Passover Seder Plate

Passover Seder plate

The Passover Seder Plate Hebrew: ke'ara (קערה) is a special plate containing symbolic foods eaten or displayed at the Passover Seder.

Significance

Each of the six items arranged so on the plate has special significance to the retelling of the story of the exodus from Egypt, which is the focus of this ritual meal. The seventh symbolic item used during the meal — a stack of three matzos

Symbolic foods

The six traditional items on the Seder Plate are as follows:

Sterling silver seder plate

Many decorative and artistic Seder Plates sold in Judaica stores have pre-formed spaces for inserting the various symbolic foods.

Table set for the seder with a seder plate, salt water, matza, kosher wine and a copy of the Haggadah for each guest

The sixth symbolic item on the Seder table is a plate of three whole matzot, which are stacked and separated from each other by cloths or napkins. The middle matzah will be broken and half of it put aside for the afikoman. The top and other half of the middle matzot will be used for the hamotzi (blessing over bread), and the bottom matzah will be used for the korech (Hillel sandwich). Matza is flat bread and symbolises the yeast less bread that was eaten by the Hebrews after they were set free.

A bowl of salt water, which is used for the first "dipping" of the Seder, is not traditionally part of the Seder Plate, but is placed on the table beside it. However, it sometimes is used as one of the six items, omitting chazeret.

Variants

Some Jews do practice one of the above variants. Over the years, Pesach has often been used as an occasion for political or social commentary. This was often the case when the departure of Soviet Jews was compared to the departure of the Jews from Egypt.

See also

References

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