One of the most oft-asked questions about the Seder is why we wash our hands so oft.1
So oft is this question asked that it was actually in the final running to be one of the Four Questions, losing out to “Why do we dip twice?” in the closest vote in Seder history.2
Then why do we wash our hands so often? The answer is not one of hygiene, as it is in deference to, as we say in modern parlance, delirium. After forty years under the scorching desert sun, the Israelites were totally disoriented. Whenever they asked Moses, “Have we washed our hands?” he invariably replied, “I don’t remember. Let’s wash them again, just to be on the safe side.”3