Passover Seder Plate

The Passover Seder plate (, ''ke'ara'') is a special plate containing symbolic foods eaten or displayed at the Passover Seder. It is used to show all the symbolic foods that are used for the Passover Seder.

Symbolic foods

Each of the six items arranged on the plate has special significance to the retelling of the story of Passover—the exodus from Egypt—which is the focus of this ritual meal. A seventh symbolic item used during the meal—the three matzos—is not considered part of the seder plate proper.

The six traditional items on the Seder Plate are:

Maror and Chazeret

'' Maror'' and '' Chazeret'' – Bitter herbs symbolizing the bitterness and harshness of the slavery that the Hebrews endured in Egypt. In Ashkenazi tradition, fresh romaine lettuce or endives (both representing the bitterness of the Roman invasions) or chazeret (horseradish) may be eaten as Maror in the fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating bitter herbs during the Seder. Chazeret are additional bitter herbs, usually romaine lettuce, that are used in the korech sandwich.

Charoset

'' Charoset'' – A sweet, brown mixture representing the mortar and brick used by the Hebrew slaves to build the structures of Egypt. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes, Charoset is traditionally made from chopped nuts, grated apples, cinnamon, and sweet red wine.

Karpas

'' Karpas'' – A vegetable parsley or other non-bitter herbs representing hope and renewal, which is dipped into salt water at the beginning of the Seder.A Passover Haggadah: As Commented Upon by Elie Wiesel and Illustrated by Mark Podwal (Simon & Schuster, 1993, ) Some substitute parsley with a 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 a Shabbat or holiday meal, the first thing to be eaten after the kiddush over 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 transliterated ''Z'roa'', this is typically a roasted lamb shank bone or chicken wing. 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 the angel of death would pass over that house during the tenth plague.

Beitza

'' Beitza'' – A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the '' korban chagigah'' (festival sacrifice) that was offered at the Temple in Jerusalem, is then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Although both the Pesach sacrifice and the '' chagigah'' were meat offerings, the ''chagigah'' is 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-century Shulchan Aruch commentary of Rabbi Moses 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.

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

Three

The sixth symbolic item on the Seder table is a plate of three whole , 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 the . The top and another half of the middle matzot will be used for the (blessing over bread), and the bottom matzah will be used for the ( 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 or alternative items

*Vinegar – German and Persian Jews traditionally include vinegar on the seder plate, closest to the leader next to the ''karpas''. The ''karpas'' was dipped in the vinegar rather than in salt water during the seder.
* 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. When Susannah Heschel spoke at Hillel at Oberlin College, where she saw an early feminist haggadah that included Susan Fielding's short story about a young Jewish lesbian told by her Hasidic rebbe that "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 as ''chametz'' is with Passover. 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, a Jewish Voice for Peace haggadah supplement further publicised this with a call to add an olive to symbolise olive trees that have been uprooted in Palestine. Adding an olive as a call for peace between Israel and Palestine is a well acknowledged addition for some Jews.
*Lemon – Jewish communities have started including lemons on their Passover seder plates. The color yellow has become a symbol to bring the hostages home and the sourness of the lemon represents the pain and grief their friends and families endure every day. This addition is often inspired by the work of Rachel Goldberg Pollin, mother of Hersh Goldberg Polin, a hostage who was executed by Hamas after being taken hostage at the Nova Music festival.   Rabbi Gersh Lazarow of Melbourne, Australia stated that “This lemon, in addition to the Maror and Chazeret, is more than a symbol; it is a call to awareness and action. It urges us to weave their struggle into our ancient story of liberation. As its bite sharpens our resolve, may it kindle an unrelenting desire to see them safely returned.”
*Watermelon – In addition to the olive, after the massacres of October 7, 2023 and the war in Gaza, some have suggested incorporating a slice of watermelon on the Seder plate as a show of solidarity for the people of Palestine. The slice of watermelon has been intermittenly used a symbol for Palestine as the red, white, black and green colors of the fruit could be seen as a representation of the flag of Palestine, the display of which in some contexts has been repressed.

See also

*Jewish ceremonial art
*Haft-sin, a similar display for Nowruz, the Iranian new year
*Twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper

References

External links

Chabad.org: The Seder Plate
* Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
The Seder Plate
in Peninei Halakha

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Jewish ceremonial art
Jewish ceremonial food and drink
Passover seder