of the guy we’re discussing.

And he does not sound like someone who would have gained from the approach used in the Haggadah

Part of the discussion in this thread was supposed to be about exactly this: I’m not sure that the correct response necessarily means the most effective one.