The Mah Nishtanah, or Four Questions, is one of the most beloved traditions of our Passover seder night. Hearing our youngest participants recite these ancient words in Hebrew or in English is a wonderful thing. But, there is so much more going on below the surface that you likely have never been taught.
First off, the Four Questions are not really questions at all, but what are called in Hebrew Kushiot, or problems. Contained in the Talmud, in the tenth chapter of Pasechim, the rabbis offer five potential conversation starters (the one on Temple sacrifice was eliminated in later years). The seder is meant to function like a modern escape room, presenting various trapdoors and mathematical puzzles, intended to open up conversation about the real nature of slavery and freedom and how the experience of the Ancient Israelites still applies to us today. The rabbis were expert educators, understanding that learning occurs best in an environment of curiosity and wonder.
Second, the youngest child is not the only one intended to ask the Four Questions, we all are. As it says later in the Haggadah, “even if we were all wise, all people if understanding, all elders, all learned in Torah, we still would be obligated to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.” In this way the youngest child is simply the designated question asker, meant to give permission to all of us ask our own questions.
Lastly, you may be wondering why several of the questions themselves are so confusing. For example, what does it mean that the only vegetable used should be bitter herbs, and what does it mean about dipping twice? These aren’t things that occur at my seder table. The answer is that customs change. What was true two thousand years ago is not true today. What is true is that all of us, no matter how wealthy or how privileged, still feel enslaved, and all of us no matter how poor or how trapped, can feel free at moments in our life. This was true for ancestors and is still true for us today. A better translation of Mah Nishtanah should be perhaps, “what has changed?”
As we look around our table this year we are forced to recognize our lives are different, as is our world. If we can do this, we will have achieved the true goal of the questions themselves, and unlocked the true purpose of Passover.
A zissen Pesach, healthy, happy and full of joy,
Rabbi Alex