{"id":5714,"date":"2011-03-15T04:00:53","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T02:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=5714"},"modified":"2021-03-22T12:31:30","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T10:31:30","slug":"04-15-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-15-04\/","title":{"rendered":"04.\u00a0The Text of \u201c<strong>Ma Nishtana<\/strong>\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In order to give this seminal question a structured framework, the Sages formulated the \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>\u201d text, through which the children express their surprise at how different this night is, paving the way for the telling of the Exodus story. In the text of \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>,\u201d the Sages included questions about all of the Seder night <strong>mitzvot<\/strong> related to eating: matza, <strong>maror<\/strong>, the Paschal sacrifice, and the two dippings. After the destruction of the Temple, we no longer ask about the Paschal sacrifice and instead ask about reclining at the Seder.<\/p>\n<p>If there are no children present to ask \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>?\u201d the youngest participant asks. Even if all the participants are Torah scholars well versed in the story of the Exodus, one of them must ask \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>?\u201d Even an individual performing the Seder alone must begin with \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>?\u201d This is how the Seder is arranged; we begin with a question because it makes the explanation more complete. Once a child or someone else has asked \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>?\u201d the other participants need not repeat the question and may proceed immediately to \u201c<strong>Avadim<\/strong> <strong>Hayinu<\/strong>\u201d (SA and Rema 473:7).<sup><a href='#_te01ftn15_2' id='_te01ftnref15_2' class='aup1'>[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<a href='#_te01ftnref15_2' id='_te01ftn15_2'>[2]<\/a>. According to several Rishonim, including <strong>Roke\u2019a\u1e25<\/strong> and Maharil, if a child asks any question about the Seder, the obligation to ask questions has been fulfilled, and there is no need to recite the \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>\u201d formula specifically. However, according to most Rishonim, including <strong>Tosafot<\/strong> and Rambam, even if a child autonomously asks a question relating to the Seder, the entire \u201c<strong>Ma nishtana<\/strong>\u201d formula must be recited. The <strong>halakha<\/strong> follows this opinion. See <strong>Berur Halakha <\/strong>on <strong>Pesa\u1e25im <\/strong>115b (p. 134) for a summary of opinions. This ruling notwithstanding, one should encourage his children to ask their own questions, to fulfill the verse \u201cwhen your child asks\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One authority writes that the mitzva <strong>de-Oraita <\/strong>to tell the Exodus story only applies when a child actually asks a question, but if the child does not inquire, the mitzva of the Torah is only to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt, though one is still rabbinically required to tell the story. This is the implication of <strong>Responsa Rosh <\/strong>24:2, but this is not the view of most <strong>poskim<\/strong>. Rather, they maintain that there is a mitzva to recount the Exodus in all cases, and one who has a child is obligated to tell him the story, as the Torah states regarding the son who does not know how to ask, \u201cTell your child on this day: \u2018It is because of this that God did for me when I left Egypt\u2019\u201d (Shemot 13:8). (R. Yeru\u1e25am Fishel Perla, in his commentary on R. Saadia Gaon\u2019s <strong>Sefer Ha-mitzvot <\/strong>\u00a732, states that according to Ramban and other Rishonim, one who does not have matza is exempt from the mitzva of telling the story of the Exodus, based on the phrase \u201cbecause of this\u201d [\u201c<strong>ba-avur zeh<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 the Hebrew uses the demonstrative pronoun \u201c<strong>zeh<\/strong>\u201d instead of the expected indefinite relative pronoun, indicating that it refers to an object that is present, i.e., the matza]. Additionally, see <strong>Sidur Pesa\u1e25 Ke-hilkhato <\/strong>ch. 6 n. 2 which mentions a distinction between a child who asks his father a question, which obligates his father to tell the story in detail, and a child who does not ask, which only obligates the father to tell the story briefly. We can explain that if the son asks, the father must embellish his response based on the question, but if the child does not ask, the father need only tell the story briefly. Embellishment depends on the child\u2019s desire to listen and obtain answers. See SAH 473:42.) In any event, it is clear that at least on the rabbinic level one must recite the entire Hagada as formulated. Even if he is alone, he asks himself the questions (<strong>Pesa\u1e25im <\/strong>116a) and thus extends to himself the obligation to answer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In order to give this seminal question a structured framework, the Sages formulated the \u201cMa nishtana\u201d text, through which the children express their surprise at how different this night is, paving the way for the telling of the Exodus story. In the text of \u201cMa nishtana,\u201d the Sages included questions about all of the Seder [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15-the-hagada"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>04.\u00a0The Text of \u201cMa Nishtana\u201d - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-15-04\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"04.\u00a0The Text of \u201cMa Nishtana\u201d - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In order to give this seminal question a structured framework, the Sages formulated the \u201cMa nishtana\u201d text, through which the children express their surprise at how different this night is, paving the way for the telling of the Exodus story. 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