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The Four Questions
Contributed by SHANA NISSENBAUM

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

Leader:

Questions are central to the Seder experience. In fact, questions are central to the Jewish view of religion. In the process of questioning, new knowledge and new understandings emerge. Questioning is also a sign of freedom. Slaves don’t ask questions. To ask a question is to demonstrate one’s freedom to explore the symbols, rituals, and philosophies of the Seder experience.

[Tradition holds that the youngest Seder guests ask these questions.]

Young Person:

Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other nights we eat either leavened bread or unleavened bread. Why on this night do we eat only matzah?

Reader 3:

Because on this night, more than any other night, we must remember that we can never be truly free until all people everywhere are free. We remember that even though we are fortunate to eat leavened bread, there are still many people around the world who have no choice but to eat their own matzah, because that is all that they have.

Young Person:

On all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables. Why on this night do we focus on eating bitter herbs?

Reader 4:

Because on this night, more than any other night, we must remember the past so that we do not get lazy in the present. Tonight, we reflect on the saying that “those who forget the past are condemned to relive it,” and we remember how fragile our own freedom is.

Young Person:

On all other nights we do not dip our vegetables. Why on this night do we dip greens into saltwater and eat bitter herbs with charoset?

Reader 5:

Because on this night, more than any other night, we must remember that there are people everywhere whose tears still drench their food. We eat the charoset with bitter herbs to remind us to build a better world for those less fortunate. It is not enough to recognize the tears of others, we must take real steps to build a sweeter world for everyone.

Young Person:

On all other nights we are expected to sit up straight at the table. Why on this night do we recline (lean) and eat at leisure?

Reader 6:

Because on this night, more than any other night, we must remember that freedom is an ongoing process. Only those who are free have the ability to recline and eat at leisure. Tonight we take steps toward freedom, even while we recognize that freedom for all may not happen in our lifetimes.

Leader:

We know the traditional answers to these questions. But this is not all, or even most, of what Passover is about. On most other nights, we allow the news of tragedy in distant places to pass us by. We succumb to compassion fatigue – aware that we cannot possibly respond to every injustice that arises around the world. On this night, we are reminded that our legacy as the descendants of slaves creates in us a different kind of responsibility – we are to protect the stranger because we were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Thus, let us add a fifth question to this year’s Seder. Let us ask ourselves, what must be done? This year, this Passover, let us recommit to that sacred responsibility to protect the stranger.

Group:

Let us infuse the rituals of the Seder with action. Let us use the Seder’s questions as a springboard for justice.
haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning

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