The Fifth Son

The One Who Cannot Ask

On this night, we remember a fifth child.

This is a child of the Shoah (Holocaust), who did not survive to ask.

Therefore, we ask for that child -- Why?

We are like the simple child. We have no answer.

We can only follow the footsteps of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, who could not bring himself to mention the Exodus at night until Ben Zoma explained it to him through the verse:

In order that you REMEMBER the day of your going out from Egypt, all the days of your life. (Deut. 16.3)

“The days of your life” indicates the daylight and the goodness of life. “All the days of your life” means even in the darkest nights when we have lost our first born, we must remember the Exodus. We answer that child’s question with silence. In silence, we remember that dark time. In silence, we remember that Jews preserved their image of God in the struggle for life. In silence, we remember the Seder nights spent in the forests, ghettos, and camps; we remember that Seder night when the Warsaw Ghetto rose up in revolt. We remember our people’s return to the land of Israel, the beginning of that redemption.


haggadah Section: -- Four Children