837. Reciting the Haggadah

119:4 Next, the second cup of wine is poured and the youngest child asks the Four Questions. If there is no child present, then the questions should be asked by a grown son or daughter, or a guest or the leader's wife. (He may even ask himself - OC 473:7.) Then they recite "We were slaves...." The proper way is to explain the words of the Haggadah in the language understood by those present. If the leader himself does not understand Hebrew, he should use a Haggadah that has an explanation in a language he understands and he should read the text in translation after each section. This is especially so for the section "Rabban Gamliel used to say...," because a person needs to understand the reason for the Pesach offering, the matzah and the maror. When we reach "It is this that stood..." we cover the matzah so as not to disgrace them because we've put them down, Each person raises his cup and we say "It is this that stood..." until "saved us from their hand." We then uncover the matzah again. When we reach "This matzah..." we uncover the half-matzah that's on the plate and show it to our household, Also, when we reach "This maror..." we raise the maror. However, when we say " The Pesach offering that our fathers used to eat..." we do not raise up the shankbone, which is the symbol of the korban Pesach. This is so it should not appear as if we are actually making an offering of it. When we reach "Therefore..." we cover the matzah and each person raises his cup until we finish the bracha gaw'al Yisroel, that G-d has redeemed Israel. We then recite the bracha of hagafen on the cup, which we drink leaning to the left.

119:5 Next, everyone washes their hands and recites the bracha of "al netilas yadayim," that Hashem commanded us regarding the washing of the hands, and HaMotzi on the matzah. Because (a) one must recite the bracha over two whole loaves on yom tov and (b) the mitzvah of eating matzah applies to the pieces because matzah is called "poor man's bread" and the poor eat bread in pieces, therefore when one recites HaMotzi on the matzah, he should hold the two whole matzos in his hand with the broken piece in between them. He then puts down the lower matzah and holds only the upper one and the broken one while he recites the bracha "al achilas matzah" on the mitzvah of eating matzah. He takes some of the upper and the broken matzah and gives each person an olive-sized portion (k'zayis) of each to eat while leaning on the left. If it's difficult for one to eat both portions at once, he should eat the k'zayis from the whole matzah first and then the k'zayis from the broken one. He should not, however, pause at all between them, and he should eat them both while leaning. (If one neglects to lean while eating the matzah, he must eat another k'zayis of matzah while leaning - Mishnah Brurah 472:22.) It is the custom in our countries on the Seder nights not to dip the matzah in salt, neither for HaMotzi nor for "al achilas matzah."