Each year at the Seder, we meet the Four Children: the wise, the rebellious, the simple, and the one who doesn’t know how to ask. My favorite teaching — and one that rings truer each year — is that there aren’t four different people. They’re all of us.

There are days I feel wise. Moments I push back. Times when I ask a single question — and times I don’t even know where to begin. Honestly, my kids can cycle through all four in a single meal. So why are we so quick to label?

The real lesson isn’t about sorting people into categories — it’s about recognizing that we’re each full of questions, emotions, and contradictions. That’s what makes the Seder so meaningful.

When I think back to Seders growing up, I don’t remember all the answers. But I remember how I felt. I remember the stories — my grandparents sharing how our family came to America, the stories my parents and cousins talked about our family, the laughter around a crowded table where everyone was welcome. I remember feeling connected — like I was part of something bigger.

That’s the heart of the Seder: not getting every answer right but telling our story — with honesty, emotion, and curiosity.

And that’s also the heart of Zionism — the belief that the Jewish people have the right and responsibility to shape our future with sovereignty in our ancestral homeland, to carry our story forward, alive and evolving. Zionism doesn’t mean we always agree or always know the way forward. But it gives us the power — and the burden — to ask hard questions, to make real choices, and to build something lasting. Zionism means we keep building, we keep questioning, and we keep showing up for one another.

That’s what my parents gave me, what my teacher at Muss, Allan Odess, gave me, and what Muss has done for over 50 years — helping young Jews find their place in the Jewish story, in Israel, and in the world.

So, this Passover, let’s share our stories — personal stories, the story of Israel, the story of our people. Let’s ask meaningful questions, listen deeply to one another, and remember how we feel when we sit together at the Seder table — because on Passover, we are one people, telling one evolving story, together.

Rabbi Greg at Muss, lower right, wearing the Phillies cap.