What Requires Mention | Passover haggadah by Ariel Kates

Search Library

: רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל הָיָה אוֹמֵר:כָּל שֶׁלֹּא אָמַר שְׁלשָׁה דְּבָרִים אֵלּוּ בַּפֶּסַח, לֹא יָצָא יְדֵי חוֹבָתוֹ, וְאֵלוּ הֵן

פֶּסַח, מַצָה, וּמָרוֹר

Rabban Gamliel would teach that all those who had not spoken of three things on Passover had not fulfilled their obligation to tell the story, and these three things are: Pesach, Matzah, and Marror.

Pesach - Shankbone
This reminds us to wear who we are on our sleeves, in public if we can, or at least within our communities, in order to be seen and unseen in the ways that reinforce our differences, our individuality, our pride even, in our vulnerabilities, as the enslaved families painted their homes with the blood of the lambs they sacrificed. How is it powerful to show our vulnerability?

Matzah
We can't always (ever?) be prepared for what's coming. We have to move into the future we want with what we have, even if our bread doesn't fully rise, because of our rushing. How many things are we putting off for "the right time," or when "everything is ready?"

Maror - Bitter Herbs
This reminds us that bitterness has a place in our cuisine - and our lives - truly, that bitterness can be digested along with the sweetness of charoset. That no feeling is unmentionable or unmanageable (as Mr. Rogers said in his senate testimony). This bitterness, like salt, even as it can at times be overpowering, also can enhance the taste of what's around it, and is always better in collaboration with other flavors, as we'll experience soon in our Hillel sandwich.

Other items deserving mention:

Egg:

A strong reminder of how pagan many of our holidays are -- especially this as a biblical pilgrimage holiday. The egg is one of the first religious symbols -- representing fertility and eternity -- and typically it carries purely positive associations. Renewal, spring, a new annual cycle that begins with our liberation. This symbol is ubiquitous and in that way relatively unspecific here in the Haggadah. It doesn't get a step or designated moment in the Seder like Carpas and some of the others, so we eat it now, quietly and delightedly, and wish for all that it represents in whatever form is most meaningful for us.

Carpas:

Like the egg, Carpas comes to represent a holy spring growth. Whether we're from the old country and the only thing growing at this time of spring is a potato, or whether we're in warmer places putting a full leafy green on here, we give honor to the planet, which gives us everything we have and everything we are. We commit to ensuring that the generations for whom we will be ancestors will enjoy the same ritual of growth.

Charoset:

Given that tonight we celebrate liberation with balance and tempering, Charoset is made of sweetness and wine, spice and nuts. The balanced flavors of spring that sweeten our horseradish later. Still, the story of Charoset also has a tempering force: it is said to represent the mortar that was used by the enslaved in the cruelty-toil of their construction, Charoset is a reminder of the gritty nature of the labor, the mundanity of the hardships that are endured by the enslaved, so that we may never forget -- so that we may taste the grit in the teeth of slavery forever, for our whole lives and in every generation (explain Charoset to anyone in Amerikkka who thinks we should "just move on already" from slavery). We gather in our memories of hardship the sweetness of what we have.

The Orange and the Olive:

These two items remind us that there are nations within our nation. Our liberations are intersectional, bound up with a much broader kind of personhood. Or communities and dreams for the future must hold these communities and other marginalized communities as unique, enriching elements of our celebrations and plans.

The Orange:
During a visit to Oberlin College in the early 1980s, Susannah Heschel read a feminist Haggadah that called for placing a piece of bread on the seder plate as a symbol of the need to include LGBTQ folks in Jewish life. Heschel liked the idea of putting something new on the seder plate to represent this, but she was uncomfortable with using chametz, which she felt would invalidate the very ritual it was meant to enhance. She chose instead to add the orange, full of color, compliant with Passover's dietary restrictions, and completely new.

The Olive:

The olive branch is a universal symbol of peace, associated with the dove in the story of Noah's Ark and the Flood. Olive trees mature slowly, so only when there was an extended time of peace, with agriculture left undisturbed, could the olive tree produce its fruit. In 2008, Jewish Voice for Peace promoted putting an olive on the seder plate to support Palestinians' livelihoods, generational peace, connection to their land, and to honor their struggles for liberation generally.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, borei p’ri ha’eitz.

Blessed are you, Adonai, who gives us the fruit of the tree.

haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu

Source: Ariel Kates