The Bitter Herbs: Marror

God commanded the Israelites to eat along with the Passover lamb, and unleavened bread, "bitter herbs," or marror in Hebrew. The word means "bitterness." The purpose of the marror, or bitter herbs, at the Passover table, is to remind us of the bitterness our ancestors (or we, ourselves, as we put ourselves in their place) were forced to suffer in Egyptian bondage. For this reason, many use horseradish on Pesach night, and eat it along with other bitter herbs, such as romaine lettuce, endive, or even iceberg lettuce. During the Seder, marror is eaten twice once alone, and once with matzah, in a "sandwich."

A third item eaten at the Passover table is called charoset. It is a mixture of apples, figs, dates, or even pomegranates, walnuts, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, particularly those fruits mentioned in the Song of Songs (they serve as a metaphor for Israel), grated together to form a thick mixture. It symbolizes the mortar and clay (khar-sit) the Israelites were forced to mix and use to build Pharaoh's buildings. Red wine is added, to make the mixture appropriately pasty, reminding us of the blood shed by the Israelites in bondage, the blood of the male infants Pharaoh shed, and the blood of the first plague God put upon Egypt. The charoset is eaten together with the marror, and represents "hope," reminding us that even in affliction and suffering (marror) there is still hope for the future.

A fourth item of Passover is called karpas. Toward the beginning of the Seder, a small piece of karpas - parsley, celery, or even radish - is dipped into salt water or vinegar and eaten. This reminds us of the bitterness of affliction, and the salt water reminds us of the tears shed by the Israelite slaves in Egypt.

Marror

Now each of us will take a bit of the marror, the bitter herb, and dip it into the charoset to fulfill the commandment of this night to eat the marror. Thus, we dip our food the second time.

The marror that we eat reminds of the bitterness of oppression that we experienced in Egypt and in Babylon, in Rome and in Spain, in Czarist Russia and in Nazi Germany. The horseradish has a sharp, stinging taste that often brings tears to our eyes, as we remember the tears our ancestors shed, and that are still being shed by so many people in so many places around the world, who have yet to taste the sweetness of freedom.

But we dip the marror in sweet charoset, a mixture of fruit, wine, and spices, to remind us that even in the darkest hours, there were those who extended a hand to help us, lighting a lamp of hope for the future, when the world appeared so glum. This was the daughter of Pharaoh in Egypt, who took the infant Moses into her home, knowing that he was an Israelite, and this was the Righteous Among the Nations, diplomats and peasants alike, who sheltered us and brought us comfort in a time when evil ruled the world. The charoset reminds us that even the bitterest darkness can have a sweet glimmer of hope and that it is this hope for the future that sustains us as Jews and as human beings.