What Is a Seder meal?

A Seder is the traditional Passover meal that holds deep significance for Jewish people. Here’s an overview of its key elements:

1. Purpose and Timing:
   • The Seder is held after nightfall on the first night of Passover (and the second night if you live outside of Israel). It commemorates our nation’s miraculous exodus from Egyptian slavery more than 3,000 years ago.
   • In 2024, the Seder meal will be celebrated on April 22 (and April 23 in the Diaspora).
2. Components of the Seder:
   • Four Cups of Wine: During the evening, participants drink four cups of wine, symbolizing freedom and redemption.
   • Veggies Dipped in Saltwater: This represents the tears shed during slavery.
   • Matzah: A flat, dry cracker-like bread, symbolizing the haste of the Israelites’ departure from Egypt.
   • Bitter Herbs: Often horseradish, representing the bitterness of slavery.
   • Charoset: A paste of nuts, apples, pears, and wine, symbolizing the mortar used by the Israelites in Egypt.
   • Festive Dinner: May include time-honored favorites like chicken soup and gefilte fish.
   • Each item has its place in a 15-step choreographed combination of tastes, sounds, sensations, and smells that have been part of Jewish tradition for millennia .
3. Seder Plate and Haggadah:

1. The ceremonial foods are arranged on a platter called a ka’arah or Seder plate.
2. The procedure is laid out in a book called a Haggadah, which contains the order of the Seder. You can read the Haggadah in translation if you don’t understand Hebrew 
3. Significance:
   • At the Seder, each person should feel as if they were going out of Egypt.
   • Participants recount the story of their ancestors, the suffering, and the miraculous Exodus.
   • As they eat bitter foods and celebrate, the Exodus becomes a reality—as real as the festive meal and celebratory toasts that follow 
4. The 15 Steps of the Seder:
   1. Kadesh: The Benediction (recitation of kiddush).
   2. Urchatz: Washing.
   3. Karpas: The “Appetizer.”
   4. Yachatz: Breaking the Matzah.
   5. Maggid: The Haggadah (storytelling).
   6. Rachtzah: Washing before the meal. 7-8. Motzi Matzah: Eating the Matzah.
   7. Maror: The Bitter Herbs.
   8. Korech: The Hillel Sandwich.
   9. Shulchan Orech: The Passover Feast.
   10. Tzafun: Out of Hiding.
   11. Berach: Blessings After the Meal.
   12. Hallel: Songs of Praise.
   13. Nirtzah: Acceptance