Midway through the eight-day Passover festival, dear friends invited my wife, myself and a few others to their home for a simplified Passover Seder. They have done so for years, and we always enjoy the opportunity for a meaningful dinner together.

As usual, we were an eclectic group — Jewish, Christian, Agnostic — each person with their own mode of involvement in the powerful story of the long-ago Exodus event and of ongoing liberation presented in the Passover Haggadah (order of service). Over the years I’ve been particularly attracted to the portion of the service in which we hear of four sons — one wise, one contrary, one simple and one who does not know how to ask questions.

The wise son asks, “What is the meaning of the laws which God has commanded to us? I want to know the meaning of all these rules,” according to Ken Royal and Lauren Royal’s “The New American Haggadah.” The wise son’s question indicates his deep commitment to his faith and its traditions.