Question

As my child was practicing the Mah Nishtanah for the Seder, she asked me about the question "On all other nights, we don’t even dip once, but on this night, we do so twice.”

“Wait,” she said, “don’t we dip apples into honey on Rosh Hashanah and the challah into salt all year round?"

Reply

Interestingly, a child once asked this very question to the Rebbe. According to an account published several years later,1 the Rebbe explained that neither of these dippings—apple in honey or challah in salt—are actually required by Jewish law.

Dipping the apple in honey on Rosh Hashanah is a beautiful custom, but it developed later as part of the symbolic food we eat through which we ask G‑d for a sweet new year.2

As for dipping challah into salt—technically, you don’t even have to dip it. You could just sprinkle salt on top. (That said, many—including Chabad—prefer to dip it for Kabbalistic reasons.)3

But when it comes to the Seder, the two dippings are an actual part of the structure of the night.

After this was published, the Rebbe further explained that while there was certainly truth to what he had said, there was actually a deeper, more fundamental answer.4

What Is the Child Actually Asking?

When a child asks, "Why do we dip on this night?" they’re not wondering why we dunk food into condiments. That’s normal—people dip all the time. (Think salsa, guacamole, or fries in ketchup.)

The real question is: Why are we dipping before the meal even starts?

At the Seder, we dip twice—first the karpas (vegetable into saltwater), and later the maror (bitter herbs into charoset). That first dipping is particularly strange because it happens before we even begin the meal, causing us to wash our hands an extra time.

This is deliberate. The sages instituted several rituals during the Seder to spark kids’ curiosity. By doing things out of the ordinary—like dipping a vegetable before the meal—we create a moment where the child notices something unusual and asks, "Hey, what’s going on? Why is this night different?”

For more on this, see: Why Do We Wash Our Hands Twice at the Seder?

The Paradox of Dipping

On a mystical level, the Rebbe explained that dipping carries a deeper significance.

Think about what happens when you dip one food into another. The original taste gets overpowered by the dip. The Hebrew word for "dip" (טיבול) is actually an anagram of the word for "negate" (ביטול).

In other words, dipping represents self-nullification—the idea of setting aside our ego.

At the same time, dipping also reflects refinement. A person who dips their food is choosing a particular taste, seeking to enhance the experience.

And that’s what makes this night different from all other nights.

On the night we celebrate our freedom, we remind ourselves that true freedom isn’t about indulging the ego—it’s about humility. We were freed from Egypt not just to live as we please, but to serve G‑d, who gave us the Torah so we could transform the world.5

So yes, we dip on other nights too. But on this night, our dipping carries a deeper message—a reminder that freedom is best used with purpose, meaning, and a little bit of humility.