Passover Seder plate

ThePassover Seder plate(Hebrew:קערה,ke'ara) is a specialplatecontaining symbolic foods eaten or displayed at thePassover Seder.It is used to show all the symbolic foods that are used for the Passover Seder.

Passover Seder plate

Symbolic foods

Each of the six items arranged on the plate has special significance to the retelling of the story ofPassover—the exodusfromEgypt—which is the focus of this ritual meal. A seventh symbolic item used during the meal—the threematzos—is not considered part of the seder plate proper.

Passover Seder plate.Categories (with imaged examples in brackets):
1.Zeroa(shankbone)
2.Beitza(roasted hard-boiled egg)
3.Maror/Chazeret(horseradish)
4.Maror/Chazeret(onion)
5.Charoset
6.Karpas(parsley)

The six traditional items on the Seder Plate are as follows:

Maror and Chazeret

MarorandChazeret– Bitter herbs symbolizing the bitterness and harshness of the slavery that the Hebrews endured inEgypt.In Ashkenazi tradition, fresh romaine lettuce or endives (both representing the bitterness of the Roman invasions) orhorseradishmay be eaten asMarorin the fulfilment of themitzvahof eating bitter herbs during the Seder.Chazeretare additional bitter herbs, usually romaine lettuce, that are used in thekorechsandwich.

Charoset

Charoset– A sweet, brown mixture representing the mortar and brick used by the Hebrew slaves to build the structures ofEgypt.InAshkenaziJewishhomes, Charoset is traditionally made from chopped nuts, grated apples,cinnamon,and sweet red wine.

Karpas

Karpas– A vegetable other than bitter herbs representing hope and renewal, which is dipped into salt water at the beginning of the Seder. Parsley or another green vegetable.Some substitute parsley to slice of green onion (representing the bitterness of slavery in Egypt) or potato (representing the bitterness of the ghetto in Germany and in other European countries), both commonly used. Participants dip a simple vegetable into salt water. Water then drips off the vegetables visually representing tears and is a symbolic reminder of the pain felt by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. Usually, in aShabbatorholidaymeal, the first thing to be eaten after thekiddushover wine is bread. At the Seder table, however, the first thing to be eaten after the kiddush is a vegetable. This leads immediately to the recital of the famous question,Ma Nishtana— "Why is this night different from all other nights?" It also symbolizes the springtime, because Jews celebrate Passover in the spring.

Zeroah

Zeroa– Also transliteratedZ'roa,this is typically a roasted lamb shank bone. It is special as it is the only element of meat on the Seder Plate, symbolizing the Korban Pesach (Passover sacrifice), or Pascal Lamb. It symbolizes the sacrifice of a lamb whose blood was painted on the doorway of Israelite slaves' houses so that theangel of deathwould pass over that house during the tenth plague.

Beitza

Beitza– A roasted egg, symbolizing thekorban chagigah(festival sacrifice) that was offered at theTemple in Jerusalem,is then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Although both the Pesach sacrifice and thechagigahwere meat offerings, thechagigahis commemorated by an egg, a symbol of mourning (as eggs are the first thing served to mourners after a funeral), evoking the idea of mourning over the destruction of the Temple and the inability to offer the biblically mandated sacrifices for the Pesach holiday. The use of an egg in the seder is first attested in the 16th-centuryShulchan Aruchcommentary of RabbiMoses Isserles,and it is not known when the custom began.It is not used during the formal part of the seder. Some people eat a regular hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water or vinegar as part of the first course of the meal, or as an appetizer. The egg also represents the circle of life: birth, reproduction, and death.

Sterling silver seder plate

Many decorative and artistic Seder plates sold inJudaicastores have pre-formed spaces for inserting the various symbolic foods.

Table set for the seder with a seder plate, salt water, matza, kosher wine and a copy of theHaggadahfor each guest

Three Matzot

The sixth symbolic item on the Seder table is a plate of three wholematzot,which are stacked and separated from each other by cloths or napkins. The middle matzah will be broken and half of it put aside for theafikoman.The top and another half of the middle matzot will be used for thehamotzi(blessing over bread), and the bottom matzah will be used for thekorech(Hillel sandwich).

According to one common interpretation, the three matzot represent "Kohen, Levi and Yisrael" (i.e., the priests, the tribe of Levi, and all other Jewish people).

Salt water

A bowl of salt water, which is used for the first "dipping" of the Seder, is not traditionally part of the Seder Plate but is sometimes placed beside the plate or used as one of the six items, omitting chazeret. The salt water represents the tears of the Israelites when they were enslaved.

Additional Customs

Passover Seder plate including an orange.

• Vinegar– German and Persian Jews traditionally include vinegar on the seder plate, closest to the leader next to thekarpas.Thekarpaswas dipped in the vinegar rather than in salt water during the seder.

Modern Advocacy

• Orange– Some Jews include an orange on the Seder plate.The orange represents the fruitfulness for all Jews when marginalized Jews, particularly women and gay people, are allowed to become active and contribute to the Jewish community. A common, though incorrect, rumor says that the tradition began when a man toldSusannah Heschelthat a woman has as much business on thebimahin a synagogue as an orange does on the Seder plate.

In fact, the tradition began when Heschel spoke atHillelatOberlin College,where she saw an early feministhaggadahthat included Susan Fielding's short story about a young Jewish lesbian told by her Hasidicrebbethat "there is as much place for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for hametz at the seder table."Heschel felt, as did those women at Oberlin, that putting bread on the Seder plate would mean accepting the idea that lesbian and gay Jews are as incompatible with Judaism aschametzis withPassover.At her next Seder, she used an orange as a symbol of inclusion for lesbians, gays, and others who are marginalized by the Jewish community. Participants eat a segment of the orange, spitting out the seeds as a symbol of rejecting homophobia.

• Olive– An olive to express solidarity with Palestinians has been added to some seder plates. This ritual was created by Elliott batTzedek in Philadelphia in 2002,The ritual gave to rise to a play, "An Olive on the Seder Plate," directed by Deb Shoval, that began touring to progressive synagogues and college campuses in 2008.Also in 2008, aJewish Voice for Peacehaggadah supplement further publicised this with a call to add an olive to symbolise olive trees that have been uprooted inPalestine.Adding an olive as a call for peace between Israel and Palestineis a well acknowledgedaddition for some Jews.

See also

• Jewish ceremonial art
• Haft-sin,a similar display forNowruz,theIraniannew year, may have influenced the development of the Seder plate
• Twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper

External links

• Chabad.org: The Seder Plate
• RabbiEliezer Melamed,The Seder PlateinPeninei Halakha