The haggada describes four sons, who represent the range of different types of Jewish people. There is the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son, and the son who does not know how to ask. There is a commandment to tell each one of them, in the way that is right for him, the story of the exodus. But these four sons are all sitting at the seder table, taking part in the Passover experience. Nowadays, a fifth type of Jew has emerged, who does not even come to the seder table. It is our duty to find Jews such as these and bring them closer to Judaism.

The common denominator of the four sons:

Notwithstanding the differences between the four sons and their being opposites of one another, they do have something in common: Even the wicked son is present at the seder. He encounters and lives with those who live the life of Torah and observance of mitzvot, and it interests him.

Nowadays there is a fifth son:

But sadly, there is another type of son, particularly in our time, when darkness abounds: The son who cannot be found at the seder at all. He does not ask questions because he has no sense of connection to Torah and mitzvot or to the authentically Jewish halakhot and customs. He does not know about the existence of “this service”: the Passover seder, the exodus, and the receiving of the Torah.

What should our reaction be to this absent son?

One must devote a great deal of time to these children before Passover, before the seder night. One must do so with self-sacrifice and out of love for one’s fellow Jews. For it is forbidden to abandon even a single Jewish child, and one must employ all available resources in order to rescue such a child from his current state and return him to the Jewish seder table…. It is forbidden for a Jew to despair. It is forbidden to give up on another Jew. With the correct approach, that is, if one comes from a place of love for one’s fellow Jews, people like this will be brought inside and will sit among the four sons. And eventually, they will even be brought to a point where they are considered “wise sons.” (Rabbi Menaĥem Mendel Schneerson, Mikhtav Klali, 11 Nisan 5717)

Further reading: For more on the four sons, see A Concise Guide to the Sages, p. 307.

Every year on the first night of Passover, before returning home to lead the seder, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelekh of Dinov would walk through the streets of his town to hear how the townspeople observed the seder. The words and songs of the haggada would emerge from every house.

One year, as he passed by one of the houses, he heard a Jew reciting the passage concerning the four sons. Each time the Jew said the word “one” (as in: “One is wise, one is wicked…”), he cried out loudly and with intention, like in the recitation of Shema when we say: “Hear O Israel…the Lord is One.”

Standing outside, the saintly man said in wonder: This Jew has formed a prayer out of all four sons, including the wicked son, as holy as the Shema.

Each Passover, the forces of holiness are purified of their outer shells and adjoined to the Jewish people…because there is not only one exodus, rather, God brings them out every year. (Rabbi Ĥayyim ben Atar, Or HaĤayyim, Numbers 23:22)

The Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt will forever remain the spring of the world. (Rabbi Avraham Yitzĥak HaKohen Kook, Meged Yeraĥim, Nisan)

Further reading: For more on constantly remembering and experiencing the exodus, see A Concise Guide to the Sages, p. 307.