These days, modern American families celebrate the holiday, which takes place every spring on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, by eating traditional foods like matzo, matzo ball soup , brisket and macaroons.
But what are the meanings behind the specific items you'll find at the Seder table? Each of the six items on the Seder plate have a specific meaning in regards to the story of Passover. On Passover, all leavened bread is removed from the household and Jews eat only matzo, or unleavened bread during the duration of the holiday.
The reason for this is to commemorate the fact that the Jews fled Egypt so quickly, they did not have enough time to allow for the bread they took along with them to rise. This "bread of affliction" was also eaten while the Jews were slaves. According to the Book of Genesis, Joseph and his family moved from the biblical land of Ca'anan down to Egypt during a drought.
Once in Egypt, Joseph quickly rose to power as the Egyptian pharaoh's second-in-command -- a revered position that extended special protection to the Israelite people for several generations. However, when a new pharaoh came to power, he was threatened by the growing size of the Israelite community and enslaved them. This turn of events is commemorated during the Seder by dipping the karpas into bitter salt water, which represents the tears shed by the Israelites.
Karpas also symbolizes springtime — which is appropriate since Passover is called Hag Ha'Aviv or the holiday of spring. While parsley leaves are the most common food used to represent the karpas, some families use celery or boiled spring potatoes.
Maror Maror, or bitter herbs, is another one of the Passover foods on the Seder plate and it symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. Different families use different foods to represent the maror, but it is most typically horseradish or romaine lettuce. Like the Israelites' sojourn in Egypt, romaine lettuce is sweet at first, but becomes more and more bitter as time goes on.
The word charoset is derived from the Hebrew word for clay, cheres. Jews from Eastern European descent referred to as Ashkenazi make their charoset from apples, walnuts, sweet red wine and a generous dash of cinnamon. Families from Sephardic descent use dates, figs, almonds and honey to make charoset. During the Seder, a sandwich is eaten from matzah, charoset and maror. Known as "korech", this ritual sandwich embodies the Israelites' bitterness over their hard labor masonry and the spiritual affliction they suffered from being enslaved.
Shank Bone The shank bone, or z'roa in Hebrew, represents the Paschal sacrifice offered by the Israelites on the eve of their exodus from Egypt. The dipping of a vegetable as an appetizer is said to reflect the influence of Greek culture.
The maror is often dipped in charoset to reduce its sharpness. Maror is used in the seder because of the commandment in Numbers to eat the paschal lamb "with unleavened bread and bitter herbs".
Optional social justice additions: Passover offers a variety of opportunities to infuse our holiday celebrations with social justice themes, including a number of modern additions to consider adding to your seder plate.
See "8 Modern Additions to the Seder Plate" to learn more. Because the Hebrew calendar does not match up with the Gregorian calendar, the date of Passover along with other Jewish holidays changes every year. In , Passover will take place from sundown on April 8 to sundown on April In contemporary Passover celebrations, relevant political or social justice themes have been incorporated into the seder.
And while there are myriad Haggadot to choose from to fit nearly all religious, age-specific, political or even satirical needs , the retelling of the Exodus is a key fixture in a Haggadah, along with the reading of the 10 plagues, the asking of the four questions, and explaining various Passover rituals, some of which date back 2, years, according to My Jewish Learning. In the very basic Passover storyline , the Pharaoh is fearful that there will be too many Jews living in Egypt so he institutes slavery and demands that male Jewish babies be killed.
After killing a slave master, Moses flees into the desert, and encounters a burning bush of God revealing himself to Moses. God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and lead the Jews out of slavery. Moses goes to the Pharaoh and asks that he let the Jews go free from Egypt. The tenth and final plague is the most drastic: the killing of the first born by the so-called angel of death. The Israelites were ultimately freed from slavery and wandered the desert for 40 years before making it to the promise land.
Families hold a seder on the first and sometimes second night of Passover. It is fundamentally a religious service set around a dinner table, where the order in which participants eat, pray, drink wine, sing, discuss current social justice issues and tell stories is prescribed by a central book called the Haggadah.
0コメント