A Different Night
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"This wonderful Haggadah is invaluable for both the "seen-and-heard-it-all" Seder leaders and also for the novices who wish to enter and bring others into a profound Passover experience."

Rabbi Daniel Landes, Orthodox
Director of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

The Four Questions

"Izzy, Did you ask a good question today?"

Isidor I. Rabi, the Nobel laureate in physics was once asked, "Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or businessman, like the other immigrant kid in your neighborhood?"
"My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: 'Nu? Did you learn anything today?' But not my mother. She always asked me a different question. 'Izzy,' she would say, 'Did you ask a good question today?' That difference - asking good questions - made me become a scientist."

Who needs "Ma Nishtana"?

Once the young pupil, Abaye, was invited to the Seder of his teacher Rabbah. While still at the beginning of the Seder, Rabbah ordered the servants to clear the dishes from the table. Amazed, Abaye asked, "Why are you removing the Seder plate before we have eaten?" Rabbah exclaimed, "Your question has served the same function as the usual four questions of 'Ma Nishtana'. Let's dispense with those set questions and proceed directly to the telling of the story" (Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 115b).
Try getting your guests and family members to ask their own questions. You can do this in many ways. Try giving out desert foods at the beginning, or starting Birkat HaMazon (the Grace after Meals) or any other good idea you might have.

If you are using Internet Explorer, you should by now be able to hear the sound file containing Ma Nishtana, if for some reason it hasn't worked, or you are using a different browser, you can download the file here. (nishtana.wav is 500kb)