In creating a holiday about the joy of freedom, we turn the story of our bitter history into a sweet celebration. We experience this by eating bitter maror, followed by sweet charoset.

We first eat the maror by itself, as a reminder of the bitterness the Israelites experiences in Egypt.

[Everyone: Eat a piece of maror. Since maror is a symbol of bondage, we do not recline while eating it.]

Now, we eat the maror and charoset together. We don’t totally eradicate the taste of the bitter with the taste of the sweet, but we recognize that the sweet means more when layered over the bitter. This symbolizes the journey from slavery to freedom.

[Everyone: Eat spoon a small amount of charoset onto the maror, then recite the blessing.]

Leader: ברוּךְ אַתָּה יְיַָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מרוֹר

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al achilat maror.

Everyone: Blessed is the force that sanctified us with the commandment to eat bitter herbs.

[Everyone: Eat the charoset and maror together. Do not recline while eating it.]


haggadah Section: Maror
Source: Compilation By Brandi Ullian