A Post-Pesach Thought from Rabbi Chaim Ingram OAM
Presently the British Royal Family is undergoing one of its periodic mini-crises. Amid the uncomfortable spotlight resting upon the relationship between the Sussexes and the other senior Royals, another worst-kept royal secret was recently revealed in the popular press, namely that the Queen is “constantly exasperated” and “puzzled” by the behaviour of her first-born son, Prince Charles, heir apparent.
It got me thinking:
Do parents expect more from their firstborns than their other children?
I believe they do. And I wonder what the universe’s First Parent feels about His firstborn child,
A New Essay by Rabbi Chaim Ingram OAM
The Fifth Child
In recent years, it has been customary to speak at the Pesach Seder of a “fifth child” in addition to the four – wise, wayward, simple and silent – which the Hagada depicts. This fifth child is usually identified as the one who isn’t there because s/he has opted out of the Jewish community and/or Jewish life. But there may be other reasons why s/he isn’t there. S/he may be unwell, incapacitated, hospitalised.
Or – as I say at my
seder often – s/he may be an unsung hero of our people on emergency patrol duty for the IDF or on nursing roster in the ICU ward at Sha’are Zedek or a senior Mossad agent engaged in a life-or-death operation that nobody knows about. These “fifth children” deserve our acknowledgement, our prayers, our acclaim.