In the Haggadah, what Hebrew term refers to the wicked son?

The story behind the answer

In the Haggadah, the Hebrew term for the wicked son is Rasha.

The Four Sons section presents four types of children and pairs each with a different question about Passover: the Chacham, or wise son; the Rasha, or wicked son; the Tam, or simple son; and the child who does not know how to ask. Their framework comes from rabbinic interpretation of four Torah passages about teaching the Exodus story.

The Rasha asks, “What is this service to you?” The traditional Haggadah interprets “to you” as excluding himself from the community, so the response emphasizes that the Exodus was personally meaningful to those who identify with it. This is why Rasha is the canonical answer, rather than one of the other three labels.

The terms are sometimes translated as “wicked,” “simple,” and “wise,” but Rasha is the Hebrew transliteration. Modern Haggadot may use “children” instead of “sons,” and some add a fifth child, but the traditional four-part classification remains the standard Passover framework.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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