2. Illustration from haggadah, Lola's "The Four Sons," 1928.

2. Illustration from haggadah, Lola's "The Four Sons," 1928.

From resource kit: Isaac Bashevis Singer's "Gimpel the Fool"

There is a long tradition of illustrated Passover haggadot that visually represent the four sons described in the haggadah text: one wise, one evil, one simple (תם, “tam”), and one “who knows not how to ask.” This particular illustration of the Four Sons comes from a 1928 American edition of the haggadah printed in Hebrew and Yiddish.

Suggested activity: Tell the students how each of the four sons are described in the hagode, and ask them to match each description to one of these illustrations. What is simplicity contrasted to, and how does this help us to understand what it means that Gimpel is "simple"?

Sources: Lola, "Di fir zin fun der hagode ("The Four Sons of the Hagode"), in J. D. Eisenstein, Hagada (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1928). Retrieved from the Yiddish Book Center's Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library, <https://archive.org/details/nybc204132>, accessed March 1, 2016.

The text of this section of the haggadah in Hebrew and English is available from sefaria.org.