(Maror held up for all to see.)

MAROR--Why do we eat maror?

In Exodus the Torah commands us to eat the paschal sacrifice, “with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.” Though we do not have the paschal sacrifice any more the obligation to eat the bitter herbs remains. Tradition says that this bitter herb is to remind us of the time of our slavery. We force ourselves to taste pain so that we may more readily value pleasure.

The Hebrew word used is maror, which comes from the root mar, meaning bitter. In the Talmud, the rabbis came up with a list of qualifications for whatever vegetable you use as maror. It should be bitter, have sap, and be grayish in appearance. It also needs to be a vegetable that grows from the earth, not from a tree.

The Mishnah (Pesahim 2:6) lists five possibilities that can be used at the seder, but it’s hard to know for certain exactly what plants they are referring to. The one that is most clear is called “hazeret” in Hebrew, which is commonly understood to mean lettuce. So many authorities today say the best form of bitter herbs is romaine lettuce, even though it is not initially bitter, but has a bitter aftertaste. The outer older leaves of romaine lettuce can contain a grayish milky sap that is very bitter.


haggadah Section: Maror