Introduction This mishnah contains the heart of the commandment to tell the story of the Exodus, including the so-called “four questions” or “Mah Nishtanah” and the midrash. These are all still part of the seder ritual to this day. In this mishnah I have deviated from my normal practice of using the version contained in printed versions of the text because it is so radically different from the original version. The “four questions” developed over time and later copyists revised the original “questions” of the mishnah with those familiar to them. If you wish to see the “four questions” as they are recited today, you can check any standard Haggadah and they can easily be found on line. Cited and explained below is the “Mah Nishtanah” as found in early mishnaic manuscripts.
They mixed him a second cup, and here the son questions his father. The significance of the moment is marked by the pouring of the second cup. The occasion is the beginning of the telling of the story of the Exodus, which begins with a question. The reason that the story begins with a question is probably in allusion to a few verses in the Torah in which a son asks his father the meaning of the rituals observed (see Exodus 12:26, 13:14, and Deuteronomy 6:20-21).
If the son lacks the intelligence to ask, his father instructs him: On all other nights we dip once, on this night we dip twice? On all other nights we eat hametz or matzah, on this night only matzah. On all other nights we eat roasted, stewed or boiled meat, on this night only roasted. The son is supposed to freely form his own question. The mishnah does not provide him with a list of questions which he must ask. I repeat, the “Mah Nishtanah” which we will examine below is not a list of questions which a child must ask but originally was a list of prompts, statements which the father would make to spur a kid who has not asked a question into doing so. I am not telling you this to ruin your Pesah celebration. (Please believe me.) You should continue with the lovely practice of the youngest child reciting the Mah Nishtanah, just as we do in our house. Just know that things used to be done slightly differently. Also, it might be a good idea to get the children genuinely thinking about the content of what we are saying and not just focused on singing the song.
He begins with shame and concludes with praise; and expounds from “A wandering Aramean was my father” (Deuteronomy 6:20-25) until he completes the whole section. We now get to the list of statements (after my previous comment I won’t call them questions). You should immediately note that there are only three, and only one of them is the same as the one we still recite today (#2). I shall explain each statement briefly. They are recited in the order in which they are done during the seder. 1) Dipping was a normal part of every meal. However, it was normally done at one part of the meal and therefore, the second dipping which was done with the haroset and bitter herbs was unusual. 2) This question has remained to this day and should not need any explanation. 3) As we learned in the above chapters, the pesah could only be eaten roasted. Therefore, the statement notes that on other nights the meat could be cooked in any way while tonight it can only be roasted. The most interesting thing about this section is that it seems that people were still eating a pesah-like lamb after the destruction of the Temple. Indeed, there is evidence that some Jews continued to eat roasted meat after the destruction, and this mishnah fits with those practices.
The main part of the seder is telling the story of the Exodus. The mishnah notes two elements to this. The first is telling the story by beginning with “disgrace and concluding with praise.” In the Talmud they debate whether the disgrace is the physical slavery in Egypt or the spiritual degradation of our idol-worshipping forefathers. The praise is the praise to God for taking us out of Egypt. The second element is an extended midrash (expounding) on Deuteronomy 6:20-25. It is not entirely clear why these verses and not others were chosen but in my opinion the likeliest answer is that they are brief yet comprehensive. The midrashist connects these few verses with the original story in Exodus and adds his own commentary as well. In my translation I have left the words “Arami oved avi” untranslated because they can be translated either as “My forefather was a wandering Aramean”, in which case the phrase refers to Jacob or “An Aramean tried to kill my forefather” in which it is Lavan to whom the verse refers. Our Haggadot understand it the second way.