With the taste of bitterness just before our lips, we remind ourselves of the bitterness our enslaved ancestors experienced in Egypt. Tonight, we force ourselves to experience the stinging pain of the maror (horseradish) so that we should remember the bitterness we endured thousands of years ago as well as the bitterness that is stinging the world today.

For two months now, we've been hearing bitter stories coming out of Ukraine. Stories of civilians getting dragged out of their homes and shot in the streets, maternity wards bombed, missles hitting train stations killing dozens trying to flee, sights of mass graves in Bucha, etc. So far there's roughly 2,000 recorded civilian deaths, with potentially tens of thousands in Mariupol, and 4.5 million refugees.

Let us contemplate the bitterness of slavery, the bitterness of war in Ukraine, and all bitterness experienced in situations across the world as we say this blessing and taste maror.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מרוֹר
Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al achilat maror.


haggadah Section: Maror