These are the three mitzvot of the night that involve eating (we no longer eat the korban Pesaḥ, but while there was a Temple this was a biblical command). Normally, mitzvot are fulfilled by performing the required act with the intention of observing the commandment. To fulfil the duty of sukka, for example, we do not have to tell the story of the wandering of the Israelites in the desert. However, in the case of Pesaḥ two commands coincide: the first, to eat the festive meal, and the second, to tell the story. Rabban Gamliel argues that the two are connected. The story explains the food; the food allows us to relive the story.

The Torah states: “When you enter the land which the Lord shall give you as He promised, you shall observe this rite. And if your children should ask you, ‘What is this service you observe?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Pesaḥ offering to the Lord, for He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt while He struck down the Egyptians, but saved those in our homes’” (Shemot 12:25–27). Thus, from the very outset, eating, asking, and explaining were connected, and it is this connection on which Rabban Gamliel bases his view that all three elements of the Pesaḥ meal must be explained.