(Mishnah): They bring before him vegetables (to be eaten. This is known as Karpas, the purpose of which being to arouse the interest of the children, as vegetables are not usually eaten before the meal) or Chazeres (Romaine lettuce). (Even if he has no vegetable to eat other than the Chazeres that he will be using later for the Maror - the bitter herbs) he still dips (and eats) Chazeres now.

They bring before him Matzah, Chazeres (Maror) and Charoses (a dip containing ground apples and other fruits), even though Charoses is not actually a Mitzvah (it merely weakens the sharpness of the Maror).

R. Elazar bei R. Tzadok says that it is a Mitzvah (in remembrance of the apple trees under which the Jewish ladies would give birth and in remembrance of the cement with which the Egyptians forced the Jews to build).

In Temple times, they would bring before him the body of the Korban Pesach.

(Gemara - Chevraya quoting R. Yochanan): (If one used Chazeres for the Karpas) He must dip (and eat) the Chazeres twice. (Since, when eating the Karpas, he did not intend that by eating the Chazeres he should fulfill his obligation of Maror, he must eat it again as his Maror after eating Matzah. This is because one must have intent in order to fulfill a commandment).

R. Zeira quoting R. Yochanan: One is not obligated to dip (and eat) Chazeres twice. (Since one does not need intent in order to fulfill a commandment, he already fulfilled his obligation of Maror by eating the Karpas. Nevertheless, after eating the Matzah he should again eat Chazeres, since it is the ideal way of eating based on the Pasuk that states, "with Matzos and Maror''.)

R. Shimon ben Lakish: If he did not dip (eat) the first time, he must dip the second time, but if he already ate, he does not need to eat again. (Note: This entry and the previous one follow the explanation of Rav Chaim Kanievski.)

Question: The Mishnah disagrees with R''SBL - "For on all other nights we dip once; on this night we dip twice''?

R''SBL held that the Mishnah is a teaching of Bar Kafra, but there is a Beraisa that disagrees with him -

"For on all other nights we dip it with bread and here we dip it by itself.'' - meaning that the main difference between Pesach and other times is that we dip the vegetable with bread, but the number of times that we dip is not discussed.

Question (Beraisa against R. Ychanan): One fulfils his obligation of eating Matzah, whether he had intent or not. (If Maror is the same, it is a question on Chevraya quoting R. Yochanan who said that one must have intent.)

Answer: Here, since he reclined at the Seder, one can assume that he had intent; but when eating Karpas, he does not recline and when eating it before his meal, perhaps he did not have intent.

Question (R. Yirmiyah to R. Zeira against R''SBL): They brought in front of him Matzah, Chazeres and Charoses, even though Charoses is not a Mitzvah, Chazeres is a Mitzvah. (Chazeres is a Mitzvah, even though he had already eaten it earlier.)?

Answer (R. Zeira to R. Yirmiyah): (There is a Mitzvah to dip in order to arouse the interest of the children, but it does not matter what he dips, as we see that) Rav would dip into beets.

The merchants of Yerushalayim would say - Come and take for yourselves the flavorings of the Mitzvah (the Charoses)!

The people of the house of Isi said in his name that Charoses referred to as Rubah, as there is dispute (Rav) over it (between Chachamim and R. Elazar bei R. Tzadok).

R. Yehoshua ben Levi: The mixture should be thick.

Reason: As it is in remembrance of the cement.

Beraisa: It is called Rachah as it should be of soft texture (by adding a lot of liquids).

Reason: It should be of soft texture in remembrance of the blood of the Jewish children that they would bury in the mud (cement).

Beraisa: Outside of the Temple, they would require two dishes of meat, one in remembrance of the Pesach and one on remembrance of the Chagigah.