Shalom,
I'd like to continue the idea we began on Parashat Shemot with the piece titled "Illusions". It can be located in our Daff archives section.
We spoke about how being slaves in Mitzrayim (Egypt) relates to our inability to rise above our physical limitations and time-space constriction. We mentioned the power of ratzon (will) to release the infinite ability within ourselves and transcend these limitations enabling us to perceive miracles.
Rebbe Nachman says "Everything depends on ratzon."
What is ratzon?
Anything we do requires an initial will to do it. A person does not move a finger unless there was first a will to do so.
All these levels of transcendence we spoke about cannot come into reality unless we will them. And through will alone we can overcome all obstacles.
Whatever a person has a will for, it becomes his reality to the degree that he wills it.
Ratzon, in turn, depends on belief. I cannot truly have a ratzon for something unless I believe that my ratzon can be fulfilled.
Even if we don't believe in Hashem, even if we believe that our hard work is the cause of our success, or if we believe that there is some other cause of anything other than Hashem, we can still break out of that entrapment through will. No matter how far we are from Hashem, no matter how stuck we are in the troubles and worries that come along with it, we can still free ourselves.
Everything that happens to us happens because Hashem wants us to ask, He wants us to create a relationship with Him, He wants us to want. We do many things in the Pesach Seder for the sole purpose of getting the children to ask, in order to get them involved in what's going on. So too, Hashem does everything in this world in order to get us to ask, so that we can create a relationship with Him.
Thus, there are four types of sons.
Most of us fit into the category of the son who doesn't know how to ask. We take things as they are, we don't ask any questions, and so we don't get answers.
But if we can take that leap to reach the level of a simple son we would say, "listen Hashem, I don't know anything, I don't know You, I don't feel You, I don't know if I believe in You, I don't know if I want to believe in You, but all I know is that I want to want to believe in You and get close to You, so please help me, please let me feel You." If we do this with a pure and simple heart, we are immediately answered.
Once we are answered and we start to believe that we actually "arrived", we can fall into the level of the wicked son. The wicked son has all the answers. His questions are statements. Why did You do this, why did You do that, it could have been done better a different way… He doesn't have the ratzon to want to know more because he thinks he knows it all.
The wise son is the chacham. The word chochma "wisdom" can be read koach ma "the power of what." The chacham has the power of the question. He asks, "What are all these commandments, regulations, and laws?" One might wonder, how does this child have the chutzpah to question G-d, why doesn't he just do what he's told; if he's so wise, he should know all the answers, he shouldn't have to ask.
But no, the highest level is to ask intensively, in every detail that he doesn't understand, he uses koach ma. He realizes that everything in this world is in order to bring him closer to Hashem. He wants that closeness. He wants that relationship. No matter how much he gets, he wants more, because he realizes that the journey toward closeness to Hashem is infinite.
During the Seder we open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi who visits every Jewish home and drinks the wine that is prepared for him. You might ask - if he's able to be at so many places at the same time, drink all that wine, and be immortal, why do we have to open the door for him? Can't he go through walls? Rabbi David Aaron answers that the one condition of unconditional love is a willingness to accept. All we have to do is open a space for it and all the goodness flows in.
Eliyahu Hanavi, as is known, is the one who comes and announces the arrival of Moshiach.
All we have to do is open our mouths and ask. Like we say in morning prayers, "I am Hashem your G-d who brought you out of the land of Egypt, open your mouth and I will fill it".
But what have we done to earn it? What great accomplishments can we present to Hashem and say "here, now you pay up!" The answer is, nothing. We haven't done anything worthy of such reward. In shemona esrei we ask for redemption and the reason we give is "because for your redemption we yearn all day." That's the reason.
The Ari z"l says that the word Ratzon has the same letters as tzinor (pipeline). Our will is the pipeline through which spiritual bounty is received.
All we have to do is open up the line of communication, and never stop asking and seeking higher and higher levels.
With regards to the child who doesn't know how to ask we say "You open for him," let that be a prayer for Hashem to open up our mouths and bring us into the endless journey of closeness to Him.