Although the Four Sons of the Haggadah differ from one another, all are present at the Seder; in our generation, however, there is also a fifth son who knows nothing of the Seder or of a life of Torah and Mitzvoth. This resulted from the mistaken belief that assimilation would ensure survival and freedom, when in truth it produces servitude and the loss of identity. No Jew may be abandoned: through Ahavas Yisroel and an uncompromised, complete Judaism, even the absent child can be brought back and ultimately raised to the level of the Wise Son.

Just as each organ serves the entire body by preserving and performing its distinctive function, the Jewish people and the individual Jew cannot surrender their unique purpose in order to resemble their surroundings. Jewish history shows that neither power, statehood, language, nor secular culture preserved us, but Torah and Mitzvoth. The distinctiveness and independence of a Torah life are therefore not a weakness but our strength, enabling us to fulfill our mission toward humanity as a whole.