מרור

Now take a kezayit (the volume of one olive) of the Maror, dip it into the Charoset — but then shake off the Charoset that stuck to it, so that the bitter taste will not be neutralized. Recite the following blessing:

Blessed are You, L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the eating of Maror.

Now eat the Maror, without reclining.

כָּל אֶחָד מֵהַמְסֻבִּים לוֹקֵחַ כְּזַיִת מָרוֹר וּמַטְבִּלוֹ בַּחֲרוֹסֶת, חוֹזֵר וּמְנַעֵר הַחֲרוֹסֶת, מְבָרֵךְ וְאוֹכֵל בְּלִי הַסָבָּה.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מָרוֹר.
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What

Bitter herbs, raw horseradish, or bitter lettuce are showcased on the Seder plate and eaten during the Seder.

Why

We remind ourselves through the sensory experience of eating marror of the bitter lives our ancestors endured at the hands of their Egyptian masters. As we read in the Torah, “They embittered [va’yemareru] their lives with hard labor, with mortar and bricks, and with all sorts of field labor. Whatever the task, they worked them ruthlessly” (Exodus 1:14).

Marror is eaten together with a bit of charoset, a confection usually consisting of nuts, apples, dates, sweet wine, and cinnamon (recipes vary). It looks like mortar to invoke the historical memory of laying bricks, but it also offers a sweet taste to temper the bitterness of that memory.

How

Marror is eaten immediately after the matzah. We take a small amount of marror, dip it in the charoset, and before eating recite the blessing over marror:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה‘ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מָרוֹר:

Baruch ata Adonai eloheinu melekh ha’olam, asher kideshanu be’mitzvotav ve’tzivanu al achilat marror.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe, Who has hallowed us with Your commandments and commanded us to eat marror.

Eat the marror without reclining since it is symbolic of slavery, not freedom.

Text 1

למה נמשלו מצרים למרור, לומר לך מה מרור זה תחלתו רכה וסופו קשה, אף מצרים תחילתן רכה וסופן קשה, בתחילה כתיב כי טוב כל ארץ מצרים לכם היא (בראשית מה כ), ולבסוף וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה וגו‘ [שמות א יד]

“Why were the Egyptians compared to marror? To teach you that like marror, its beginning is soft, but its end is hard (for example, lettuce has soft leaves which are not necessarily bitter, and a hard stem, which is bitter). So too were the Egyptians. In the beginning it was written, ‘...for the good things of all the land of Egypt are yours.’ (Genesis 45:20), and in the end it was written, ‘...and they made their lives bitter with hard work’” (Exodus 1:14). —Shlomo Buber, Midrash Sechel Tov on Exodus, chapter 12 (nineteenth-century Poland)

  1. Since we generally gain perspective retrospectively, what does the Midrash want us to learn?
  2. If you knew this lesson in good times, what would you do to avoid having your circumstances turn bitter?

Text 2

חיב אדם לברך על הרעה כשם שהוא מברך על הטובה, שנאמר (דברים ו) ואהבת את ה‘ אלהיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך.

“A person is obligated to bless [God] for the evil just as they bless [God] for the good, for it is written, ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’ (Deuteronomy 6:5)”—Mishnah, Tractate Brachot 9:5

  1. Consider the blessing over marror: “. . . Who has hallowed us with Your commandments and commanded us to eat marror.” Marror represents the bitterness of Egyptian slavery; saying a blessing over a bitter or hurtful experience can be one of the most difficult things to do. How might we begin to see disaster as a cause and moment to recite a blessing?
  2. The Mishnah suggests that loving God involves bringing in the painful, broken part of ourselves, and that sometimes even loving God can be painful. Have you ever experienced this kind of love for God or another person?
  3. The Kotzker Rebbe (nineteenth-century Poland) once mused: “There is nothing so whole as a broken heart.” How do you interpret this statement?

Text 3

ואמר רב פפא לא נישהי איניש מרור בחרוסת דילמא אגב חלייה דתבלין מבטיל ליה למרוריה ובעינן טעם מרור וליכא…אמר רבא בלע מצה יצא בלע מרור לא יצא.

“Rav Papa said: a person should not prolong the dipping of marror in charoset lest the sweetness of its [the charoset’s] ingredients neutralize its [the marror’s] bitterness. The taste of bitterness is essential, but would then be absent.

Rava said: If one swallows matzah [without chewing], one’s obligation is filled. If one swallows marror [without chewing], one’s obligation is not filled.”—Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Pesachim 115b

  1. The Talmud makes it clear that experiencing bitterness at the Seder (through taste) is essential. How might the ritual demanding that we taste the bitterness enable us to confront our own memories of bitterness so that we may heal and move on?
  2. Interestingly, ta’am, the Hebrew word for “taste,” also means “reason” or “purpose.” How does understanding the reason or purpose of something give flavor to our actions? Without taste or reason, how are rituals prone to becoming irrelevant?

Marror as a Way of Life

“I oppose the lachrymose [tearful, mournful] conception of Jewish history that treats Judaism as a sheer succession of miseries and persecutions.”—Salo Baron (twentieth-century Jewish historian)

Marror is dipped in the sweet charoset to teach us that dwelling solely in negative memory should be avoided. Even the ritual that specifically invokes bitterness is tempered.

  1. What might this be telling us about how we relate to the Jewish narrative?
  2. While it is important to remember the past — persecution, suffering, etc. — how might we also balance these memories?

In Light of the Video...

  1. In this animated video, a father tells his son about the symbolism and nutritional merits of marror. The father asserts that marror is the “most important part” of the Seder. What do you think about this statement? Does his reasoning affirm or change your own opinion?
  2. One idea that the father emphasizes is the importance of choice. Marror, he says, represents the choices we all have — both bitter and sweet. Otherwise put (by the father), “You can’t have the Garden of Eden without the snake.” How do you understand the power of choice in your life? How does bitterness factor into it?
  3. The father explains the difference between bitterness — an ever-present part of life — and bitter people — people consumed by bitterness. How have you dealt with bitter experiences in your life? How have you separated them from or equated them with the bitter people involved?
  4. The father teaches that if life serves you bitterness and you choose to believe anyway, that is an ultimate demonstration of faith. Do you agree with this definition of faith? Why? If not, how do you otherwise characterize ultimate faith?