This Passover Who are the Wise and the Wicked Sons?

This coming Saturday night, Jewish families will usher in Passover with the first seder where we retell the story of our ancestors’ journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom. The haggadah, which sets out the order of the seder, includes a description of four sons (the wise, the wicked, the simple and the one who doesn’t know how to ask) as a reminder to include our children in the conversation in the different ways that they interact with the world.

It is believed that the haggadah dates back to around the third century CE. In 1945, a booklet from the American League for a Free Palestine depicted the four sons in a new way: as a reflection of the various positions of American Jews in the battle for a Jewish state. It was part of a campaign to challenge elements of the Jewish community who opposed Zionism.

Titled There Were Four Sons—A Modern Version of the Famous Parable from the Haggadah, the booklet was illustrated by Arthur Szyk, who produced hundreds of drawings and cartoons for the Allied war effort, and then used his pen in support of social justice causes in the United States and the fight for the creation of the State of Israel.

Cover of a stamp album for Israel drawn by Arthur Szky in 1948 for his series on the Visual History of Nations. From the Herzl and Zionism Collection of David Matlow, Toronto (www.herzlcollection.com). Photograph by David Matlow.

The wicked son is depicted as a wealthy and assimilated Jew who is opposed to Zionism and does not care about the condition of the remnants of the Jews of Europe, saying they should return to the countries they came from. Szyk drew him to look like Joseph Proskauer, the president of the American Jewish Committee, who was an influential anti-Zionist.

The simple son is worried that putting attention on the European Jewish survivors and spreading stories about torture and death might give rise to antisemitism in America. Szyk drew him as a middle-class Jewish businessman wearing a fedora and chomping on a cigar.

The son who doesn’t know how to ask, drawn as a Jewish worker wearing a labourer’s cap, is uninformed, thinking that the Jews living in British mandatory Palestine are free to live, work and worship as they wish. This was not the case and the British imposed restrictions on Jews regarding immigration, land purchases and travel.

The Wise Son label drawn by Arthur Szyk (1945). From the Herzl and Zionism Collection of David Matlow, Toronto (wwww.herzlcollection.com). Photograph by David Matlow.

The wise son, depicted in this picture, is a Jewish-American soldier who asks “How can I help my fellow men of Europe and Palestine to survive and be free? How can I help to stamp out this ceaseless persecution and banish for good the hideous spectre of antisemitism?” The answer is a Jewish state.

At this tumultuous time for Israel and the Jewish people around the world, who are the four sons (or children) of today?  Which one are you?

This article first appeared in the Canadian Jewish News (www.thecjn.ca) as part of the weekly Treasure Trove, a series which now includes more than 200 treasures.