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What's not on the table
Contributed by Tyler Pearce

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

You may not have been able to get all that traditionally goes on the seder plate. Here, we offer some alternatives, assuming that you have practiced physical distancing, including not going to the grocery store. By doing so, you have kept your neighbours safe.

The items on the seder plate remind us of the Passover story. Every item is significant. Where you have had to find an alternative is doubly significant. We offer food-based alternatives below, but if none of these are available to you, see if you can find an object in your house that can symbolize the meaning behind the food.

ZEROAH (ROASTED BEET)

Zeroah commemorates the paschal (lamb) sacrifice made the night the ancient Hebrews fled Egypt. Vegetarians use a roasted beet but this isn’t a new idea; the great Biblical commentator Rashi suggested it back in the eleventh century.

Alternative:  a roasted potato, a roasted carrot.

MAROR (BITTER HERB)

Bitter herbs (usually horseradish) bring tears to the eyes and recall the bitterness of slavery. The Seder refers to the slavery in Egypt, but people are called to look at their own bitter enslavements.

CHAROSET

There’s nothing further from maror than charoset (“cha-ROH-set”), the sweet salad of apples, nuts, wine, and cinnamon that represents the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves to make bricks.

KARPAS

Karpas is a green vegetable, usually parsley (though any spring green will do). Karpas symbolizes the freshness of spring, renewal and hope.

Alternative: any other green vegetable. If you have no green vegetables: dip a fork into saltwater.

SALT WATER

Salt water symbolizes the tears and sweat of enslavement, though paradoxically, it’s also a symbol for purity, springtime, and the sea.

ORANGE

The tradition of putting an orange on the seder plate in is a response to a less evolved rabbi who told a young girl that a woman belongs on a bimah as much as an orange on a Seder plate. The orange is now said to be a symbol of the fruitfulness of all Jews, whether they be gay, straight, male or female.

Alternative: another juicy fruit.

ROASTED EGG

The roasted egg (baytsah) is a symbol in many different cultures, usually signifying springtime and renewal.

Alternative: a whole olive or a teaspoon of butter.

MATZAH

Matzah is the unleavened bread we eat to remember that when the Jews fled Egypt, they didn’t even have time to let the dough rise on their bread. We commemorate this by removing all bread and bread products from our home during Passover. Alternative: make your own soft Mazah -- in 18 minutes!

Elijah’s Cup

The fifth ceremonial cup of wine poured during the Seder. It is left untouched in honor of Elijah, who, according to tradition, will arrive one day as an unknown guest to herald the advent of the Messiah. During the Seder dinner, biblical verses are read while the door is briefly opened to welcome Elijah. In this way the Seder dinner not only commemorates the historical redemption from Egyptian bondage of the Jewish people but also calls to mind their future redemption when Elijah and the Messiah shall appear.

Miriam’s Cup

Another relatively new Passover tradition is that of Miriam’s cup. The cup is filled with water and placed next to Elijah’s cup. Miriam was the sister of Moses and a prophetess in her own right. After the exodus when the Israelites are wandering through the desert, just as Hashem gave them Manna to eat, legend says that a well of water followed Miriam and it was called ‘Miriam’s Well’. The tradition of Miriam’s cup is meant to honor Miriam’s role in the story of the Jewish people and the spirit of all women, who nurture their families just as Miriam helped sustain the Israelites.

--adapted from clip source by Geoff Chesman

--illustration by Maeve Boardman
haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: Tyler Pearce adapted Geoff Chesman

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