THE PASSOVER SYMBOLS

We have now told the story of Passover…but wait! We’re not quite done. There are still several symbols on our Seder plate we haven’t explained.

The shank bone represents the “pesach,” the special lamb sacrifice made in the days of the Temple for the Passover holiday. During the final plague, the Israelites were instructed to smear lamb’s blood on the lintel of their homes so the angel of death would pass over their homes. The sacrifice and now the shank bone are called pesach, from the Hebrew word meaning “to pass over,” because God passed over the houses of the Israelites when inflicting plagues upon their Egyptian oppressors.

The matzah on our table reminds us that when the Israelites were finally freed from bondage, they rushed to leave Egypt before Pharaoh could change his mind. As they fled, the dough they made

for bread did not have time to fully rise, so they ate flat matzah instead. During Passover, we also eat matzah and refrain from eating anything that is leavened or can rise.

The bitter herbs symbolize the bitterness of slavery, the life of hard labor the Israelites experienced


haggadah Section: Motzi-Matzah