Questioning the Questions : Why Ma Nishtana?

Dani Roth

At the start at Maggid, right after filling the 2nd cup of wine, the first thing said is Ma Nishtana. Ma Nishtana has no mention of the events of Yetzias Mitzrayim, so why should it be included in Maggid? How does this fit in with the mitzvah of “Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim”? Is it different than the mitzvah of “Vihiggadita Levincha”? 

Gemara Pesachim 116a discusses the recital of Ma Nishtana. The Mishna says: 

The attendants poured the second cup for the leader of the seder, and here the son asks his father the questions about the differences between Passover night and a regular night. And if the son does not have the intelligence to ask questions on his own, his father teaches him the questions.

The Gemara then comments on this: 

The Sages taught: If his son is wise and knows how to inquire, his son asks him. And if he is not wise, his wife asks him. And if even his wife is not capable of asking or if he has no wife, he asks himself. And even if two Torah scholars who know the halakhot of Passover are sitting together and there is no one else present to pose the questions, they ask each other.

The Mishna says that if the son can’t ask the Ma Nishtana, then it is the father’s job to teach him the questions one should ask. It seems from here that the father would fulfill the Chiyuv to recite the Ma Nishtana. But the Gemara says if the son is not intelligent enough to ask, the wife asks instead. It seems contradictory, why would the father’s recital of the Ma Nishtana in the capacity of teaching fail to fulfill the Chiyuv?

The answer is that the Mishna and the Gemara are talking about two different “Kiyummim” of the Chiyuv Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim. One means of being Mikayame Supur is Vihiggadita Levincha, teaching your sons so that the story will be passed down to the next generation, which the Mishna addresses. The father has to make the son recognize the distinctions of the night, even if the son doesn’t ask. The Gemara, however, is dealing with the obligation of the “format” of Sipur, a different Kiyyum. The best way to do Sipur is through a question-answer format in a dialogue. This is why the Gemara states that the wife must ask if the son cannot partake in a question-answer format. The father teaching the son, without the son initiating the question, is lacking dialogue. This is why both the Mishna and Gemara are needed.

According to Rabbi Yisroel Chait, the best format is teaching a son, where there is dialogue format and transference of knowledge to the son, fulfilling “Vihiggadita Levincha”. The next best format is teaching your wife, where there's no “Vihiggadita Levincha”, but there's transference of knowledge and dialogue. The third level is between two Chachamim, where there's no transference of knowledge, but you have dialogue. And the lowest level is where there is no real dialogue, but you have a dialogue format when one is alone and asks himself.

On further explaining the role of Ma Nishntana, the Gemara later mentions Rav Nachman: 

Rav Naḥman said to his servant, Daru: “With regard to a slave who is freed by his master, who gives him gold and silver, what should the slave say to him?” Daru said to him: “He must thank and praise his master.” He said to him: “You have exempted us from reciting the questions of: Why is this night different”. Rav Naḥman immediately began to recite: ‘“We were slaves.”

This further proves that the function of Ma Nishtana is to render Sipur (“Avaddim Hayinu”) in the framework of dialogue, and that Sipur is a “response”. After Daru’s answer that a slave should thank his master, Rav Nachman goes straight to Avadim Hayinnu, making it not just a monologue, but a part of a dialogue. But without Daru saying anything, Rav Nachman commencing with Avaddim Hayinu would not be a “response.”  

The reason for the dialogue format is because knowledge is better received when it is a response, because a response satisfies curious minds already engaged in the discussion. Telling a friend a new idea wont impact him as much as if that idea was part of a discussion. This is important for Sipur as this mitzvah is all about transmitting knowledge.

This is the reason Ma Nishtana comes at the start of Maggid. It starts the conversation which Avadim Hayinnu responds to, creating a dialogue format that best engages the son and best fulfills Sipur.