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Maror - Sophie

Contributed by JTL

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Maror represents slavery; and matzah, as explained, our liberation. This being the case, why is maror eaten — and its significance explained — after matzah?

    Maasei Hashem refers us to the verse that is usually translated as “Be pleased on the day when things go well, but on a day of misfortune reflect.” However, it is interpreted as: “Be happy on a day that things do well, reflecting upon the bad days.” That is when someone is happy over some stroke of good fortune, he can increase his happiness by reflecting about just how bad things were before this good fortune came his way. If one reflects upon the evil of his unfortunate times before experiencing his good fortune, however, he is likely to only increase his depression and disappointment. Bearing this in mind we can understand why the maror is eaten after the matzah. It is after we recall our deliverance from the hands of Egypt that we seek to intensify our joy by remembering just how bitter the enslavement that preceded it was. 

    Bircas HaShir explains why we had to be slaves: we had to be slaves because that is what turned us into a nation. One example of this would be: In order to get gold, you have to melt the gold so it becomes pure and then all the bad stuff get melted away. When we wanted to become a nation, we were put into a hard situation “melted down” so we could then become pure. He explains that when we got the torah as a nation, all the bad and all the slavery became obvious that it was all for the best, so that is why we have matzah with represents freedom and then we have the maror because then we are able to recognize the good after the bad 

Does the maror have any other symbolism besides recalling the embittered lives of out forefathers?

The sages note that one of the vegetables which can be used for maror is chassa, meaning “pity,” symbolizing the fact that God had pity on us and redeemed us from slavery. Abarbanel points out that all three of the Pesach foods represent two contrasting ideals. Matzah represents, on the one hand, the bread of affliction eaten by slaves, and, on the other, the fact that the redemption came so swiftly that there was no time for the Jews to allow their dough to rise. The maror, as just shown, shoes both the bitterness of slavery and the mercy shown to us by God. The Pesach sacrifice reminds us of the attribute of Divine Justice — his striking down the Egyptian firstborn — and also of His mercy in passing over and sparing our own houses. 

    The Talmud also describes the deeper significance of comparing the maror to the Egyptian slavery: Just as the Egyptians were originally decent and hospitable towards the Jews and later changed their attitude to one of enmity and hostility, so too maror is soft when it begins to grow and only hardens later. The import of this fact, says Ksav Sofer, is that the hatred of one nation towards another is even more hurtful if it was preceded by mutual respect and harmony. The fact that the Egyptians originally treated the Israelites well made the subsequent affliction of the Israelites more difficult to bear. 

    A Jew was sent to Siberia by the communist government for illegally maintaining a network of Jewish education during the years when Judaism was suppressed. When he finally obtained his freedom he told his friends, “It was difficult to observe Pesach in the labor camp. One year we had no matzot. Another year he has no wine. But of bitter herbs, we were never short.”
haggadah Section: Maror

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