What Do the Foods at Passover Mean?
Passover is a time for celebrating the Jewish heritage and freeing oneself of self-imposed constraints. Seders provide a festive setting for family and communal worship, and each food on the traditional seder plate symbolizes a theme or event tied to the Israelites' exodus from Egypt.
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Fruit Paste (Charoset)
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A sweet mixture made of chopped nuts, cinnamon and apples (and sometimes wine) represents the mortar the Israelites used to bond bricks while enslaved in Egypt.
Vegetable (Karpas)
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A green vegetable, usually parsley, is dipped in saltwater. The vegetable represents new life and renewal, while the saltwater symbolizes the tears shed by the Israelite slaves.
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Hard-Boiled Egg (Beitzah)
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A hard-boiled (or sometimes roasted) egg symbolizes fertility, renewal of body and spirit and the arrival of spring. It can also represent the mourning of the loss of the first Temple in Jerusalem.
Shank Bone (Z'roa)
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A roasted shank bone symbolizes the Passover lamb sacrificed on the eve of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. The bone usually comes from a lamb, chicken or turkey. Some vegetarians use a beetroot instead.
Bitter Herb and Vegetable (Maror and Chazeret)
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A bitter herb, usually fresh horseradish, symbolizes the bitterness and harshness of slavery. A bitter vegetable, often lettuce or a green onion, is sometimes added to reinforce this concept.
Nontraditional Foods
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Some people add nontraditional foods to their seder plates, such as an orange to represent female rabbis, Jewish women or Jewish lesbians and gay men. Others add a coffee bean to represent the stress of balancing work and family life.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit parsley and celery image by GeoM from Fotolia.com
