 The simple child asks, in the words of “What is this?” The Mekhilta taught that we respond simply with the words of “By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.” The wicked child asks, in the words of “What do "you" mean by this service?” The Mekhilta taught that because wicked children exclude themselves, we should also exclude this child in answering and say, in the words of “It is because of what the Lord did for "me" when I came forth out of Egypt” — for me but not for you; had you been there, you would not have been saved.As for the child who does not know how to ask, the Mekhilta taught that we take the initiative, as says (without having reported that the child asked), “You shall tell your child on that day.”

A Midrash expounded on why Israel was, in the words of like "a leafy olive tree.