The Torah portion read on the first day of Pesach instructs the Jewish people in Egypt to put the blood of the paschal offering on their doorposts. 

However, they are not just told to put the blood on the doorposts, but to create a sort of paint- brush, a “bunch of hyssop”, and to dip that into the blood and paint the blood on the doorposts. 

This is reminiscent of another dipping in blood, one that comes about two hundred years earlier. Joseph’s brothers have sold him and they need to create the impression that he has been killed. And so they dip his coat in blood to pretend to their father that a wild animal had consumed him (Genesis 37:31). The dipping of Joseph’s coat represents the beginning of exile. The dipping of the hyssop, the beginning of the redemption.

To commemorate these two dippings, we dip twice at our Seders. 

The first dipping was a result of discord and disunity, brought about by the brother’s hatred of their younger brother. So it is obvious that the second one should emphasise the unified state of mind that the Jewish people had on that magical night of the Exodus. Thus the hyssop has to be in a “bunch”, lots of individual twigs and branches brought together in one bundle. 

On the Seder night many families spend an evening together; those that do get along and those that don’t. We are at risk, on a night of family coming together, to fall into patterns of bickering and arguing or even of subtle disunity between members of the family. 

Thus, as we dip our vegetables into salt water, we must remember the reason why we landed up in exile was because of sibling hatred. And if we are to celebrate together in a rebuilt Jerusalem next year, it must come from our connection and love for one another.