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Seder Passover food and symbolic meanings  

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Seder Passover food and symbolic meanings  

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What are the Scriptural Roots of Passover?

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What are the Scriptural Roots of Passover?

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“10 While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. 11 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:2-6:1).

What does this mean? The passage I copied above was a Passover Week Reading read during Pensach 1. This reading was describing in detail of the Passover that the Israelites observed at Gilgal after they crossed the river jordan. This began the first celebration of Passover in the Holy Land. It explains how they food of the land, unleavened cakes and grains. When it was no longer available they ate the fruit of Canaan that year.

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Matzot
Three matzot are placed on top of each other on a plate or napkin, and then covered. The matzot are symbolic of the three groups of Jews: Priests, Levites and Israelites.

Zeroa
A piece of roasted meat represents the lamb that was the special paschal sacrifice on the eve of the exodus from Egypt, and annually on the afternoon.

Beitzah (Egg)
A hard-boiled egg represents the pre-holiday offering (chagigah) that was brought in the days of the Holy Temple. The meat of this animal constituted the main part of the Passover meal.

Maror and Chazeret (Bitter herbs)
Bitter herbs are a reminder of the bitterness of the slavery of our forefathers in Egypt. Fresh grated horseradish, and romaine lettuce (or endives), are the most common choices.

Charoset (Paste)
A mixture of apples, pears, nuts and wine, which resembles the mortar and brick made by the Jews when they toiled for Pharaoh.

Karpus (Vegetable)
Many have the custom to use parsley, called karpas in Hebrew. This vegetable alludes to the work of the Jews as slaves. The Hebrew letters of karpas can be arranged to spell the word perech plus the letter samech. Perech means backbreaking work, and samech is equal to 60, meaning 60 myriads, equaling 600,000. The number which was the number of Jewish males over 20 years of age who were enslaved in Egypt.

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In the Jewish culture they celebrate the Passover Seder which is a Jewish ritual dinner. The dinner is inspired by the book of instructions, prayers, blessings, and stories from Haggadah. It demonstrates the proper placements for the ritual. The word Haggadah represents “the telling” which refers to one of the most important aspects of the Seder : the recitation of the exodus story. The rituals are performed by Jewish families during the Passover festival. The Haggadah goes all the way back into the Middle Ages and has been passed down ever since. The meal is eaten on the eve of the Passover festival. Passover commemorates the Isrealites' escape from slavery in Egypt over 3000 years ago, and the haggadah tells this story.

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Passover is the celebration of the Hebrew’s freedom from slavery in Egypt. It marks when the angel of death “passed over” the hebrew’s houses that were marked with lamb blood. The angel killed all of the Egyptian first born sons but skipped over the Jewish Children. This has had a lasting effect on Jews because they believe if God had not freed them they would still be slaves. The Hebrew word for Passover is “Pesach” which means to "skip," "omit," or "pass over".

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The two main themes associated with Passover are redemption and freedom. Redemption because the Jews are commanded to teach their children about Passover every year.  Freedom is about finally being set free and be free to celebrate and honor and to celebrate being set free of physical and mental slavery.