,4■- •

Eliyahu, the Cup of Elijah. Jewish tradi-
1 tion says the Mashiach (Messiah) will
I be preceded by Elijah the prophet, at
I which time all disputes will be
I resolved.
The center of attention at the table is
I a stack of three matzot and the seder
plate. Usually, the plate is quite large,
1 and in some models it's multi-layered to
I also hold the three matzot.
Children often are taught that the
I three matzot represent the three ritu-
al divisions of the Jewish people:
i Kohen, Levi and Yisrael. As an
1 explanation it is convenient, but not
accurate.
1 We have the three matzot for a
practical reason. On Shabbat and
I every Torah mandated holiday, we
I make haMotzi (the blessing for eating
bread) on two loaves of bread. The
iwo loaves represent the double poi--
1 tion of manna that fell from heaven
every Friday so that the Jews in the
1 wilderness, newly liberated from
I Egypt, would have enough food for
Shabbat when rryanna did not fall.
Thus, Iwo loaveg represent our ulti-
mate dependence on God for sus--
1 tenance, and God's nurturing
I care for the Jewish people.
By extension, we use two loaves
I on the holidays, which in the Torah
I are also referred to as Shabbatot
(Sabbaths).
As on Shabbat, the harvesting of
I food is forbidden on the major holi-
days. On Pesach, we add a third loaf
for dramatic effect: We break it in
I Iwo. The broken matzo represents our
degraded lives as slaves, for slaves
I ate only what was given to them —
I and what was given to them were
1 mere scraps of food.
At the same time, we rejoice at our
I liberation by the poWer of God and,
I hence, the two matzot.
On the seder plate, the roasted
1 bone (zroa) represents the paschal
lamb, which, since the destruction of
I the Temple, we no longer sacrifice
and eat. Likewise, the roasted egg
(beitza) symbolizes the festival sacrifice
(korban chagiga) also made on
I Pesach, that we do not eat.
• The maror is the bitter herb that

remind us of the bitterness of slavery
we endured in Egypt. We have two
portions on the seder plate, once
by itself and a second time eaten
with matzo. Many families use
I horseradish or some other bitter or
sharp vegetable.
Charoset is a food made to look
like the mortar used with bricks. It
represents the slave labor we
i endured in Egypt. Most Jews of
1 European origin make charoset
1 from grated apples and nuts, often
I flavored with spices and wine. Jews
from other parts of the world make
charoset from a variety of foods,
including dates and peanuts.

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Karpas is a vegetable other than a
maror-type that we use for dipping in
the salt water. Parsley or celery often
are used, but some families prefer
other vegetables.
Although salt water is not on the
seder plate, it is an integral element
in the seder ritual. The salt water
often is explained as symbolic of the
tears shed during slave days. Yet we
dip our vegetable in the manner of
I rich people in Roman times. They.ate
their salads by dipping the raw veg-
I etables in salt water or flavored oil (it
was only much later that the practice
arose of pouring liquid onto the veg-
I etables). ❑

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Early Childhood Program

"A Place to Learn to Love Learning"

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May 2, 2000
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14601 West Lincoln Road
Oak Park

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4/14

2000

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