“Mah Nishtanah?” Why is this night different?
According to Rabbi Uziel, on all other nights we take our Jewish identity as a given, but tonight, we must explore the meaning of our Jewish identity by asking what it is that makes being Jewish so special, indeed so different than all other faiths.
“It is this question” says Rabbi Uziel, “that must occupy us the night of Passover around the table. All of the symbols of the Seder – the foods, the customs, the texts – are not here to represent themselves as individual ideas or concepts, rather they all point to the much larger issue of what it means to be a Jew. Mah Nishtanah is less a question about what makes this night different, but more a question about what makes us different as Jews.”
Imagine that. A Passover question asking us to actually contemplate – with pride – what makes us different as Jews.
“Why would Passover, of all holidays, be the night when we engage in the Mah Nishtanah of being Jewish?” asked Rabbi Uziel.
“Because Passover represents the birth of Judaism” says Rabbi Uziel. “It’s the night when we engage in our roots and origins, not only to study our past, but also to contemplate our present, and our future.”
This year we sit down to a Seder with Israel still fighting Hamas terrorists, hostages still being held in Gaza, Jewish college students not feeling safe, and hatred of Israel and antisemitism being normalized in the streets all over the world. It’s an easy time for the younger generation to check out of being Jewish.
In the face of all of this, Rabbi Uziel challenges us to ask our kids at the Seder what it is about Judaism that makes them proud of being Jewish? Why, despite all of these difficulties, would they stay Jewish?
In his infinite brilliance and wisdom, Rabbi Uziel takes the two most familiar Passover words – Mah Nishtanah – and uses them as a launching pad to transform the Seder from a set of rituals to a symposium exploring the meaning of Jewish identity.
Mah Nishtanah? What makes Judaism so unique and special to the younger generation? Asking them this question, and listening to their diverse range of answers, are what makes this night truly different from all other nights.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is the international director of the Sephardic Educational Center.
