The Seder Plate | Passover haggadah by Jenifer Casey

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EVERY JEWISH FAMILY produces a unique version of the Passover seder—the big ritual meal of traditional foods, served after and amid liturgy, storytelling, and song. We’re all surprised at each other’s customs: You eat lamb? You don’t sing “Chad Gad Ya”? And yet, virtually every seder does share a few common elements. Matzoh crumbs all over the floor. Wine stains on the tablecloth.

A Seder plate containing the traditional symbols of the holiday:

a roasted shank bone and hardboiled egg , recalling the days of the Temple sacrifices [the egg, now considered symbolic of the circle of life];
horseradish and salt water for the bitterness of oppression [and the tears the Hebrew slaves cried and we cry now for all people who are still living in suffering];
parsley for spring;
haroset , a mixture of wine, nuts, and fruit symbolizing mortar and the heavy labor performed by the Israelite slaves.
And for lots of us, an orange .

The ancient Hebrews who fled into the wilderness didn’t know from citrus fruit, and there certainly weren’t any Valencias on Grandma’s Seder plate….

The custom originated with the teacher and writer Susannah Heschel [in the 1980s], who first set it out as a symbol of inclusion for lesbian and gay Jews, and in following years for all those who have been marginalized in the Jewish community. Jewish women adopted the fruit as a symbol of their inclusion, and now there are oranges on Seder plates all over the world….

In the words of Susan Heschel, “When we eat that orange segment, we spit out the seeds to repudiate homophobia and we recognize that in a whole orange, each segment sticks together. Oranges are sweet and juicy and remind us of the fruitfulness of gay and lesbian Jews and of the homosociality that has been such an important part of Jewish experience, whether of men in yeshivas or of women in the Ezrat Nashim.”

The orange is a living part of the ancient pedagogic strategy of Passover. We are commanded to teach our children about the Exodus from Egypt in a manner so vivid that everyone at the table—but especially the kids—remembers (not merely imagines but actually remembers) what it feels like to be a hungry, hunted slave. The Seder makes memory manifest, tangible, and solid as Grandpa’s Kiddush cup. Just like the shank bone, the orange is there so that someone under the age of thirteen will ask, “What’s that thing doing on the Seder plate?” The orange is there so that Mom or Dad can say, “I’m so glad you asked that question.

The orange is a symbol of the struggle by Jews who used to be ignored by our tradition—like gays and lesbians, and women, and Jews by choice—to become full partners in religious and community life. The orange is a sign of change, too, because now all kinds of Jews are rabbis and cantors and teachers and leaders. And the orange is a mark of our confidence in the Jewish future, which means that someday maybe you too will bring something new to the Seder plate.”

The orange on the Seder plate is both a playful and a reverent symbol of Judaism’s ability to adapt and thrive. It also celebrates the abundant diversity of creation. After all, God, who made the heavens and the earth, and dinosaurs and lemurs and human beings, is clearly a lover of variety and change—not to mention oranges.

Excerpt from Anita Diamant

Today we also add one additional symbol, the olive .

The olive branch is a universal symbol of peace, associated with the dove in the story of Noah's Ark and the Flood.

Olive trees mature slowly, so only when there was an extended time of peace, with agriculture left undisturbed, could the olive tree produce its fruit. Olive trees grow in Israel, but today, in Israel the Jews and Palestinians still struggle to live in peace. We hope that both the Jews of Israel and the Palestinians can find a way to live together harmoniously, acknowledging each other’s right to exist in safety, peace, and happiness.

This year, we have olives on our Seder plate to remind us that not only are we not free until everyone is free, but we are not free until there is peace in our homes, in our community and in our world.

haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Source: Anita Diamant section taken from Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship & Other Leaps of Faith