One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
חָמֵץ וּמַצָּה
Leavened and Unleavened Bread 8
Sefer Zemanim · The order of the Seder night, step by step - as it was and as it is
4
Cups of wine, each an obligation
2
Dippings - karpas, then maror in charoset
1
Kezayit of afikoman - then nothing but water
5
An optional 5th cup for the great Hallel
Steps 1-4Kiddush to the questions
- Cup one. A cup is mixed for each person; over it come the wine blessing, the kiddush of the day, and shehecheyanu - then it is drunk. (8:1)
- Karpas, dipped. After washing, the leader blesses borei pri ha'adamah, dips the vegetable in charoset, and eats a kezayit - and so does everyone at the table (the Rambam's shiur; later custom eats less). (8:2)
- The vanishing table. The set table is brought - maror, a vegetable, matzah, charoset, and in Temple times the Pesach and chagigah meats - then removed before the reciter, so the children will ask. (8:1-2)
- The questions. Cup two is poured and here the child asks Mah Nishtanah; the Rambam lists the dippings, matzah, roasted meat, maror, and reclining - and rules that today the roasted-meat question is omitted, for there is no sacrifice. (8:2-3)
RememberThe table is taken away before anyone has eaten - the whole opening is engineered to make a child ask why.
Steps 5-8Telling, matzah, maror
- Disgrace to praise. One begins with our lowly origins and expounds the passage "An Aramean sought to destroy my father" to its end; then Pesach, matzah, and maror are each lifted and explained - with "at present" rewordings for a world without the Temple. (8:3-4)
- Half a Hallel, then the cup. Hallel is begun (to "the flintstone into a stream of water"), sealed with the redemption blessing - today adding a plea for the rebuilt city and its offerings - and cup two is drunk. (8:5)
- The broken loaf. After a second washing, hamotzi is said over a whole matzah with a broken one - "bread of poverty," for a poor man eats a broken loaf; then (today) al achilat matzah, dipped in charoset per the Rambam, and eaten. (8:6, 8:8)
- Maror, kept bitter. Al achilat maror is blessed, the maror dipped in charoset - but not left in it long, lest the sweetness cancel the bitterness; then matzah and maror are wrapped together and eaten without a blessing, recalling the Mikdash and Hillel. (8:8)
RememberThe blessing is made on a broken matzah - the one night the bread must be poor.
Steps 9-11Meal, afikoman, four cups
- The free meal. One eats and drinks whatever one desires; in Temple times the chagigah meat was eaten before the Pesach, each with its own blessing, and neither blessing exempts the other. (8:7, 8:9)
- The last taste. The meal ends with a kezayit - of the Pesach then, of matzah now - and nothing is tasted after it, so the taste of the mitzvah remains in the mouth; water alone is permitted all night. (8:9-10)
- Cups three and four. Grace after meals is said over the third cup; the Hallel is completed over the fourth with the blessing of song - and it may be finished anywhere, even away from where one ate. (8:10)
- The fifth cup. One may mix a fifth cup and recite the great Hallel ("Give thanks to God" to "By the rivers of Babylon") upon it - permitted, but not an obligation like the four. (8:10)
RememberThe halacha legislates an aftertaste - the mitzvah must be the last flavor of the night.
Edge casesWhen the night goes sideways
- No whole roasted lamb. Roasted meat follows local custom, but a whole lamb roasted entire is forbidden everywhere - it looks like eating sacrifices outside the Temple; cut up or missing a limb, custom governs. (8:11)
- No wine. One recites kiddush over the matzah, as on Shabbat, and carries out the whole order from there. (8:12)
- Only maror on hand. With no other vegetable, one blesses ha'adamah and al achilat maror at the karpas stage and eats it - then eats maror again after the Haggadah with no new blessing. (8:12)
- Sleepers. One who ate alone, slept, and woke may not resume eating; in a company, if some stayed awake the rest may continue - if all fell into true sleep they may not, but mere dozing does not interrupt. (8:14)
RememberThe Seder bends but does not break - no wine, no karpas, no company: the order has a route for each.