# The Four Sons | Learn about Moshiach | Moshiach Life

> How does your child learn best? Does she struggle with math but excel in art? Is he slow in reading but brilliant in social skills? Traditionally…

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# The Four Sons

![A Passover seder plate with matzah and a cup of wine on the table](https://moshiach.life/assets/archive/learn-about-moshiach--the-four-sons.webp)

How does your child learn best? Does she struggle with math but excel in art? Is he slow in reading but brilliant in social skills? Traditionally, teachers placed most of their emphasis on the “three R’s.” Many schools still rely on classroom and book-based teaching, much repetition, and pressured exams for reinforcement and review. Children who are successful with these learning styles and techniques are labeled as “bright.” Those who use less favored learning styles are often placed in lower classes, labeled with not-so-complimentary terms and sometimes lower quality teaching. Students, in turn, internalize these labels and come to see themselves as dumb and incapable.

Increasingly, educators are realizing that not all children learn best through traditional approaches. Some children are visual learners and need information presented through images and pictures. Others are musical and easily absorb information if it’s presented through song. Some are tactile learners and need to explore with their body, hands and sense of touch. Teachers are urged to incorporate various modalities in their lessons to help every type of learner succeed.

In Jewish tradition, we have been pioneering the multiple intelligences approach for a very long time. The main mitzvah of Pesach is to tell our children the story of the exodus from Egypt. Each parent has to use the learning style that is the best fit for their child to drive home the message.

The Seder is a smorgasbord of sensory experiences, with something for every type of learner. There’s talking, analyzing, debating. There’s even a bit of math when we count the number of plagues. There’s also singing, dancing and eating. The children *see* the seder plate and all the unique dishes we use only once a year. They *hear* the crunch of the matzah. They *feel* the soft cushions as they recline and experience freedom. They *smell* the bitterness of the *maror* and feel it sting their eyes. They *taste* the tears of the Jews enslaved in Egypt. We use every tool in our arsenal to bring home the message of the exodus.

We don’t only consider each child’s intellectual style, but their emotional and spiritual style as well. The seder is geared towards four sons: the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son and the son who does not know how to ask. To each son there is an individualized approach. We learn from the seder liturgy that we cannot expect the same thing of each learner and we need to tailor our message to meet their needs.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe highlighted that there is also a fifth son--the one who doesn’t show up at the seder at all. This is the child that we need to reach out to the most, to draw them close with love and bring them home to our seder table. This is symbolic of the final Redemption, when G-d will gather us all up one by one and bring us home, to Jerusalem.