Editing Passover Seder (section)

==Themes of the Seder==

===Slavery and freedom===
[[File:Matzah.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|Machine-made [[Matzah|matzo]]]]
The rituals and symbolic foods evoke the twin themes of the evening: slavery and freedom. It is stated in the Haggadah that "In every generation everyone is obligated to see themselves as if they themselves came out of Egypt" – i.e., out of slavery.

The rendering of time for Jews is that a day began at sunset and ended at sunset. According to the Exodus narrative, at the beginning of the 15th of [[Nisan]] in Ancient Egypt, the Jewish people were enslaved to Pharaoh. After the [[Plagues of Egypt#Death of Firstborn (11:1 - 12:36) מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת|tenth plague]] struck Egypt at midnight, killing all the first-born sons from the first-born of Pharaoh to the first-born of the lowest Egyptian to all the first-born of the livestock in the land (Exodus 12:29), Pharaoh let the Hebrew nation go, effectively making them free people for the second half of the night.

Thus, Seder participants recall the slavery that reigned during the first half of the night by eating [[matzah]] (the "poor person's bread"), [[maror]] (bitter herbs which symbolize the bitterness of slavery), and charoset (a sweet paste, possibly representing the mortar which the Jewish slaves used to cement bricks). Recalling the freedom of the second half of the night, they eat the matzah (the "bread of freedom" as well as the "bread of affliction") and '[[afikoman]]', and drink the four cups of wine, in a reclining position, and dip vegetables into salt water (the dipping being a sign of royalty and freedom).

===The Four Cups===
There is an obligation to drink four cups of wine during the Seder. The [[Mishnah]] says ([[Pesachim]] 10:1) that even the poor are obliged to drink the four cups. Each cup is imbibed at a specific point in the Seder. The first is for [[Kiddush]] ({{lang|he|קידוש}}), the second is for '[[Maggid]]' ({{lang|he|מגיד}}), the third is for [[Birkat Hamazon]] ({{lang|he|ברכת המזון}}) and the fourth is for [[Hallel]] ({{lang|he|הלל}}).<ref name="Marcus">{{cite web|last=Marcus |first=Yossef |title=What is the significance of the four cups of wine? |url=http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/658520/jewish/What-is-the-significance-of-the-four-cups.htm |work=Chabad |access-date=20 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110421031844/http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/658520/jewish/What-is-the-significance-of-the-four-cups.htm |archive-date=21 April 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Seder in a Nutshell |url=http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1751/jewish/The-Seder-in-a-Nutshell.htm |work=Chabad.org |publisher=Chabad |access-date=20 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317234258/http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1751/jewish/The-Seder-in-a-Nutshell.htm |archive-date=17 March 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Pessach Pesach Pascha Judentum Ungesaeuert Seder datafox.jpg|upright=1.1|right|thumb|Passover Seder table]]
[[File:Seder Plate.jpg|upright=1.1|right|thumb|Traditional arrangement of symbolic foods on a Passover Seder plate]]

The Four Cups represent the four expressions of deliverance promised by God Exodus 6:6–7:<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|6:6–7|HE}}</ref> "I will bring out," "I will deliver," "I will redeem," and "I will take."<ref name="Marcus"/>

The [[Vilna Gaon]] relates the Four Cups to four worlds: this world, the [[Messiah|Messianic]] age, the world at the revival of the dead, and the [[world to come]]. The [[Judah Loew ben Bezalel|MaHaRaL]] connects them to the four Matriarchs: [[Sarah]], [[Rebeccah]], [[Rachel]], and [[Leah]]. (The three [[Matzah|matzo]]t, in turn, are connected to the three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.) [[Isaac Abrabanel|Abarbanel]] relates the cups to the four historical redemptions of the Jewish people: the choosing of Abraham, the Exodus from Egypt, the survival of the Jewish people throughout the exile, and the fourth which will happen at the end of days.

