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What’s on the Table?
Contributed by Rebecca Bass

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

The Seder Plate

We place a seder plate on our table as a reminder to discuss certain aspects of the Passover story.

Each item has its own significance:

  • Maror  – A bitter herb symbolizes the harshness of the Jews’ lives in Egypt.
  • Charoset  – A mix of fruits and nuts represents the mortar Jewish slaves used to build Egyptian cities.
  • Karpas  – A green vegetable, usually parsley, serves as a reminder of the green sprouting up all around us during spring. It can also represent the time during which Jewish society flourished before the period of their enslavement began.
  • Zeroah   – A roasted lamb shank bone symbolizes the animal sacrifice made the night the ancient Israelites fled Egypt.
  • Beitzah  – An egg symbolizes another sacrifice offering the ancient Israelites made. The roundness of the egg also symbolizes the cycle of life – the continuous, circular flow of life, death, and rebirth.
  • Orange  – The tradition of putting an orange on the seder plate came from Jewish feminist scholar Susannah Heschel. In the 1980s, she was speaking on a panel at Oberlin College, where she came across a haggadah written by some students that suggested putting a crust of bread on the seder plate. The crust was meant to express solidarity with Jewish lesbians after a rabbi’s wife had pronounced, “There’s as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate.” Heschel felt that to put bread on the seder plate would be to accept that the members of the Jewish queer community violate Judaism like chametz (leavened food) violates Passover. Instead, she put an orange on her seder plate to symbolize the fruitfulness of the Jewish people when it includes everyone, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Matzah

Matzah is the unleavened bread we eat to remember that when the Jews fled Egypt, they didn’t have time to let their dough rise first. Many commemorate this by removing all chametz from their homes before Passover and by abstaining from eating such foods for the eight days of the holiday.
 

Elijah’s Cup

We will fill this cup later in the seder in honor of the prophet Elijah, who, according to tradition, will arrive one day as an unknown guest to herald the arrival of the Messiah.
 

Miriam’s Cup

We will also fill Miriam’s cup during the seder. This tradition acknowledges Miriam’s role in the story of the Jewish people, and it honors the spirit of all women, who nurture their families just as Miriam helped sustain the Israelites.

What items could be added or changed to represent recovery?
haggadah Section: Introduction

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