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Parts of the Seder
Contributed by Jeanne Lovy

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023
Parts of the Seder

This booklet is called a Haggadah.

It offers a guide for us as we go through each of the steps of the seder. It also includes comments and artwork on each step of the seder as reflection for now or later.

Some of the key elements:

1) Seder literally means “order.” Slavery and repression (as well as coronavirus) upset the natural order.  Part of task of the seder is to reestablish order in the world and in our lives. 

2)Empty Chair –  It is traditional to include an empty chair at your seder to remember loved ones. This year, the emtpy chair might also represent those who cannot be with us becuse of social distancing.

3)Bitter Herbs (Karpas) -  We think of the salt water as tears, green as spring and renewal - but in life, experiences are seldom pure, with only one thing at a time happening in our lives and emotions, so taste the sadness and hope together. We dip parsley in salt water (actually or metaphorcially) and say a blessing together to notice and honor both. 

4) Matzah - Flat bread to represent the speed with which Jews had to flee Egypt - no time for leavening. We break a piece  and wrap it in a cloth. (At many seders, the piece is hidden and chidlren find it after the meal.) The broken matzah represents a sense of brokenness or other feelings of being hidden.

5) Questions – a seder must have questions, in order to tell the story. Even if only rabbis are at a seder, they must ask questions. What are your questions? Answerable and unanswerable.

6) Telling the Story (Maggid) – The central part of the seder is telling the story of oppression. We will have time to share a personal story, a holiday memory – something funny, sad, or just an observation. 

7)Dayenu/It would be enough - Every seder includes a song that lists our many blessings and a features the chorus, "Dayenu!" meaning that G-d has given us so much, they don't have to give any more. Sometimes, we talk about whether this is true. When are we satisfied and when do we wish for more?

8)Korech- the sandwich. We eat a sandwich with symbolilc elements. For example, matzah is both a bread of poverty and of freedom. Also, haroset (an apple-based mixture) and romaine lettuce, as the brick and clay of the sandwich, are at first sweet. But the longer you chew, the more bitter it gets - like the Jewish experience in Egypt. Sometimes we hold onto our own bitterness and keep chewing it long after it helps us. 

9) Elijah- Just as we had an empty chair, we also fill a cup with wine for the prophet Elijah. Elijah is prophet of healing, and by doing this we invite in healing for self and for world. 

10) Candlelighting, washing hands, symbolic foods, blessings and dialog. Each part of the seder helps it feel special and adds meaning.

[Excertps from Kalsman Institute and Illustration from Silverlake JCC]
haggadah Section: Introduction

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