This is the ritual hand washing that we do without saying a bracha. There is a nice minhag to bring the washing cup to your family at the table so that they don't have to leave the Seder in order to wash. This minhag is to show appreciation to your parents that worked so hard to put the Seder table together. Another reason is that we want to help our parents feel like a king and a queen at thier table.

The need to wash your hands before eating vegetables that are dipped in salt water was only a halachic requirement in the time of the Beit HaMikdash when we kept all the laws of Tuma and Taharah. The reason we do it on Seder night is to make us think of the time of the Beit HaMikdash Because the Beit HaMikdash plays such an important rule in the holiday of Pesach.

Many things that we do during the Seder night is done to remind us of the Beit HaMikdash. It is also a hint to Hashem that we are trying to keep things as close to the way that it used to be in the Beit Hamikdash as we can.


haggadah Section: Urchatz