מה נשתנה

Four Questions of Passover

-  Noah Lehava

 

Twice daily the Torah tells us to mention the Exodus from Egypt. By reciting “I am the L-rd your G-d, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt…” (Numbers 15:41), we fulfill this. But how is this daily recitation different from reciting this on the Seder night?

A verse in the Exodus explains this, “And it shall be when you son will ask you, ‘What is this?’ you shall say to him, ‘With a strong hand G-d removed us from Egypt…” (Exodus 13:14). This verse is meant to show that in the Seder children are encouraged to ask questions and receive answers. This way they can learn as much as possible about the story of Exodus.

 During the Seder it is tradition that the youngest child will ask the Four Questions. But usually it is unclear why we ask THESE four questions. We will see that these questions have great meaning behind them.

The first question we ask is, “Why is this night different from all other nights? All other nights we eat either bread or matzah, this night only matzah?” The Haggadah gives us the answer that the Jews were in such a hurry to leave Egypt that there was no time to let the bread rise. They believed that G-d would provide for them. However, Rabbi A.J. Twerski gives us another point of view as to why we eat matzah. From the moment matzah is made, it is controlled and managed, symbolizing that nothing is unmanaged by G-d and that He controls everything except for “human behavior”. This is very significant in the story of Exodus; it shows how the Jews were in a rush and were terrified of leaving Egypt. It symbolizes their determination to leave the land where they were made slaves and they were longing for freedom.

The second question also shows the suffering the Jews faced. “Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables, but on this night we eat marror (bitter herbs)?” It says in the Haggadah that the reason we eat bitter herbs is to remember the bitterness of the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt.

Why we ask the third question, “Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip even once, but on this night we dip twice?” is the most unusual of all. There is no explanation in the Haggadah for this question except that it is asked to encourage children to ask questions. Rabbi AJ Twerski says that this relates to the Exodus in the way that the slaves in Egypt were not allowed to ask questions and that now with our freedom “we assert our right to ask questions”. Although there is no explanation in the Haggadah, this is still a significant question in showing us the difference between the repression of Egypt and the freedom that the Exodus represents.

The last question, “Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?” refers to one’s desire to take care of possessions. On this night, instead of only taking care of possessions,  we take care of ourselves, demonstrating that, as opposed to slaves, free people  deserve to be treated well, to be treated as human beings and not simple as possessions.

            All these questions are critical to the understanding and remembrance of the enslavement of our ancestors. They remind us of the suffering and pain they went through thousands of years ago. These questions are meant to make us ask questions and get answers. This encourages us to delve deeper into Judaism and find out everything we can about our history and beliefs.   

 

 

1. http://www.holidays.net/passover/questions.html

2. http://akhlah.com/holidays/pesach/4questions.asp

3. Rabbi AJ Twerski, http://www.judaism.com/passover/twerski.asp