Seder Plate, A Poetic Introduction

Haggadah Section: Introduction

Passover….the season dedicated to freedom in the Jewish calendar can wash over a person like a great, toppling wave, like the sea roiling over the chariots, horses, and warriors of Egypt. All the preparations, all the questions! What is the essence of enslavement? What is freedom, and how is it cultivated, sustained? 

In the ancient story, the people groan in bondage, but are too caught up in suffering to respond to freedom's call, too traumatized to touch the open spaces in themselves which, however minute or contracted, can never be completely quashed.

This freedom story seems to be among our core narratives as human beings. How do boundaries and flow, fences and open fields, consonants and vowels, synergize to produce meaning and the possibility of agency? How does the way we hold ourselves within connect with the ways we are held, with the ways our ancestors have been held, and with how we and our children hold and flow into the future? And what does haggadah, “the telling,” have to do with our freedom?

The seder, the ritual meal into which the haggadah is woven, marks the beginning of our yearly Jewish freedom journey. Last year, at 4 a.m. on a Monday morning just before Passover—the Monday after a day of great public marches, when many young people's voices surged forth from their hearts like a mighty stream, declaring their commitment to sanity, to securing a future of freedom to live and work and grow, for themselves and for future generations—a series of poems emerged. As I contemplated the objects that would be placed on the seder plate, symbolic of burgeoning life and the possibility of freedom to know, to love, to serve, they began to speak in new and surprising voices.

The haroset, sweet and nutty; the karpas and hazeret, spring greens both sweet and bitter; the stinging maror and the zeroa, recalling the roasted pascal shank bone; and two round symbols, the betzah or roasted egg, and the orange, a recent addition to the ancient plate, inviting all those who have felt outside the pale to join in the festive freedom meal—all these call to us, making the story immediate, sensory-rich, digestible. They beg us to tell the ancient story, not only as if we had been there, but as if they—the ancient Israelites and the rabbis who crafted their tale for telling and re-telling—are here, now, seeing backward with our eyes, eating, drinking, and blessing alongside us. 

May our Passover observances this year open a new road, a clear path, an open space that holds in each day, through each breath, the possibility of healing, of rebirth, and of joy.

Seder Plate….
Pesach’s blue plate 
special, a strange 
and yet familiar
gathering of ingredients,
recipe for remembrance,
symbols of celebration,
subject of cerebration,
centerpiece of our
meal of liberation….

Haroset (apples, cinnamon and wine)
Our taste buds
are confused. Spiced
and wine-soaked,
the sweet fruit,
riches of the
earthly garden
with which we
have been entrusted,
chopped and crushed,
cements the bricks 
of our forgetfulness.
Betraying nature, we
betray our own 
true natures—build 
Pharaoh’s palaces and 
storehouses, prisons for 
Earth’s bounty, monuments 
to greed, mortared with 
forgetfulness and ignorance.
How did we
agreed to this
betrayal? How are 
we complicit in 
this intolerable injustice? 

Karpas, Hazeret (sweet and bitter greens) 
Spring greens tantalize
with new life
yet taste bitter
when we have 
forgotten how to 
love, how to 
nourish, how to 
protect the birth
and growth given 
us to nurture.
Then newness, joy 
and bitterness, mingle
in one mouthful, 
blessed and rueful, 
chewed and seasoned
with remorseful tears. 

Maror (bitter herbs)
Fiery root sears 
the knowing of 
how far we 
have strayed from 
Truth into our 
very breath, like 
a dry khamsin,
hot desert wind 
filling nostrils, throats 
with dust and 
despair. How 
many years, how 
many incarnations before
we recognize the 
thrall that binds 
us all, master 
and slave, in 
the tight fist 
of bondage? How 
many millennia before 
we will perceive
why we came
and what it
means to serve? 

Zeroa (roasted lamb shank)
It begins in 
the bones, a
glimmer of freedom,
a deep groan—
where have we 
been? In what 
dark cave immured?
Only when the
darkest of darks 
descends do we
begin to know
our own souls’ 
blindness. Only then,
forced at last
to kill and 
burn and gnaw 
to the bone
the false gods
we have worshipped
do we begin 
to taste the 
savor of truth,
lost long ago—
if ever known.
Only when we
have eaten the
flesh of the
outstretched forearm, God’s
shank, does the
journey home begin.

Betzah (roasted egg)
Egg, round, white,
like the pregnant 
moon of spring, 
swelling full before
our delighted eyes,
pointing us toward
the possible, the
dreamed-for, prayed-
for newness, always
present, just behind
the veil, just
beneath the shell.

Is it greed 
or fear or
soul’s deep grief
that compel us 
to roast this
seed, to cook
the unborn, before
its growth and
birthing can occur?

Orange
Another round of
possibility, this time
not gestation, but
the fruit, juicy,
sweet and tart,
inviting all: Let
all who are
hungry come and
eat! All who 
seek life’s fullness,
all who long
for the circle’s
wholeness! Together let’s
circumambulate the periphery 
of this pregnant 
space, upwelling with
the holiness of 
“between,” Oneness arising
from the midst 
of our colorful 
assemblage, ever expanding 
to include another
and another. We
celebrate this seventh 
ingredient in our
seder soup—the
flavor that at
last completes Creation. 

         (Passover 5778/2018)

Source:  
Diane Elliot

Inspired to create
your own Haggadah?

Make your own Haggadah and share with other Seder lovers around the world

Have an idea
for a clip?

People like you bring their creativity to Haggadot.com when they share their ideas in a clip

Support Us
with your donation

Help us build moments of meaning and connection through
home-based Jewish rituals.

OUR TOP CONTRIBUTORS

contributor image
Esther Kustanowitz
4 Haggadahs38 Clips
contributor image
JQ International
1 Haggadah40 Clips
contributor image
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
5 Haggadahs109 Clips
contributor image
18Doors
1 Haggadah13 Clips
contributor image
JewishBoston
1 Haggadah78 Clips
contributor image
Truah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
1 Haggadah36 Clips
contributor image
American Jewish World Service
1 Haggadah44 Clips
contributor image
JewBelong
3 Haggadahs57 Clips
contributor image
Repair the World
12 Clips
contributor image
HIAS
5 Haggadahs48 Clips
contributor image
Be'chol Lashon
2 Haggadahs27 Clips
contributor image
PJ Library
1 Haggadah17 Clips
contributor image
Jewish World Watch
3 Haggadahs42 Clips
contributor image
Secular Synagogue
10 Clips
contributor image
SVIVAH
1 Haggadah9 Clips
contributor image
The Blue Dove Foundation
12 Clips
contributor image
ReformJudaism.org
24 Clips
contributor image
Jewish Emergent Network
1 Haggadah22 Clips

Passover Guide

Hosting your first Passover Seder? Not sure what food to serve? Curious to
know more about the holiday? Explore our Passover 101 Guide for answers
to all of your questions.

Haggadot

Haggadot.com by Recustom, is a free resource for all backgrounds and experiences. Consider making a donation to help support the continuation of this free platform.

Copyright © 2024 Custom and Craft Jewish Rituals Inc, dba Recustom, dba Haggadot.com.
All Rights Reserved. 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. EIN: 82-4765805.