Spring reminds us that we are again given a chance for renewal; a new chance to create peace and goodness in our world. At this point in the seder, it is traditional to eat a green vegetable dipped in salt water to symbolize this renewal. The salt water represents the bitter tears shed by our ancestors in slavery.

We have become slaves to the cities we build and to the cars we drive. Trees are cut down to make way for future slums and fossil fuels are burnt polluting our blue skies. Have we forgotten that it is the soil from which humanity came? Each year the earth displays the miracle of creation. What good is the newest packaging and latest chemical substitutes if we are drowned in mounds of waste? As Spring re-awakens all that is green, let us re-awaken our ties to the natural world and our bonds to the earth.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה 

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, borei p’ree ha-adama.

We praise God, Ruler of Everything, who creates the fruits of the earth.

Dip the greens into the salt water and eat it.


haggadah Section: Karpas
Source: Issie Berish