Every symbolic food on the Seder plate abounds in meaning and allusion. The symbolic foods on the Seder plate are:
- Z'roa (shank bone or lamb shank) - A piece of roasted meat representing the lamb that was the special paschal sacrifice on the eve of the exodus from Egypt, and annually on the afternoon before Passover in the Holy Temple. Some people use a piece of chicken instead of Lamb. The shank bone is not eaten, so it can be saved and used again the next night.
- Beitza (a roasted or hard boiled egg) - One interpretation I found is that the egg represents the pre-holiday offering that was brought in the days of the Holy Temple. Another interpretation is that the egg is round like the world. Some people eat the hard boiled egg with salt water.
- Maror (bitter herb, usually horseradish) - the bitter herb reminds us of the bitterness of slavery
- Charoset - the chariest is a paste or mixture made from fruit, nuts and wine. It resembles the mortar and brick made by the Jews when they were slaves toiling for Pharaoh. It is used as a sort or relish which the bitter herb is dipped into it. The chariest is somewhat sweet and usually pretty tasty.
- Karpas (a green vegetable such a parsley or lettuce) - I was always told that the Karpas is a sign of Spring since Passover occurs in early Spring. However, I found this interpretation which I thought was interesting: the Karpas represents the backbreaking work of the Jews as slaves, as the Hebrew letters of karpas can be arranged to spell the word perech plus the letter samech. Perech means backbreaking work, and samech is numerically equivalent to 60, referring to 60 myriads, equaling 600,000, which was the number of Jewish males over 20 years of age who were enslaved in Egypt.
Here are some images of Seder Plates which I found on the Internet:
this journal page shows a photo of the Seder plate at my sisters house last year:
On this plate, you can see the dish of salt water in the middle. The parsley (or other green vegetable) is dipped in the salt water, which represents the tears of the slaves.
Not all Seder plates are round and follow the design shown in the examples above but many of them look like these. You can find some more Seder plates here: https://store.chabad.org/jewish-holiday ... lates.html
For this challenge, create a layout or card inspired by the design of a Seder plate. You can use the design above (a large round circle containing 7 smaller circles) or you can find another photo of a Seder plate and use that design, but make sure you share an image of the seder plate you are using. I will share photos of my Seder plates when I take them out.
Rules:
1. Create a new layout or card inspired by the design of a seder plate. Either use one of the images shown here or add a photo of the one you are using.
2. You may combine with one other challenge that allows combining plus any monthly, team, or cumulative challenges (the normal rules). You may not combine with another Passover challenge.
3. One entry per person
4. Due April 30th at midnight.
5. One entry randomly chosen will win a $5 ACOT gift card from me.
