Haggadah:Karpas/0

From AlHaTorah.org
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Karpas

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Why eat Karpas?

The custom known today as Karpas1 is mentioned briefly in Mishna Pesachim 10:3-4:

EN/HEע/E

(ג) הֵבִיאוּ לְפָנָיו, מְטַבֵּל בַּחֲזֶרֶת עַד שֶׁהוּא מַגִּיעַ לְפַרְפֶּרֶת הַפַּת.

The passage's language is somewhat difficult, but it appears to speak of eating or dipping2 some food before the main meal.  The Mishna mentions chazeret (lettuce) explicitly, but the truncated phrase "and they brought before him" allows for the possibility that other foods or vegetables were brought as well.  No reason is given for the custom, and at first glance it would seem to have nothing to do with Pesach and the story of the Exodus.  Why, then, has the custom been incorporated into the Seder?

First Course