We have an obligation to teach all of our children the story of Passover, in a way that meets them where they are. There are four types of children we must think about:

A wise child, who already understands the story asks, “Explain all of this to me. What are my responsibilities?” This child is prepared to do the work to improve the world.

A rebellious child asks, “Why should I bother with all this? It doesn’t impact my life.” This child doesn’t see a personal connection and separates themselves from the group.

An uneducated child asks, “What is all of this?” This child needs help to learn the story of Pesach and the context to understand it.

A child too young to ask who does not know enough to ask needs community to help them participate.

Throughout the seder, there are opportunities for each attendee to take part to help make sure everyone has various ways to participate and learn from each other no matter our age or education.

In every case, we are to teach our children that we retell the story of Pesach in a specific way. We teach children, “This because of what God did for me when I came out of Mitzrayim.” We, both ourselves and our children, need to understand oppression in order to fight it.


haggadah Section: -- Four Children
Source: HaggadahOfOurOwn.com