Passover, like many of Jewish holidays, combines the celebration of a Jewish story with the recognition of the cycles of nature. At Passover, we remember the story of the exodus from Egypt, and we also recognize and celebrate dawning of spring. In fact, Passover is also referred to as Chag HaAviv - the Spring Festival. The symbols on our table bring together elements of both kinds of celebration, and this Karpas is a perfect example.

We now take a green vegetable, representing our joy at the dawning of spring, and we dip it into salt water, a symbol of the tears our ancestors shed as slaves. Greens for spring, salt water for the Exodus story. Before we eat our greens, we recite a short blessing:


haggadah Section: Karpas