Today is the first day of Passover. Technically, the holiday began last night with the celebration of the first Seder, or ceremonial Passover meal. Although the holiday lasts eight days (seven in Israel), the Seder is only observed on the first two days (one in Israel).

The Seder allows the attendees to discuss the story of the future Israelites’ exodus from Egypt (which likely did not happen in the form mentioned in the Old Testament as the population sizes are too large and there is no archaeological evidence of such a journey). One of the parables discussed during the Seder is the story of the Four Children (known in Orthodox circles as the Four Sons).

The text discusses how to explain the story of Passover to four distinct types of children. It isn’t as developed as modern personality typing, but it is a start given that it was likely written during medieval times. Each type of child is discussed along with the best way to convey the story to him or her.

The first child is the wise child, who wants to learn more about the holiday and its rituals. This child is praised and encouraged to pursue their studies.

The second child is the wicked child, who asks the host what the holiday means to the host’s community. They are seen to have disassociated themselves from the group and are told that they likely would not have been included in the exodus.

The third child is known as the naive or simple child, who simply wants to know what is going on. Finally, there is the fourth child, who does not know how to ask the appropriate questions.

I would argue that we should consider looking at these four children through an entirely different lens, the lens of curiosity. After all, children are very often curious about the world and it is the duty of the parents to educate them. Given this viewpoint, it is interesting to note how similar the children are. One child does in fact stand out as being at a potential disadvantage, but it is not the one you would think.

We will start with the wise child. This child is passionately curious about the ceremony and would love to earn more. Curiosity should always be encouraged, and the standard response to the child is to encourage his or her curiosity. So there is nothing unusual there.

We then come to the second child, the one traditionally deemed wicked, and discover something fascinating: the wicked child is asking exactly the same question that the wise child does. What does this holiday mean to you? This poses the question: why is one deemed wise and one deemed wicked?

The answer is simple and unfortunate: tribal politics. People within the community are given preference to people outside the community even if they both share a desire to learn and intense curiosity. To be fair, a coherent and tightly bound community can be beneficial for society as it will encourage social capital. However, one could also argue that the wise and wicked children both belong to the community of philosophers and thinkers.

The supposedly wicked child also could be trying to do something beneficial for the world as a whole. He or she may be from a different culture and truly wants to understand the customs of the people hosting the Seder. In essence, they are trying to do many of the things a budding polymath is known for: developing new ideas and tolerance by combining two different disciplines (in this case cultures) into one. In that sense, the dichotomy between the wise child and the wicked child is simply a case of the direction of exploration. The wise child searches for more water and expand the knowledge of the human race by digging deeper into an existing well. The wicked child is attempting to do the same thing but using new maps of the landscape to explore different dig sites rather than restricting themselves into one location.

One would be surprised how much friction in society is simply due to two cultures not understanding each other and therefore basing their beliefs on unfounded stereotypes. In this case, the wicked child is doing a service by doing the research to teach the culture they are from that the stereotypes should be discarded.

Traditional Seders restrict guests to people who are Jewish, which is unfortunate. Perhaps the ancients were wary of intermarriage or dilution of Jewish tradition. This is understandable when one is dealing with a minority religion and culture. If you lose 1 million Catholics to intermarriage, Catholicism will still survive. If you lose 1 million practicing Jews, on the other hand, the Jewish rituals could be threatened as all of the people observing them may stop doing so. One could argue, however, that merging cultures as the wicked child proposes just spreads Jewish tradition into more areas without reducing the total influence of the faith.

A drop of food coloring added to a cup of water may be easy to notice in the small cup. If that same drop is added to a bucket of water, on the other hand, it will not be as easy to detect. However, if one is lucky, one may be able to see a faint tinge of green in the water. And for all we know, several microorganisms may develop in the water which take advantage of the green dye. The bucket will now be able to develop features which it may not have been able to without the food coloring. Perhaps, after a long period of time, one may forget the food coloring was ever there and not realize that everything that has since emerged from the bucket could not have existed without that drop.

We now proceed to the third child, the simple child. This child asks: “What is this?”

This child also exhibits curiosity, just like the first two children. In this case, however, they study many different areas, not just anthropology. They can use the same question to refer to a dandelion, a volcano, a rainbow, the nature of God, or anything. They are not restricted to just the customs of the Seder or of the host’s community.

This naive child is wise in his or her own way: by not choosing one particular focus, such as the study of one small community among the thousands of those humanity offers, they are able to see things from a much higher perspective and engage in interdisciplinary studies. In this sense, the proverbial simple child is operating at even a higher level of abstraction than the supposedly wicked child.

Think of it. The person who is a simple child in one area is actually the polymath but the community they are born into may not realize it by looking at its one little piece of the puzzle. The wicked child has hints of being a polymath, but the simple child is the real deal.

Seen from the perspective of one particular social group, the strongly-focused wise child is best as it benefits that group the most. The second and third children, with their more extensive worldview, are not understood by that one group and are given more demeaning titles.

We then come to a cautionary tale: the fourth child. The one who is unable to ask a question.

This individual lacks curiosity and does not question what they have been taught. They lack critical thinking and simply believe whatever their instructors say. This can cause stereotypes to persist and allow misinformation to spread around the world. What’s more, even if this child is intellectually brilliant, he or she may not have the opportunity to expand humanity’s knowledge base simply because he cannot imagine striking off on his own.

Note that this type of child can also appear in well-meaning societies where he or she is raised in a bubble. Remember what I mentioned in an earlier post: a person who sees no evidence of unusual behavior will never even think of questioning the laws of reality as he or she knows them.

A person can be immensely curious and spend their life exploring an endless two-dimensional plane. This person will expand his or her society’s knowledge a great deal as the field of discoveries goes on forever. However, until they question their reality and consider the possibility that there is depth as well as length and width, they will never have a truly accurate vision of society.

Thus concludes the parable of the Four Children. One is good, one is bad, and two are relatively neutral. It likely never occurred to most people that the fourth child is the wicked one, the third child is the wise child, and the first two are the ones in the middle.

The photo was taken at Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia, near the lighthouse. I have no idea who these children are, but they looked adorable sitting together on that rock.