Maror: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Bitter herbs eaten during the Passover meal}}

[[File:Seder Plate.jpg|thumb|[[Passover Seder plate]], ''maror'' on the lowest plate.]]

'''''Maror''''' ({{lang-he|מָרוֹר}} ''mārôr'') refers toare the bitter [[herb]]s eaten at the [[Passover Seder]] in keeping with the [[mitzvah|biblical commandment]] "with bitter herbs they shall eat it." ([[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 12:8). The Maror is one of the [[List of foods with religious symbolism|symbolic foods]] placed on the [[Passover Seder plate]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Seder Preparations - Jewish Tradition |url=https://yahadut.org/en/shabbat-and-festivals/the-seder/seder-preparations/ |access-date=2024-03-30 |website=yahadut.org |language=en}}</ref>

The only two biblical referencereferences to the ''maror'' isare the verse quoted above (Exodus 12:8) in which it is mentioned in reference to the offering, and in Numbers 9:11 where "They are to eat the lamb, together with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs".<ref name="MC" /> This is in contradistinction to the obligation to consume ''[[Matzah|matzo]]'' on the first night of Passover, which remains a biblical commandment even in the absence of the Paschal Lamb, because there are other biblical verses that mention ''matzo'' as a standalone obligation (Exodus 12:18, Deuteronomy 16:8)

The word derives from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word {{lang|he-Latn|mar}} ({{lang|he|מֵרמַר}} or {{lang|he|מָרָה}}, "bitter"), and so may be related to the English word [[myrrh]] (through [[Aramaic]] {{lang|arc|ܡܪܝܪܐ}} {{lang|arc-Latn|mriro}}, cognate with [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{lang|ar|مرّ}} {{lang|ar-Latn|murr}}).

''Maror'' is one of the foods placed on the [[Passover Seder Plate]] and there is a rabbinical requirement to eat ''maror'' at the Seder. ''Chazeret'' ({{lang-he|חזרת}}) is used for the requirement called ''Korech'', in which the ''maror'' is eaten together with ''[[Matzah|matzo]]''. There are various customs about the kinds of ''maror'' placed at each location.

The Talmud Yershalmi identified Hebrew ''tamcha'' with Greek {{lang|grc|γιγγίδιον}} ''gingídion'', which has been positively identified via the illustration in the [[Vienna Dioscurides]] as the wild carrot ''[[Daucus gingidium]]''.<ref>The [[Jerusalem Talmud]] (''Pesahim'' 2:5 [18a]) calls the '''תמכה''' by the name '''גנגידין''' (''Gingidium''), which, according to [[Dioscorides]] (Book II–167), is a kind of chervil, and can apply to any of the following genera: ''Chaerophyllum'', ''Anthriscus'', ''Chaetosciadium'' and ''Scandix''. Of these, the most commonly grown chervil in Israel is ''[[Chaetosciadium trichospermum]]''. Cf. William Smith (ed.), ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', Third edition, New York 1858, s.v. γιγγίδιον ("gingidium"), "a kind of chervil." [[Ibn Baytar]], citing [[Galen]], explains ''Gingidium'' as rather meaning a species of [[wild carrot]] (e.g. ''Daucus gingidium'', or something similar). This view is accepted by [[Pliny the Elder]] who, in his ''Natural History'' (Book XX, ch. XVI), wrote: "In [[Greater Syria (region)|Syria]] very great pains are taken over kitchen-gardens; hence the Greek proverb: 'Syrians have plenty of vegetables.' They sow a vegetable called by some ''gingidion'' that is very like ''staphylinus'' (=parsnip; carrot), only it is slighter and more bitter, though its properties are the same. It is eaten, cooked or raw, with great advantage to the stomach, for it dries up all its humours, however deep these may lie."</ref>

Horseradish likely began to be used because leafy vegetables like lettuce did not grow in the northern climates Ashkenazi Jews had migrated to, and because some sources allow the use of any bitter substance (if so, the five species in the mishnamishnah would only be illustrative examples).<ref>Ari Z. Zivotofsky, [https://d1ydyrae2d92wn.cloudfront.net/pdf/ja/5766/spring66/LegalEase.pdf What’s the Truth about ... Using Horseradish for Maror?]</ref>

The identity of this species was preserved among the Jews of Yemen as the plant ''[[Sonchus oleraceus]]'', a relative of [[dandelion]] native to Israel.<ref>[[Adin Steinsaltz]], ''Talmud Bavli – explained, punctuated and translated", Pesachim, volume A, p. 276</ref> The word "maror" is an [[Hyponymy and hypernymy|autohyponym]], referring both to a particularthis species of plantspecifically, and to any species suitable for use at the Seder.