Next we read about the ceremonial foods (and have a nibble), as follows:

Reader: Pesakh helps us remember and personalize the liberation from slavery by presenting us with ceremonial foods.  (Raises the green vegetable from the ceremonial plate, dips in salt water):   This is the green of the earth; this is the salt of the sea.

All: We must learn to care for the earth, which nourishes us with food, air and water.  (Dip and eat.)

Same Reader  (raises egg):  This is the gift of fertility, the creation of life.

All  (raise egg):  We must celebrate the cultivation of life, and disempower those who cultivate death.  (Dip and eat.)

New Reader  (raises matzoh):  This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. It has no leavening; it reminds us of the quick bread that our ancestors had to make as they rushed away from Egypt.

All  (raise matzoh):  Let us remember all who are hungry tonight, and try to feed them.  (Eat)

New Reader  (raises bitter herb) :  This is maror, the bitter herb that represents the bitterness of slavery, of war, of oppression of any kind.

All  (take a piece of bitter herb):  Let us remember all who are tasting bitterness tonight, and try to relieve them.  (Eat.)

Same Reader  (raises kharoses) :  This is kharoses, the sweet concoction that reminds us that even in our suffering there is sweetness in life.

All  (raise kharoses) : Let us appreciate how our lives are filled with sweetness and graced with abundance.  (Eat.)

New Reader:  Also on our ceremonial plate is an orange, a fruit of  the Middle East, with a scent that can fill a room and juice that can strengthen our vision. What does it represent?

All: It stands for the innovation and leadership that women have brought to the Jewish tradition in modern times, and to the struggle for justice throughout history.

Reader: And why is there an olive on our seder plate?

All: Because for millennia  the olive branch has been the symbol of peace, and we seek to make peace where there has been war.


haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning
Source: Lawrence Bush, "A Simple, Highly Participatory Seder," Jewish Currents