Maror (in Hebrew, מָרוֹר) refers to the bitter herbs, eaten during the course of the Passover meal (Seder), once on its own and once together with matzah. The first time it is eaten a special blessing is said. Both times it is first dipped into charoset.
The central mitzvah of the Seder night is remembering the Exodus from Egypt.1 The Bible also includes three individual mitzvahs as well: eating matzah, maror and the paschal lamb (the lamb is no longer eaten). The bitter herbs serve to recall the bitterness of our slavery in Egypt.
The maror is found on two places on the Passover Seder plate. The pile at the center of the plate (according to Chabad custom) is known as "maror," and it is eaten first. The second pile, on the bottom of the plate, is known as "chazeret," which literally means "lettuce." The other items on the Seder plate are: three matzahs, beitzah (an egg), zeroah (a shank or chicken neck), karpas (vegetable), and charoset (a paste of fruit, nuts, and wine).
Maror in the Bible
Do you wonder why we are eating this stuff? You’re on to something. During the Passover Seder, we ask that very question. The text of the Haggadah answers by quoting a verse from the Torah: “They embittered our lives with hard work.”2 The bitter taste of the herbs reminds us of the bitterness of our slavery in Egypt.
The actual source of the biblical commandment to eat maror is found in a later verse, where G‑d commands us to make the paschal lamb: “Eat [the lamb] with the matzahs and maror.”3 The phraseology of this command is very precise: eating the maror is a part of the mitzvah of the paschal lamb.4 Rather than being an independent mitzvah, it is merely a prerequisite for the paschal lamb.5 Accordingly, since we no longer have the obligation to offer the paschal lamb, there is no biblical command to eat maror. However, even though the biblical notion of eating maror to remember our slavery no longer applies,6 the rabbis decreed that we should eat maror anyway to remember what we did in Temple days.7
What Can Be Used for Maror?
By definition, maror is something bitter. But what?
The Mishnah lists five herbs that fit the bill.8 There is some discussion as to how to translate the Hebrew/Aramaic words of the Mishnah,9 but it is generally accepted that romaine lettuce, horseradish and endives (escarole) are included in the list.10 The Chabad custom is to use romaine lettuce and horseradish together.11
The Mishnah continues that both the stalk and the leaves (if using an herb that has leaves) may be used, and they may be fresh or dry. The Talmud, however, points out that this allowance for dry herbs is only regarding the stalk; the leaves must be fresh.12 The herbs may not be cooked, or even soaked for 24 hours,13 since that would cause them to lose their bitter taste.
How to Eat Maror
Now we get into the specific details of how to eat the maror.
During the Seder nights (one in Israel and two in the Diaspora), after we have eaten the matzah, we prepare to eat maror. First, we take a kezayit (the volume of an olive) of the maror and dip it into charoset,14 a traditional concoction of apples, nuts, wine and other sweet ingredients. This was originally done to kill a dangerous worm that could be found in the herbs.15 Some say that the reason we still do it nowadays is because charoset resembles the cement we were forced to use in building the Egyptian cities.16 Although we dip the bitter maror in the sweet charoset, be sure not to let the maror linger in the charoset so as not to dilute the taste, and shake off the charoset straight away.
Once this is done, we make the blessing of al achilat maror (“Blessed are You . . . who has commanded us regarding the eating of maror”). There is no need to say the blessing of ha’adamah, since we’ve already said it over the karpas (the veggies we dipped in salt water).17
Once the blessing is made, eat the maror straight away. You should not speak between making the blessing and eating the maror. If you did speak, if it was about a topic that was not related to the meal, you repeat the blessing.18
Even though we’ve been leaning luxuriously all evening when we drank our wine and ate our matzah, we don’t lean when eating the maror19—although you can if you want to.20
Ideally, the maror should be eaten in one mouthful.21 If that proves too difficult, you can eat it at your own pace, as long as it’s eaten in the allotted time (about 2–4 minutes). Even as you rush to eat your maror, however, slow down enough to chew it,since tasting the bitterness is an integral part of the experience. Swallowing it whole without tasting it does not count.22
The Hillel Sandwich: Eating Maror With Matzah
After we eat the maror, the herbs are used one more time for what is known as the korech, a sandwich comprised of matzah and maror.23 To understand why we do this, it’s necessary to take a moment to explain a dispute among the rabbis about how the paschal lamb, matzah and maror were eaten when the Temple was standing. Most of the rabbis were of the opinion that each was eaten separately. Hillel, however, held that one would make a sandwich of the three and eat them together. To fulfill all opinions, we do both. We first eat the matzah and maror separately, and then we eat them together as the korech sandwich.