The four cups might also reflect the Roman custom of drinking as many cups as there are letters in the name of the chief guest at a meal, which in the case of the Seder is God himself whose Hebrew name has four letters.<ref>{{cite web|title=OzTorah: Four Cups of Wine|url=http://www.oztorah.com/2012/04/four-cups-of-wine/|work=Oztorah.com|publisher=Rabbi Raymond Apple|access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref>

===Seder plate===

The special Passover Seder plate ({{transliteration|he|ke'arah}}) is the special plate containing symbolic foods used during the Passover Seder. Each of the six items arranged on the plate has special significance to the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The seventh symbolic item used during the meal – a stack of three matzot – is placed on its own plate on the Seder table.

The six items on the Seder plate are:
* ''[[Maror]]'': Bitter herbs, which [[Gamaliel]] says symbolize the bitterness and harshness of the slavery which the Jews endured in Ancient Egypt. For ''maror'', many people use freshly grated horseradish or whole horseradish root.
* ''Chazeret'' is typically romaine lettuce, whose roots are bitter-tasting. In addition to horseradish and romaine lettuce, other forms of bitter lettuce, such as [[endive]], may be eaten in fulfillment of the [[mitzvah]], as well as green onions, dandelion greens, celery leaves, or curly parsley (but parsley and celery are more commonly used as the karpas or vegetable element).  Much depends upon whether one's tradition is Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Mizrahi, Persian, or one of the many other Jewish ethno-cultural traditions.
* ''[[Charoset]]'': A sweet, brown, pebbly paste of fruits and nuts, possibly representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt.  The actual recipe depends partly on ethno-cultural tradition and partly on locally available ingredients. Ashkenazi Jews, for example, traditionally make apple-raisin based charoset while Sephardic Jews often make date-based recipes that might feature orange or/and lemon, or even banana. Other Talmudic traditions claim the Charoset "recalls the apple", apparently referencing a tradition that Jewish women snuck out to apple orchards to conceive in Egypt, and that it is not obligatory but serves to nullify the poison of the maror.
* ''[[Karpas]]'': A vegetable other than bitter herbs, sometimes parsley or [[celery]] or cooked [[potato]], which is dipped into salt water (Ashkenazi custom), vinegar (Sephardi custom), or [[charoset]] ([[Yemenite Jews]]) at the beginning of the Seder.
* ''[[Zeroa]]'': A roasted lamb or goat bone, symbolizing the {{transliteration|he|korban Pesach}} (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb offered in the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] and was then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.
* ''Beitzah'': A roast egg – usually a [[hard-boiled egg]] that has been roasted in a baking pan with a little oil, or with a lamb shank – symbolizing the {{transliteration|he|korban chagigah}} (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] and was then eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.

===Focus on the children===
Since the retelling of the Exodus to one's child is the object of the Seder experience, much effort is made to arouse the interest and curiosity of the children and keep them awake during the meal. To that end, questions and answers are a central device in the Seder ritual. By encouraging children to ask questions, they will be more open to hearing the answers.

The most famous question which the youngest child asks at the Seder is the {{transliteration|he|"[[Ma Nishtana]]"}} – 'Why is this night different from all other nights?' After the asking of this questions, the main portion of the Seder, ''Magid'', discusses the answers in the form of a historical review. Also, at different points in the Seder, the leader of the Seder will cover the matzot and lift their cup of wine; then put down the cup of wine and uncover the matzot – all to elicit questions from the children.<ref name=manishtana>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewfaq.org/seder.htm |title=Judaism 101: Pesach Seder: How is This Night Different |access-date=2008-09-21}}</ref>

In some traditions, the questions are asked by the assembled company in chorus rather than by a child, and are put to the leader of the seder, who either answers the question or may direct the attention of the assembled company to someone who is acting out that particular part of the Exodus.  Physical re-enactment of the Exodus during the Passover seder is common in many families and communities.

Families will follow the Haggadah's lead by asking their own questions at various points in the Haggadah and offering prizes such as nuts and candies for correct answers. The ''[[afikoman]]'', which is hidden away for the "dessert" after the meal, is another device used to encourage children's participation. In most families, the leader of the Seder hides the ''afikoman'' and the children must find it, whereupon they receive a prize or reward. In other homes, the children hide the ''afikoman'' and a parent must look for it; when the parents give up, the children demand a prize (often money) for revealing its location.