The Passover Symbols, The Orange & Miriam's Cup The Passover
Symbols We have now told the story of Passover… but wait! We’re
not quite done. There are still some symbols on our seder plate
we haven’t talked about yet. Rabban Gamliel would say that
whoever didn’t explain the shank bone, matzah, and marror (or
bitter herbs) hasn’t done Passover justice. The shank bone
represents the Pesach, the special lamb sacrifice made in the
days of the Temple for the Passover holiday. It is called the
pesach, from the Hebrew word meaning “to pass over,” because God
passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt when visiting
plagues upon our oppressors. The matzah reminds us that when our
ancestors were finally free to leave Egypt, there was no time to
pack or prepare. Our ancestors grabbed whatever dough was made
and set out on their journey, letting their dough bake into
matzah as they fled. The bitter herbs provide a visceral
reminder of the bitterness of slavery, the life of hard labor
our ancestors experienced in Eg