About This Haggadah
This Haggadah is an attempt to document how my family typically celebrates passover. I have started using the traditional Haggadah but added modifications based on how we conduct the Seder. The most notable difference is the change in the order of the Motzi-Matzah, Maror, and Korech sections. In our household we do these sections after the Maggid and prior to the Four Questions. In addition, prior to the Four Questions we dip a hard boiled egg in salt water and then eat it.
This order follows the suggested order in the New Union Haggadah. The introduction to that Haggadah gives their reasoning for this placement. My explanation, however, is that the Four Questions do not make a whole lot of sense unless we have done all of the things the Four Questions ask about first.
The idea is that the Four Questions is being asked by someone who has not been to a Seder before or is too young to remember the last Seder they were at. This appears to be the rationale behind the youngest child reciting the Four Questions. This would be the equivalent of the "Simple" child of the Four Children. So only when this participant has observed everyone consuming the Matzah and Maror and dipping the parsley and egg in salt water does the Four Questions make sense. We do not dip the bitter herbs in charoset during the Maror. We eat each of them individually and then the Matzah, Horseradish, and Charoset together in the Korech. The parsley and egg dipped in salt water consitutes the two dippings that the Four Questions ask about.
So following the logic above after the Four Questions the retelling of the Passover story should emphasize the answer to the Four Questions. So on the first night the retelling of the Passover story is done more like an oral tradition instead of a recitation of the Haggadah text. The retelling should emphasize the supernatural elements of the story as it is those elements that allowed the Jewish people to finally escape their bondage.
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