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Point to the Marror

ה ָדֹבֲﬠַבּ םהיֵיַח ת ֶא וּר ֲר ָמְיַו :ר ַ מֱאֶנּ ֶשׁ , םי ַר ְצ ִמ ְבּ וּני ֵתוֹבֲא יֵיַח ת ֶא םי ִר ְצ ִמַּה וּר ְר ֵמּ ֶשׁ םוּשׁ לַﬠ ?המ םוּשׁ לַﬠ ,םיִל ְכוֹא וּנ ָא ֶשׁ הֶז רוֹר ָמ
ך ֶרָפ ְבּ םֶהָב וּד ְבָﬠ ר ֶשֲׁא ם ָ ת ָדֹבֲﬠ לָכּ ת ֶא ה ֶד ָשַּׂבּ ה ָדֹבֲﬠ לָכ ְבוּ םיִנֵבְל ִבוּ ר ֶמֹח ְבּ ,ה ָשָק

Why do we eat Marror? For the reason that the Egyptians embitter the lives of our ancestors in Mitzrayim, as
the Torah states: “And they embittered their lives with servitude, with mortar and bricks without straw, with
every form of slavery in the field and with great torment.”

Why Do We Highlight The Bitterness of the Pesach Story With Maror,

As Opposed To Just Focusing On The Miracles? – Tali Miller (10th Grade)

One of the main foods represented on the Seder Plate is Maror, for which we recite a special bracha. While un-
derstanding that the seder was created to commemorate the story of Pesach, why do we highlight the bitter parts
of the story as opposed to just focusing on celebrating the miracles?

We must first understand the background of this question: why do we eat maror? According to Rashi, “Every
bitter herb is called ,רוֹר ָמand He commanded them to eat bitter herbs in commemoration of “And they
embittered their lives” (Exod. 1:14).” Therefore, according to Rashi, we eat maror in commemoration of our
hardships and enslavement in Egypt.

In line with Jewish tradition, one must take the bitter herb and dip it into the Charoset, a sweet mixture. This,
along with a parallel story that takes place soon after, teach us a very important concept. In this parallel story,
the Jews finally reach water in the desert, yet it is bitter. When Moshe calls out to Hashem for help, he is told to
put a branch in the water and it becomes sweet so the Jewish people can drink.

These two ideas teach us that it is important to highlight the bitter along with the sweet, because they are often
found together, not only in the Torah, but also in everyday life. As Jews, we must understand that there is bitter-
ness in the world, yet recognize that it is not there to deter us from striving for religious greatness, rather to en-
courage us to improve upon ourselves and establish a closer connection to Hashem.

Ma Katz Warmflash—1st grade