Ma Nishtana (Hebrew: מה נשתנה, "Why is tonight different from all other nights?" The phrase appears at the beginning of each line of The Four Questions, traditionally asked via song by the youngest capable child attending Passover Seder.
Contents
The questions are included in the haggadah as part of the Maggid (מגיד) section.
Origins
The questions originate in the Mishna, Pesachim 10:4, but are quoted differently in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. The Jerusalem Talmud only records three questions; why foods are dipped twice as opposed to once, why matzah is eaten, and why the meat sacrifice is eaten exclusively roasted. (The last question is a reference to the paschal sacrifice which was fire-roasted). The Babylonian Talmud quotes four questions; why matza is eaten, why maror is eaten, why meat is eaten exclusively roasted, and why food is dipped twice. The version in the Jerusalem Talmud is also the one most commonly found in manuscripts. As the paschal sacrifice was not eaten after the destruction of the temple, the question about the meat was dropped. The Rambam and Saadia Gaon both add a new question to the liturgy to replace it: "why do we recline on this night?" Ultimately, the question of reclining was maintained, in part to create a parallelism between the number of questions and the other occurrences of the number four in the hagaddah.
Contemporary tunes
Traditionally, Ma Nishtana is recited in the chant form called the major lern-steiger ("study mode" - a chant used for reciting lessons from the Talmud). One of the current tunes widely used for the Ma Nishtana was written by Ephraim Abileah in 1936 as part of his oratorio "Chag Ha-Cherut".
Alternate texts
The custom of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community follows the Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Yemenite traditions in placing the order of the four questions as follows: 1. Dipping the food 2. Eating matzah 3. Eating bitter herbs 4. Reclining.
Contemporary use
The four questions are traditionally asked by the youngest person at the table that is able to do so. Much of the seder is designed to fulfill the biblical obligation to tell the story to one's children, and many of the customs that have developed around the Four Questions are designed to pique a child's curiosity about what is happening in order to hold their attention.