The Four "Questions"

There are several surprising things about this passage.

First, why does the child wait to ask his father questions until the pouring of second cup of wine? Why not ask the questions upon pouring the first cup of wine? If you say the reason is that he has not witnessed any differences until now, hasn’t he already watched as we dipped the karpas [in salt water]? In any case, even after the second cup is poured, he has not yet witnessed the eating of the matzah or the maror.

Also the order of the statements in Mah Nishtanah is not in the correct order: dipping should have come first, then the eating of the matzah and the maror. And yet in the Mishnah in Pesachim it is ordered the other way around!

Finally, the statement which follows the Mah Nishtanah, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt…” is an appropriate answer to the final question (leaning) but not to the other questions in the Mah Nishtanah.

Why does this passage begin with mah (How is this night different) and not lama (Why is this night different)?

In a number of places, the word lama implies a negative response, as in, “Why (lama) should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that God delivered them from Egypt,’” “Why did you bring harm upon this people,” and, “Why should the nations say....” In each of these cases, the question implies a rhetorical question to which there is a negative answer.

The word mah on the other hand implies that the question wants an explanation for the practice....Three of the four children begin their question with the word mah: “What are these statutes,” “What is the reason for this service,” and “What is this.” Therefore, the author of the Haggadah begins the four questions with the word mah as well.

There are many questions raised by this passage. First, why don’t we ask about the other things which are different on this night, such as the four cups of wine? The fact that the children aren’t yet aware that there are other cups of wine is not an answer to this question; they also don’t know that we are going to dip twice during the Seder! All they really know about are the things that are found on the Seder plate. The Talmud says that we recite the Mah Nishtanah when we pour the second cup of wine. If that is so, then the child should have asked, “Why are we pouring a second cup of wine?” It seems that the questions are related to eating the Passover meal. We ask them when we pour the second cup of wine because drinking the wine increases one’s appetite and one’s desire for matzah. When the child sees the pouring of the wine, he begins to wonder about this meal and how different it is.

The Talmud then adds: "If the son is knowledgeable, he should ask his father; if not, the wife should ask her husband; if she is unable to do so, let him ask himself. If two scholars who know the laws of Passover (are celebrating Seder together), they should ask one another: Mah Nishtanah…"

The essence of the Mah Nishtana is to inquire into why we perform contradictory customs on this night.

...The Haggadah follows the Mah Nishtanah with Avadim Hayyinu, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt but the Lord our God took us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm." One would have expected an explanation for each of the differences between Passover night and the rest of the year. His explanation...is that these four differences are simply pointing to the larger theme of the Seder: the contrast between slavery and subjugation in Egypt and the freedom and liberation of the Exodus. This night is different because it calls our attention to the contrast between these two states of being....

...One could argue that Mah Nishtanah is not a question, or a set of questions, at all but a statement. Instead of “How is this night different from all other nights?” one could translate it, "How different is this night from all other nights!" The Mishnah is suggesting that if the child cannot ask for himself, then one should prompt him by pointing out the differences and saying to him saying, Mah Nishtanah, “How different is this night!” In that case we don’t need an answer to the questions at all!

OK, so the four questions are not really questions. What exactly are they? And if the purpose of the Haggadah is to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, why do I need to explain why our customs are different on this night from all other nights? Rabbi Lorberbaum explains that at the heart of the Seder is an attempt to understand our way of life. We begin the telling not in the past but right here at the Seder Table, in the present, exploring the significance of our way of life. This will lead us to the past and help us understand who we are today.

The questions in the Mah Nishtana, then, highlight the importance of the way we remember the Exodus today as Jews and how we tell the story through the commandments, customs and practices both divine and rabbinic.

The whole point of the telling of the story of the Exodus (“And you shall tell it to your child on that day, ‘It is because of this which God did for me when I went forth from Egypt.’”) is not merely the telling of the story but the explanation of the commandments associated with the Exodus from Egypt. This is implied in Exodus by the words "Ba’avur zeh/It is because of this” referring to the matzah and maror. Discussing the commandments takes place in a dialogue with others, through questions and answers, and inquiry and discussion.

Why do the four questions single out these particular differences in the Seder and not others such as the four cups of wine?

The four statements neatly divide into two groups the first two statements about matzah and maror have to do with those commandments associated with Passover that are divine commandments taken from the Torah, and the second two statements have to do with rabbinic commandments which appear at the beginning of the Seder. They are dipping and leaning. In this way, the Mah Nishtana reminds us that we must be exacting in observing and explaining both the commandments whose source is in the Torah and those which are derived from Rabbinic literature.