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Why two types of maror?
Some seder plates (or layout instructions in haggadot) use two bitter herbs (I'm used to seeing horseradish and endive), one labelled maror and one labelled chazeret. Others have only a single space for maror. What is the second one for, and is this custom or something stronger?
We eat maror twice, once for al achilat maror (dipped into the charoset) and once as part of the "Hillel sandwich". I was taught (um, somewhere...) that the Hillel sandwich addresses a dispute about timing -- some say to eat the matzah, maror, and (when the temple stood) lamb separately and others together, so we do both. I've never heard about a dispute about what to use for maror with the outcome of "do both", but I'm far from learned. None of the haggadot I've seen say to use maror for one and chazeret for the other.
It's possible that there's no dispute but, rather, we try to go beyond the minimum by experiencing two different types of bitterness -- a similar idea to hidur mitzvah, in a way.
It's possible that this is a difference among communities, and that some understand an obligation for two distinct bitter items and others do not, and the makers of seder plates and haggadot want to maximize the number of people who can use their products.
What is really going on with the second item for maror?
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This "extra maror" is known as "chazeret", and it's not always a different food than the maror; I've definitely seen instances where both the chazeret and the maror on the seder plate were lettuce.
One reason for having two types of bitter herb is because the passuk (verse) about maror uses the plural form, "mrorim", indicating more than one.
To quote from The Jewish Book of Why (1981) by Rabbi Alfred J. Kolatch:
Why is the vegetable called chazeret placed on the Seder tray?
Chazeret (also pronounced chazeres) carries the same symbolism as the maror (bitter herbs) that is placed in one of the six compartments of the Seder tray. The vegetable selected for the chazeret is cucumber, watercress, radish, or any other vegetable that tends to become bitter.
The use of chazeret has been related to the biblical verse, "They shall eat it [the Paschal lamb] with unleavened bread and bitter herbs" (Numbers 9:11). It has been explained that since the Book of Numbers speaks of herbs in the plural (merorim), this vegetable, chazeret, was included on the Seder tray in addition to the maror vegetable.
Not all authorities considered it mandatory to use chazeret at the Seder meal. We know that Rabbi Isaac Luria, the sixteenth-century mystic (also known as the Ari, which is an acronym for his name, ha-Ashkenazi Rabbi Isaac), did use chazeret at his Seder table. But we also know that the equally famous eighteenth-century scholar Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, Lithuania (better known as the Vilna Gaon), did not use chazeret. Practically all Seder trays manufactured today have six compartments (indentations), one reserved for chazeret.
Unfortunately, Rabbi Kolatch doesn't bring his sources within that short article, and certain sources contradict his claim about what vegetables are used as maror... which brings me to my next possibility:
There are differing customs about what to use as maror, and we need to make sure we're using something that counts.
From the ספר הלכות פסח (Halachos of Pesach) by Rabbi Shimon D. Eider:
With what species does a person fulfill his mitzvah of eating maror? The Mishna lists five types of plants which are considered maror [Psachim 39]. They are: a) חזרת, b) עולשין, c) תמכא, d) חרחבינה, e) מרור. חז"ל have determined that no other species is called maror except for these five species [Shulchan Aruch].
While I'm not going to quote the whole thing, he details that option a), "chazeret", is what we generally use nowadays as maror: lettuce. The second one is considered by "some Psokim"[1] to be endives or escarole. The third is horseradish, and we don't know what the last two are.
However, to quote a little more:
Which portions of the vegetable may be used to fulfill the mitzvah of maror? One may use the leaves and stalk but not the roots.
When people use horseradish for maror, what they're very often using is the root. This is, I presume, for the same reason that my family traditionally uses potatoes for karpas, despite that also being supposed to be a green, leafy vegetable; green, leafy leaves and stalks are hard to come by in places like Poland during Nissan, and so you make do with what's available.
Now, even though potatoes are what my family traditionally uses, we always make sure to have something green for karpas as well (usually celery), because that's the halacha. For the same reason, people whose tradition it is to use horseradish root may very well choose a second option for chazeret, such as lettuce, to make sure that everyone is fulfilling their obligations and at the same time keeping their traditions.
You mention you generally see horseradish and endive; this would fall under that. The horseradish root doesn't technically fulfil your obligation, but it's tradition; the endive does fulfil your obligation. Since there's this idea of "mrorim" in plural anyway, it fits nicely into this tradition of having two separate spots on the seder plate, one for maror and one for chazeret.
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The reference given unfortunately goes over my head. It is, in its entirety, "ע' כה"ח ס' תע"ג אות ע"ב". I'm not familiar with what that acronym might be. ↩︎
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One possible reason, but I have no source for it being a requirement in any way, is that we have two different categories of Maror. One is things like horseradish - immediately and unequivocally bitter. The other is things like romaine lettuce - bitter after a while but not obviously bitter.
This reflects two aspects of the experience of the Jews in Egypt. There are certain actions, such as the command to kill all the newborn boys, that are clearly horrible. But many aspects of slavery came on gradually, and the effects on the nation (as opposed to the individual hard labor) were not immediately obvious, even though by the time of the Exodus the slavery was extreme.
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