Leader: (Points to Seder Plate) We have before us the Seder Plate. On it have been placed the main symbols of this Service.

Participant: First, we have three MATZOS, commemorating the bread which our ancestors were compelled to eat during their hasty departure from Egypt. We use three Matzos to represent the three religious groupings of the Jewish People- Kohen, Levi, and Yisroayl. They are placed together in unity of the Jewish people. In unity, we find our strength and power to survive. 

Participant: The second symbol is the ROASTED SHANKBONE (aka the VEGAN BEET) which reminds us of the Paschal Lamb, (Paschal Beet), a special animal (vegetable) sacrifice which our ancestors offered by the altar of the great Temple in Jerusalem on the Passover holiday.

Participant: The third symbol is a ROASTED EGG, which reminds us of a second offering brought to the Temple on Passover. It was known as the "festival offering," for it was brought on each of the three festivals- Pesach, Shavuos, and Succos.

Participant: The fourth symbol is the MOROR, the bitter-herbs, which reminds us of the bitterness of slavery, which our ancestors were compelled to endure.

Participant: The fifth symbol is the CHAROSES, made to resemble mortar, used at this time to remind us of mortar which our ancestors made bricks for the building of the Egyptian cities.

Participant: The final symbol is the KARPAS, a green vegetable, used to remind us that Passover coincides witht he arrival of Spring and the gathering of the Spring harvest. Passover, in ancient times, was also an agricultural festival and an occasion on which our ancestors gave thanks to the earth's rich bounties. 

Participant: Four times in the course of this Service, we shall partake of the wine, a symbol of joy and thanksgiving. The four cups represent the four-fold promise which the Lord made to the Israelites in Egypt. In the following words, He assured them that they would be freed from servitude: "I will bring you forth;" "I will deliver you;" "I will redeem you;" "I will take you."

Participant: The ORANGE on the Seder Plate. ... Some may consider the orange a symbol of women's rights, derived from a man supposedly telling Professor Susannah Heschel that "a woman belongs on the bimah [in a leadership position in the congregation, or reading from the Torah] as much as an orange belongs on the seder plate.

Leader: We shall now sanctify the holiday with the recitation of the Kiddush. Let us rise.


haggadah Section: Introduction