Question: Why do we dip twice during the passover seder?

Answer: I think that what is bothering you is that we ask this question every year at the Seder as one of the “Four Questions,” but the Haggadah does not seem to address the issue. The Shulkhan Arukh (Jewish Code of Law) says that we really just dip in order to generate questions and discussion, to create an opening for the person leading the Seder to say over the story of the Exodus. The more interest and anticipation there is, the more the story and its lessons can be integrated by the listeners.

However, the Ben Ish Chai (the leader of Near Eastern Jewry who lived in Baghdad about 100 years ago) seems to say that within the story of the Haggadah lies the real answer to the question. The descent of the Jews to Egypt began with the hatred of Joseph by his brothers, and their selling him as a slave to Egypt. To cover up the sale, they dipped his multi-colored coat into blood in order to fool Jacob into thinking that Joseph had been mauled to death by a wild beast. The coat was a symbol of the special love that Jacob had for Joseph, and therefore was the target of the brothers’ jealousy. By being dipped in blood, it became a symbol of how jealousy and hatred resulted in slavery, not just for Joseph, but ultimately, for all of the Jewish people.

Yet, there was another “dipping” in Jewish history prior to Sinai: Before the redemption, God commanded the Jews to dip a bundle of hyssop into blood and smear it on their doorposts. The commentators explain, that a bundle is a symbol of unity. Thus, this dipping symbolized a rectification of the sin that caused the exile in the first place. Because the Jews were able to unify despite their differences, they merited redemption. It is for that reason, says the Ben Ish Chai, that we dip twice on seder night: To commemorate the dipping of jealousy and hatred that caused the exile, and the dipping of unification that gave us the merit to be redeemed by God.

I heard from Rabbi Chaim Zev Levitan that the reason given by the Shulkhan Arukh and the Ben Ish Chai are really complementary. True unity is not a result of a lack of differences, but rather of being able to overcome them. Hatred and bias is a byproduct of ignorance, and symptomatic of a lack of communication. Had the brothers questioned their father directly (respectfully, of course), and had they communicated with Joseph, things could have turned out differently. We dip twice to generate questions and facilitate discussion. If we talk to each other and listen carefully, we can come to love each other.

Have a great Pesach!

Rabbi Shlomo Soroka