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Maror
Contributed by Rose Fox

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

The Baal HaTanya (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liady, 1745-1812) draws a fascinating distinction between two types of sadness. The first he refers to as bitterness, a form of regret or sadness that emerges from a sense that things are broken, or less than ideal. This form of sadness is positive, he says, because it emerges from a place of idealism, hope, and a powerful desire to change. We are “bitter” because we sense that a vital and healthy part of ourselves is not finding expression in the world. It is precisely our capacity for hope and transformation that makes this type of sadness possible. Our sense of loss is informed by our appreciation for a whole.

The second type of sadness is depression. This type of sadness “closes our hearts” with despair, numbs our feelings, and blocks out all joy. From this perspective, perhaps we eat maror to explore how to move from a sadness that holds us back to a sadness that can lead to growth and change. When dealing with hard things I often find I am choosing between allowing sadness to dominate my mood or trying to ignore it and put it aside altogether. The narrative of the seder refutes this false dichotomy. We don’t deny the difficulties and pain, but maybe we can put it into a wider context that includes joy and gratitude. We make room for sadness but we don’t let it take over. We eat the maror with the matza.

...Our eating of maror and talking about slavery might also carry with it a lesson about the negative power of shame. I don’t like sharing my stories of pain or difficulty. They often feel like stories of failure. It often feels like my pain is a result of my inadequacy in managing my life or lack of success. If I were a better person, more capable, wiser, more powerful, my story would be all about happiness. Sadness becomes associated with failure. By including the pain and humiliation in our national story of birth and redemption we are reminding ourselves that pain, sadness, and difficulty are part of everyone’s story. I don’t need to paper over it or pretend it’s not there. My challenge is to include fully the hard parts of my story, both individually and nationally, and still feel joy and gratitude. Our plates include bitter herbs right next to the matza and the wine.

—Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield

There is a commandment to eat maror, the bitter herb—which specifies chewing it, not just hastily swallowing it!—because we might otherwise try to spare ourselves the pain. The maror reminds us of the bitterness of slavery; the mitzvah of eating maror reminds us that we should not turn away from the pain of those in dire straits, but face it directly, even taking their pain into ourselves, so we may be moved to aid them. If we would be so quick to dodge even the tiny pang of chewing on some maror, we must also be quick to help others who suffer much greater pain and bitterness.

Blessed are you, י ה ו ה, spirit of the universe, who directs us to create sacredness by eating maror.

We come together in shared determination to act in rightness, and observe the ritual of eating maror.

haggadah Section: Maror

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