Haggadah:Karpas/0

Karpas

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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

¹ The custom was originally referred to only as "טיבול ראשון" (the first dipping/eating), and it is first in medieval times that the term "karpas" is used to refer to the practice, perhaps because karpas (celery or parsley) had become the vegetable of choice.  [See the Simanei HaSeder of Rashi which lists Karpas as the third "sign".]

² The word "מְטַבֵּל" has been understood in both ways. See the Itturעיטור הלכות מצה ומרור קל"ג who writes, "טבול לשון אכילה היא" and Rambam who explains, "ומטבל בכאן עניינו שמתעסק באכילת הירק". [Rambam, nonetheless agrees that the vegetable is dipped.]  Cf. RanBavli Pesachim 114aAbout R. Nissim Gerondi's understanding of Rashi: "ופרש"י ז"ל דמאי מטבל מטפל".