On March 30, 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan stepped out of the Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C. when three shots were suddenly fired at him. To his great fortune, the shooter did not succeed in his assassination attempt, but the shots reverberated across America and the whole world.

A few days later, at a farbrengen in honour of the 11th of Nissan, his birthday, the Lubavitcher Rebbe addressed the shooting incident. First, he expressed wishes for a speedy recovery to President Reagan. The Rebbe then took note of the identity of the shooter: John Hinckley, Jr., son of one of America’s wealthiest men, businessman John Warnock Hinckley.

The Rebbe said that it’s become acceptable to claim that the root cause of such actions among the young up-and-coming generation is that they are poor, and the fact that they are poor causes them to be bitter, stoking in them a feeling of revenge—resulting in them carrying out criminal acts. The conventional wisdom, the Rebbe pointed out, is that kids from wealthier families are the ones who go to college, and becomes contributors to society, while the criminals come from beleaguered neighbourhoods and destroy society.

But what happened with President Reagan, the Rebbe noted, is that a “spoiled” child, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was precisely the one who tried to assassinate the leader of the free world.

This wasn’t the only time in history in which troubles came specifically from the ranks of the affluent. On September 11, all the terrorists were sophisticated young men who spoke English, had graduated from expensive colleges and lived in Western countries. This pattern has continued with the radicalisation of young people travelling to Syria and other conflicts.

Judaism believes that poverty does not produce crime—on the contrary, the Talmud says, “Watch out for children of the poor, for from them comes forth Torah.” In other words, the Talmud tells us that it is specifically those who come from a background of poverty who try harder to attain impressive achievements.

We find this same concept in the Tanach. At the end of King David’s life, when he was already old and not well, his son Adoniya decided to rebel against him and declare himself king. We read in the Book of Kings that “his father had not rebuked him all his days saying, ‘Why have you done so?” Adoniya’s father King David had never caused him to feel down. He grew up like a spoiled prince who got everything he wanted. He never heard the word “no.” And so he thought that he had everything coming to him—so it’s no wonder that he did what he did.

When we study the story of the Exodus from Egypt, we discover something strange. Seemingly, Moses should have prepped the people about the desert before they left. Moses himself had been in the desert already. He had met with G-d at the Burning Bush in the desert and knew what an unforgiving environment it was.

Instead, Moses spoke to the Jewish people about educating their children about the Exodus. “And when you come into the Land… and when your sons say to you, ‘What is this service for you?’, you shall say, ‘It is the Passover offering for G-d.’” No less than three times in Parshat Bo does Moses urge the Jewish Nation about educating their children.

Perhaps, as long as the Jewish Nation was in Egypt, poor and in slavery, Moses did not worry about Jewish kids going off on the wrong path—because it is specifically “from children of the poor comes forth Torah.” Poor kids don’t have the privileges of being spoiled—if they get caught up with breaking the law, no one’s going to come save them. Their parents have no connections and no money to hire good lawyers.

But when the Jewish people would come to “a land flowing with milk and honey” where life is good and the kids can grow up in the “Goldene Medina,” Moses was worried that the spoiled kids who’d grow up in the Land of Israel would eventually start rebelling against their parents.

So Moses encouraged the Jewish people. You should know, he told them, the great challenge of the generation that will enter the Land will not be the economy or national security. Instead, the greatest challenge will be education.

Passover is the ultimate family festival. As we spend time together, it is the perfect time to reflect on our values and the education we want to pass on to our children.