Ma Nishtana

“Ma nishtana ...” Excerpt from the Passover Haggadah, 1935, illustration by Arthur Szyk (1894–1951). The illustration shows the stylized letter מִ. In the upper left corner there is the letter ה (which results in the first word “Ma” ( German  'was' )), followed on the left by the further Hebrew text of the four questions. In the middle sits an elderly, bearded man who listens to the boy quoting the four questions. In the upper right corner there is a red snake, ready to attack. It symbolizes the danger posed by the National Socialists in 1935. In the upper left part a vulture is shown, which symbolizes the Pharaoh. In the large stylized letter מִ there are three small images: Moses as a child in a reed basket, the fleeing Israelites and the mounted Egyptian persecutors who perish in the Red Sea.

During the festive dinner ( Seder , Hebrew סדר) On the eve of the Jewish Passover feast one of the most famous songs of which is Haggada ( Hebrew הגדה) sung. The youngest member at the table asks “the four questions” beginning with the words “Ma nishtana ...” ( Hebrew מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה, German  "What makes a difference ..." ). The text is part of the Maggid ( Hebrew מגיד), the story of the Exodus, the departure from Egypt. The four questions are announced by the youngest member:

טאטע, איך וועל בא דיר ְפרעגן פיר קשיות - ( Yiddish Tate, I want ba dir fregn fir kashijes - Dad, I want to ask you four questions.)

Text of the four questions

German	Transliteration	Hebrew
What makes this night different from all other nights?	Ma nishtana haLajla hase mikol haLejlot?	מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה, הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה מִכָּל הַלֵּילוֹת
On all other nights we eat leavened and unleavened - only unleavened that night?	Shebechol haLejlot anu ochlin Chamez uMazah, haLajlah haseh kulo Mazah.	שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָנוּ אוֹכְלִין חָמֵץ וּמַצָּה הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, כֻּלּוֹ מַצָּה
On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs - only bitter herbs that night?	Shebechol haLejlot anu ochlin Sh'ar Jerakoth, haLajlah haseh Maror.	שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָנוּ אוֹכְלִין שְׁאָר יְרָקוֹת הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, מָרוֹר
On all other nights we don't have to drunk, not even once - twice that night?	Shebechol haLejlot ejn anu matbilin afilu p'am agate, haLajlah haseh shtej F'amim.	שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אֵין אָנוּ מַטְבִּילִין אֲפִילוּ פַּעַם אֶחָת הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, שְׁתֵּי פְעָמִים
On all other nights we eat sitting or leaning - all leaning on that night? "	Shebechol haLejlot anu ochlin bejn yoschwin uwejn mesubin, haLajlah haseh kulanu mesubin.	שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָנוּ אוֹכְלִין בֵּין יוֹשְׁבִין וּבֵין מְסֻבִּין הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, כֻּלָּנוּ מְסֻבִּין

טאטע, איך האב בא דיר געפרעגט פיר קשיות, יעצט גיב מיר אן ענטפער - ( Yiddish Tate, I lifted ba you excited fir kashijes, now give me distance - Dad, I asked you four questions, now give me an answer.)

melody

The Russian composer Ephraim Avilea , who emigrated to the Mandate Palestine , wrote an oratorio in 1936 entitled Hag HaHerut ( Hebrew חַג הַחרות"Festival of Freedom"), one of the three other names for Passover, next to Hag HaMatzot ( Hebrew חַג הַמצות), the festival of unleavened bread, and Hag HaAviv ( Hebrew חַג הַאביב), the Spring Festival. Its composition was quickly adopted and has since been considered the traditional melody of ma nishtana.

background

On the feast of Passover, Jews commemorate the Exodus , the departure from Egypt . Passing on the story of the Exodus from parents to child is essential. The best way to get kids' attention is to stimulate their natural curiosity. The Seder should therefore provoke with the questions and help to celebrate and at the same time explain the transition from slavery to freedom. Young children cannot fully understand the historical facts and intellectual problems explored at Passover. However, by entrusting them to ask the questions, they should be included in order to personally experience the responsibilities of freedom, for slaves were not allowed to ask questions.

A slave must not have an independent will, no opinion of his own and must not question authorities or even express his own thoughts. Only when it was free was the Jewish nation given the opportunity to ask questions as well as to question things. One purpose of the Passover, therefore, is to be freed from one's inner compulsions. Only by researching Judaism , asking questions and searching for more, can one reach a higher spiritual level. Asking the four questions symbolizes this search for meaning.

The custom of asking the four questions dates back to the time of the Mishnah ( Hebrew מִשְׁנָה, "Repetition"), the first larger version of the oral Torah , has a reference to earlier times. In the time of the Second Temple (from the 6th century BC) it was customary to ask the four questions at a relatively late stage in the Seder. After the children were asleep late at night, it was decided to have the questions asked earlier in the evening.

The questions reflect the main themes of Pesach, namely the hasty flight from Egypt, the bitterness of Hebrew life in Egypt before the Exodus and the Passover offering, which can only be consumed roasted.

The third question, which has become obsolete since the destruction of the Second Temple, has been replaced by another: Originally the question was: "Why do we eat while lying down?" This referred to the Roman custom of eating lying down at banquets, which was a sign of free man.

This formulation does not appear in the Talmud, but in the Siddur of Saadia Gaon and the Mishne Torah of Moses Maimonides .

During the Geonim period, the order of the questions changed from the version in the Babylonian Talmud. The first question relates to the double immersion, the second to the matza and the third question to the leaning position. This sequence was adopted by the Eastern and Sephardic Jews; the Ashkenazim kept the Talmudic version. In the Sephardic and Oriental communities, the child asks questions in the respective vernacular (Arabic, Persian). In Yemeni communities, the child who asks the questions is rewarded with a candy.

As Salcia Landmann reports in her writings on the Jewish joke, it is said to have been customary in the past to jokingly congratulate a couple on their wedding night with the words "Ma nishtana" who have finally married after living together for a long time.

Web links

Commons : Ma Nishtana  - collection of images and audio files

• Ma Nishtana on YouTube .
• Yosef Marcus, The Four Questions Explained , Chabad.org (English). Retrieved April 10, 2019.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Irvin Ungar: Arthur Szyk: Soldier of Art. Images against National Socialism and Terror. Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum, 2008, pp. 20–23. ISBN 978-3-86102-151-3 .
2. ↑ Third part of a video series on the Seder Pesach , HaGalil. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
3. ↑ En quoi cette nuit est-elle différente des autres nuits? , Boker Tov Yerushalayim, March 30, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
4. ↑ Dovid Zaklikowski, Why Ask the Four Questions on Passover? , Chabad.org (English). Retrieved April 10, 2019.
5. ^ Cyrus Adler, Lewis Naphtali Dembitz, Jewish Encyclopedia - Seder , Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1906. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
6. ^ S. Weiss, Chazzanut - Mah Nishtanah (Hebrew). Retrieved April 11, 2019.
7. ^ Salcia Landmann: The Jewish joke . Walter-Verlag, p. 393, 1960.