This is done as follows: First, one takes a kezayit of the matzah and snaps it in half to make two parts of a sandwich (if you have a Seder plate, use the third matzah for this24). Next, take a kezayit of maror and place it between the two slices of matzah. This time, use the chazeret, the pile of maror closest to you on the Seder plate.
There is some debate in halachah whether or not to dip the maror again in the charoset. The Chabad custom is to dip, but those who are careful not to place any moisture on their matzah should instead place a small piece of wineless charoset on the maror.25
Then, say, “Kein asah Hillel . . .” (“So Hillel did . . .”), as quoted in the Haggadah, and eat the matzah and maror together while leaning to the left side.26
The Meaning of Maror
At the beginning of this article,27 we stated a few things that seem to be difficult to understand. Firstly, we stated that maror is merely a “preparation” for the paschal lamb. Why is that? True, the Torah does connect them in the verse, but why does the Torah make one dependent on the other? We then said that nowadays, since there is no paschal lamb, there is no biblical commandment to eat maror—and there is therefore no reason to eat maror in remembrance of the slavery. Instead, we eat it only to remind us of the Temple. Once again, this seems difficult to understand—just because we have no biblical commandment, we shouldn’t eat maror to remind us of the slavery? Our slavery in Egypt is surely something worth remembering!
To explain this, it’s necessary to take a moment to analyze the Seder night—and to embark on a path towards a deeper understanding of maror. Externally, the Seder seems split into two distinct parts. First we gather our family together and recount the tale of our time in Egypt, reliving once again one of the most defining chapters of our history. Then, when that is done, we return to the present and fulfill the physical mitzvahs of the night—eating matzah and maror. These two parts seem to have little in connection with each other.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, explains however that this viewpoint is superficial. Once we begin to analyze the Seder, we realize that these two parts share a common thread; they are the two acts of a single play, each one working in sync with the other to bring about the theme of the Seder night. That theme is remembering Egypt. First, we sit down for maggid, the step of the Seder when we use our gifts of speech, creativity and imagination to recount the story of our slavery and redemption. But that’s not enough; the story is still limited solely to our mind. So when we’re done, we take out the Passover foods to internalize that feeling of freedom through our very actions. When we eat the maror, the bitter taste grants us an appreciation for the hardships our forefathers endured, and ideally, if we were able to savor the paschal lamb, its rich sweetness would show us the freedom that followed.
This is why the maror is so important. We must sense the bitterness of slavery to really taste the joy of freedom. Freedom is meaningless if one has never felt confined. Therefore, the maror is considered a preparation for the paschal lamb—its bitterness lends an appreciation for the value of the paschal lamb.
Nowadays, however, we do not have the freedom of the paschal lamb. We are still confined to exile. Therefore, the bitterness of maror will not grant us a greater appreciation of our freedom—we do not yet have such freedom. On the contrary: its bitterness will only greater emphasize the bitterness of our current state. Therefore, there no longer exists a commandment to remember the bitterness of Egypt.
Instead, we eat maror solely in remembrance of the Temple.
Key Takeways
- Maror nowadays is a rabbinical decree, instituted to remind us of the Temple.
- Common herbs for maror are horseradish and romaine lettuce. Chabad uses both.
- Before eating the maror, dip it into the charoset and then shake it off.
- Make only an al achilat maror blessing, and not a ha’adamah.
- You do not have to lean.
- Eat it within 2–4 minutes.
- Eat it again between two pieces of matzah.
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