Break the bottom matzah, pass it around the room, and then eat it with the maror (bitters).

When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the biggest ritual of them all was eating the lamb offered as the pesach or Passover sacrifice. The great sage Hillel* would put the meat in a sandwich made of matzah, along with some of the bitter herbs. While we do not make sacrifices any more – and, in fact, some Jews have a custom of purposely avoiding lamb during the seder so that it is not mistaken as a sacrifice – we honor this custom by eating a sandwich of the remaining matzah and bitter herbs.

?אם אין אני לי, מי לי

?וכשאני לעצמי, מה אני

?ואם לא עכשיו, אימתי

Im ayn ani li, mi li?

Ukh she ani, l'atz mi, mah ani?

V'im lo akh shav, ay ma tie?

If I am not for myself, ,who will be for me?

But if I am for myself only, what am I?

And if not now, when?

An Anti-Semite mocked Hillel by asking if he could teach the whole Torah while standing on one food. Hillel replied, "What is hateful to yourself, do not to another. That is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary."

*Hillel - head of the Sanhedrin, the supreme council of ancient Israel, 1st century, BCE.


haggadah Section: Koreich