Big Tent Judaism

The Fifth Son

Cross-posted on The Examiner

Each year at the Passover Seder, we speak about four sons (now four children). In some respects, the story of the Exodus that is retold at the Seder is a response to these children and the questions they ask. Some scholars argue that these children are not four distinct people. Rather, they are four attributes that are part of the complex personality of every human being. Nevertheless, these four children, including the so-called “evil one,” are sitting around the table. They may be argumentative. They may be distanced from us. They may be contrary. They may even be rude. But they are sitting around the table. They are contributing to the growing historical memory of the Jewish people by being part of it. And these children are there, regardless of their age—because we have invited them to join us. And they have agreed to do so.

But what about the children who are not sitting around our table, the ones who may refuse to do so, primarily because we have not welcomed them—with their non-Jewish partners—to join us? Ironically, the very time of the year when we realize what it is to be strangers in a foreign land, what it is to be shackled to a past, we hesitate far too often to invite those “strangers” who have become our friends, who have become our family members, to join us.

When the ancient Israelites left Egypt, there were many who joined them along their journey to freedom. During Passover this year, let’s make an effort to welcome in “all those who are hungry” for what the Jewish family and the Jewish community has to offer.

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