Passover Seder plate

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.

{{Seder plate}}

The six traditional items on the Seder Plate are:

Maror and ChazeretThus explained in Rabbi Hai Gaon's Commentary on Mishnah Uktzin 1:2 [3]; Sefer Arukh, s.v. חזרת; Mishnah Commentary of Rabbi Nathan, President of the Academy, s.v. Mishnah Kila'im 1:2; Zohar Amar, Flora and Fauna in Maimonides' Teachings, Kefar Darom 2015, p. 77 {{OCLC|783455868}}[Hebrew]. – 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 – 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.{{Cite web |title=Seder Preparations - Jewish Tradition |url=https://yahadut.org/en/shabbat-and-festivals/the-seder/seder-preparations/ |access-date=2024-03-30 |website=yahadut.org |language=en}}

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, {{ISBN|0671799967}}) 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.

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.{{Cite web|title=The Ten Plagues - A summary of the ten plagues God wrought upon the Egyptians|url=https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1653/jewish/The-Ten-Plagues.htm|website=Chabad}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/are-passover-eggs-and-easter-eggs-related-1.5461517 |title=Do Passover Eggs and Easter Eggs Have a Shared Origin? |date=April 4, 2021 |first=Elon |last=Gilad |work=Haaretz}} 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.

File:SederPlate.jpg

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

File: Seder Table.jpg for each guest]]

The sixth symbolic item on the Seder table is a plate of three whole {{transl|he|matzot}}, 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 {{transl|he|afikoman}}. The top and another half of the middle matzot will be used for the {{transl|he|hamotzi}} (blessing over bread), and the bottom matzah will be used for the {{transl|he|korech}} (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).{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/pass_prep.html |title="Preparing for Passover and the Seder," the Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=2013-02-18}}

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.

File:Passover Seder plate with wine and matzot.jpg

• 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.moreshesashkenaz.org/en/guide|title=Guide to Minhag Ashkenaz|last=Hamburger|first=Rav Binyomin Shlomo|date=2009|website=Machon Moreshes Ashkenaz}}
• Orange – Some Jews include an orange on the Seder plate.{{cite web |url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/an-orange-on-the-seder-plate/ |title=An Orange on the Seder Plate |first=Tamara |last=Cohen |publisher=My Jewish Learning |access-date=15 June 2016 }} 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."{{cite web |url=http://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/background-background-orange-seder-plate-and-ritual-inclusion |title=The Background to the Background of the Orange on the Seder Plate and a Ritual of Inclusion |first1=Deborah |last1=Eisehnbach-Budner |first2=Alex |last2=Borns-Weil |date=22 August 2010 |publisher=Ritualwell |access-date=15 June 2016 }} 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.{{cite web |first1=Victor|last1=Appell |title=Why do some people include an orange on the seder plate? |url=https://reformjudaism.org/practice/ask-rabbi/why-do-some-people-include-orange-seder-plate |website=ReformJudaism.org |date=25 March 2015 |publisher=Union for Reform Judaism |access-date=11 April 2020}}
• 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,{{cite web | url=https://saltyfemme.wordpress.com/haggadah-zine/ |title=Love and Justice in Times of War Haggadah |author=Micah Bazant |author2=Dara Silverman |year=2003}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://jewschool.com/for-the-discussions-we-didnt-have-an-olive-on-the-seder-plate-this-weekend-in-ny-11284 |title=For the discussions we didn't have: An Olive on the Seder Plate this weekend in NY · Jewschool |date=3 October 2006 }} 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.{{Cite news |url = http://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/Non-traditional-items-showing-up-on-Seder-plates|title = Non-traditional items showing up on Seder plates|date = 5 April 2011|access-date = 3 April 2015|newspaper = The Jerusalem Post |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Adding an olive as a call for peace between Israel and Palestine{{Cite web|date=2019-01-12|title=What Exactly Goes On A Seder Plate?|url=https://18doors.org/how_to_do_a_seder_plate/|access-date=2021-03-27|website=18Doors|language=en-US}} is a well acknowledged{{Cite web|title=Non-traditional items showing up on Seder plates|url=https://www.jpost.com/features/in-thespotlight/non-traditional-items-showing-up-on-seder-plates|access-date=2021-03-27|website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|date=5 April 2011 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2013-03-25|title=Why Are There Olives on the Seder Plate?|url=https://rabbiellisarah.com/why-are-there-olives-on-the-seder-plate/|access-date=2021-03-27|website=Rabbi Elli Sarah|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=flickr|first=CeresB via|title=Put Olive on Seder Plate for Palestinians and All Oppressed Peoples|url=https://forward.com/opinion/172963/put-olive-on-seder-plate-for-palestinians-and-all/|access-date=2021-03-27|website=The Forward|date=18 March 2013 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Olives on the Seder Plate {{!}} Passover Haggadah by Susan Walker|url=https://www.haggadot.com/clip/olives-seder-plate|access-date=2021-03-27|website=www.haggadot.com|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2019-04-16|title=10 Unique Items to Add to Your Seder Plate|url=https://www.kveller.com/10-unique-items-to-add-to-your-seder-plate/|access-date=2021-03-27|website=Kveller|language=en}} addition for some Jews.{{Cite news |url = http://www.jta.org/2011/04/12/life-religion/from-oranges-to-artichokes-chocolate-and-olives-using-seder-plate-as-a-call-to-action|title = From oranges to artichokes, chocolate and olives, using seder plate as a call to action|date =April 12, 2011 |publisher = Jewish Telegraphic Agency |last=Fishkoff |first=Sue }}{{Cite web|title=The Seder Plate|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-seder-plate/|access-date=2021-03-23|website=My Jewish Learning|language=en-US}}
• 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2024-04-19/ty-article-magazine/.premium/this-years-alternative-passover-seder-plate-has-shades-of-october-7/0000018e-f206-d620-abaf-f26677410000 | title=This year's alternative Passover seder plate has shades of October 7 | last1=Fink | first1=Rachel }}{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/us/campus-protest-seders.html | title=A Night Different from Others as Campus Protests Break for Seder | work=The New York Times | date=23 April 2024 | last1=Otterman | first1=Sharon | last2=Fawcett | first2=Eliza | last3=Cruz | first3=Liset }} 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.thejc.com/news/features/how-did-the-watermelon-become-a-symbol-of-palestinian-protest-qr9xe81i | title=How did the watermelon become a symbol of Palestinian protest? | date=8 January 2024 }}

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

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/116902/jewish/the-seder-plate.htm/ Chabad.org: The Seder Plate]
• Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, [https://ph.yhb.org.il/en/04-16-03/ The Seder Plate] in Peninei Halakha

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