Four Questions for Each Generation

I learned the Four Questions in the kitchen. My mother handed me a towel and said: “I’ll wash, you dry. I’ll sing a few words, and you repeat.” And so we sang, from the night after Purim, every night until I’d learned it all.

I taught the Four Questions at bath time to two little ones, lithe and slippery as seals. “I’ll sing a few words, and then you sing,” I said. They loved to dip and splash for “sh’tei f’amim.” And so we sang, from Purim to Pesach. Every night until they learned it all.

This is a rite of passage. We learn our part and take our turn.

Wine trembles in our cups. Candles flicker. Conversation stops.

First we ask the prescribed questions. Then, we add our own.

The Journey Continues: The Ma’yan Haggadah can be purchased for $12 + $4 s/h by emailing Ma’yan, infomayan@mayan.org.

From The Journey Continues: The Ma’yan Haggadah (Ma’yan 2000).

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