Fifth Son, The

It’s a well known fact that our critics are our best teachers; but what can the pious learn from the sinner, what can the nonobservant teach the observant? Let’s meet the fifth son.

At the seder we discuss the "Four Sons": the Wise Son, the Wicked Son, the Simple Son, and the Son Who Doesn't Know How To Ask. Modern society has produced a fifth son...

The Seder service, and the reciting of the Haggadah, have always been considered to be directed particularly towards the children: “And you shall relate to your son on that day” (Shemot 13:8). Many of our customs at the Seder table were intended specifica...

How do we deal with the "Wicked Son"? And who is the elusive "Fifth Son" that's not even mentioned in the Haggadah?

The Haggadah speaks of the “Four Sons” at the Seder table, demonstrating that every Jewish child needs to be given the full experience of Passover; if need be, search him out, find him, and invite him together with his family to your Seder table, to celeb...

Editor's Note: Sixty years ago, on the 11th day of Nissan, 5717 [April 12, 1957], the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—issued a landmark pre-Passover letter that in many ways reframed a core purpose of the Passover seder: To find an...

This parshah serves as the Biblical source for three of the Four Sons of the Passover Seder, about whom the Haggadah states, “The Torah addresses four categories of children.” First is the wise son, who is intelligent, knowledgeable, and thus G‑d-fearing....

The Haggadah lists four sons at the Passover Seder table. The child ‘who doesn’t know to ask’ is listed last amongst the four sons, following not only the ‘wise son’, but also the ‘wicked’ one. This offers insight and an important lesson in our calling to...

It is exceedingly clear that the Seder table will be incomplete without the representation and participation of the entire spectrum of society.