Ma Nishtana are the four questions sung during the Passover

Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

 seder. Called "ma nishtanah" in Hebrew, meaning "What has changed?", it is taken from the first line of the song. In English, it is referred to as "The Four Questions". Traditionally, the Four Questions are asked by the youngest child at the table who is able. The questions are included in the haggadah as part of the Maggid (מגיד) section.

Origins

The questions originate in the Mishna, but are quoted differently in the Jerusalem

Jerusalem Talmud

The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...

 and Babylonian Talmuds. The Jerusalem Talmud only records three questions; why two foods are dipped, why matzah is eaten, and why meat is eaten exclusively roasted. (The last question is a reference to the paschal sacrifice which was fire-roasted). The Babylonian Talmud quotes four questions; why matza is eaten, why maror

Maror

Maror also Marror, refers to the bitter herbs eaten at the Passover Seder in keeping with the biblical commandment "with bitter herbs they shall eat it." .-Biblical source:...

 is eaten, why meat is eaten exclusively roasted, and why food is dipped twice. The version in the Jerusalem Talmud is also the one most commonly found in manuscripts. As the paschal sacrifice was not eaten after the destruction of the temple, the question about the meat was dropped. The Rambam and Saadia Gaon

Saadia Gaon

Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...

 both add a new question to the liturgy to replace it: "why do we recline on this night?" Ultimately, the question of reclining was maintained, in part to create a parallelism between the number of questions and the other occurrences of the number four in the hagaddah.

Contemporary tunes

One of the current tunes widely used for the Ma Nishtana was written by Ephraim Abileah in 1936 as part of his oratorio "Chag Ha-Cherut".

Current text

English	Transliteration	Hebrew
What has changed, this night, from all the other nights?	Mah nishtanah, ha-laylah ha-zeh, mi-kol ha-leylot—	מה נשתנה, הלילה הזה מכל הלילות
That in all other nights we eat both chametz Chametz Chametz, also Chometz, and other spellings transliterated from , are leavened foods that are forbidden on the Jewish holiday of Passover. According to Jewish law, Jews may not own, eat or benefit from chametz during Passover...  and matzah, on this night, we eat only matzah.	She-b'khol ha-leylot 'anu 'okhlin chameytz u-matzah, ha-laylah ha-zeh, kulo matzah?	שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין חמץ ומצה הלילה הזה, כלו מצה
That in all other nights we eat many vegetables, on this night, maror Maror Maror also Marror, refers to the bitter herbs eaten at the Passover Seder in keeping with the biblical commandment "with bitter herbs they shall eat it." .-Biblical source:... .	She-b'khol ha-leylot 'anu 'okhlin sh'ar y'raqot, ha-laylah ha-zeh, maror.	שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין שאר ירקות הלילה הזה, מרור
That in all other nights we do not dip vegetables even once, on this night, we dip twice.	She-b'khol ha-leylot 'eyn 'anu matbilin 'afilu pa`am 'achat, ha-laylah ha-zeh, shtey fe`amim?	שבכל הלילות אין אנו מטבילין אפילו פעם אחת הלילה הזה, שתי פעמים
That in all other nights some eat sitting and others reclining, on this night, we are all reclining.	She-b'khol ha-leylot 'anu 'okhlin beyn yoshvin u-veyn m'subin, ha-laylah ha-zeh, kulanu m'subin?	שבכל הלילות אנו אוכלין בין יושבין ובין מסובין הלילה הזה, כולנו מסובין

Contemporary use

The four questions are traditionally asked by the youngest person at the table that is able to do so. Much of the seder is designed to fulfill the biblical obligation to tell the story to one's children, and many of the customs that have developed around the Four Questions are designed to pique a child's curiosity about what is happening in order to hold their attention.

Idiomatic usage

The phrase "ma nishtanah" is sometimes used colloquially by some Jewish families in an ironic sense, to express the opinion that some behavior or situation under discussion is not unusual. For example:

• Child: "Dad's in a bad mood today."
• Mother: "Ma nishtanah?"

Other Languages

Mandarin Chinese:
是什么让这个夜晚的所有[其他]夜有什么不同？
对所有的夜晚，我们一次也不用浸在这个夜晚，我们这样做两次！
在所有晚我们吃酵饼或无酵饼，和在这个夜晚只有无酵饼。
在所有晚，我们吃任何种类的蔬菜并在此夜苦菜！
对所有的夜晚，我们吃坐在直立或卧，并在这个夜晚我们都躺！

External links

• Listen to the Ma Nishtana online