Shank Bone

The Pesah which our ancestors ate when the Second Temple stood: what is the reason for it? They ate the Pesah because the holy one, Blessed be He “passed over” the houses of our ancestors in Egypt, as it is written in the Torah: “And You shall say, ‘It is the Passover offering for Adonai, who passed over the houses of the Israelites saving us in Mitzrayim but struck the houses of the Egyptians.

Intention – What will you do to keep safe during this pandemic?

Matzah

Matzah - what does it symbolize in the Seder? There was insufficient time for the dough of our ancestors to rise when the holy one, Blessed be He was revealed to us and redeemed us, as it is written in the Torah: “And they baked the dough which they brought forth out to Egypt into matzah – cakes of unleavened bread – which had not risen, for having been driven out of Egypt they could not tarry, and they had made no provisions for themselves.”

Intention – How is our current lockdown changing your relationship with time?

Bitter Herbs

Why do we eat Maror? For the reason that the Egyptians embitter the lives of our ancestors in Mitzrayim, as the Torah states: “And they embittered their lives with servitude, with mortar and bricks without straw, with every form of slavery in the field and with great torment.”

Intention – What bitterness do you need to learn to live with right now?
 

Charoset

The Passover Seder includes a series of symbolic foods placed on a Seder plate, most of which are explained over the course of the meal… But one element is left unexplained: the charoset, a paste-like mixture of fruit, nuts and spices, with recipes differing wildly from community to community

Food historian Susan Weingarten has observed that just as the Seder was modeled on the Greek symposium, there are parallels between charoset and various Hellenistic sweet-and-sour dipping sauces made with herbs, vinegar and honey, and served with bitter lettuces. – The Forward

The word is thought to come from heres, meaning “clay,” and the sweet reddish or brownish paste (the color depends, of course, on what you put in it) is meant to symbolize the clay the Israelite slaves used to make the bricks and mortar for their Egyptian overlords. The sweetness also offsets the taste of the bitter herbs, much as our freedom offsets the taste of remembered slavery. – Haaretz

Intention – What sweetness are you making for yourself right now?


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu