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גְּמָ׳ חֲזֶרֶת — חַסָּא. עוּלְשִׁין — הִינְדְּבִי.
GEMARA: The Gemara identifies the plants mentioned by the mishna by their Aramaic names. Ḥazeret is lettuce. Olashin is called hindevi.
Eryngium maritimum
As sourced from "The History of Horseradish as the Bitter Herb of Passover". Dr. A Schaffer Gesher 8: 217-237
וְיוֹצְאִין בַּקֶּלַח שֶׁלָּהֶן.
And one fulfills his obligation by eating their stalk, as it is not necessary to eat the leaves.
Angleterrish Haggadah from New York, 1837
The Gemara explains: What is the meaning of lettuce [ḥassa]? It refers to the fact that God has mercy [ḥas] on us. And Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Why are the Egyptians likened to bitter herbs in the verse: “And they embittered their lives” (Exodus 1:14)? This comparison serves to tell you that just as these bitter herbs are soft at first and harsh in the end, so too, the Egyptians were soft at first, when they paid the Jews for their work, but were harsh in the end, as they enslaved them. This idea applies solely to ḥazeret, which has a bitter aftertaste, but not to other types of bitter herbs, which are bitter from the beginning. Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, said to Ravina: I retract my position and concede that it is preferable to use ḥazeret for bitter herbs.
שְׁפֹךְ חֲמָתְךָ אֶל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדָעוּךָ וְעַל־מַמְלָכוֹת אֲשֶׁר בְּשִׁמְךָ לֹא קָרָאוּ. כִּי אָכַל אֶת־יַעֲקֹב וְאֶת־נָוֵהוּ הֵשַׁמּוּ. שְׁפָךְ־עֲלֵיהֶם זַעֲמֶךָ וַחֲרוֹן אַפְּךָ יַשִּׂיגֵם. תִּרְדֹף בְּאַף וְתַשְׁמִידֵם מִתַּחַת שְׁמֵי ה'.
Pour your wrath upon the nations that did not know You and upon the kingdoms that did not call upon Your Name! Since they have consumed Ya'akov and laid waste his habitation (Psalms 79:6-7). Pour out Your fury upon them and the fierceness of Your anger shall reach them (Psalms 69:25)! You shall pursue them with anger and eradicate them from under the skies of the Lord (Lamentations 3:66).
Why do some people include an orange on the seder plate?
Rabbi Victor S. Appell
Many have incorporated new rituals as part of the Passover seder. Many seder plates include an orange, which is attributed to Susannah Heschel, professor of Jewish studies at Dartmouth College. Heschel included an orange in recognition of gay and lesbian Jews, and others who are marginalized in the Jewish community. In her ritual, each person takes a segment of the orange, and before eating it, says a blessing over the fruit. The seeds are spit out as a rejection of homophobia.
Urban legend, while including Heschel in the story, has radically altered it. The story that many have heard is that Heschel, while lecturing in Florida, was denounced by a man who said a woman belongs on the bimah as much as an orange belongs on the seder plate.
Not only had the ritual been attributed to a man, but the inclusion of gays and lesbians was erased from the story. While there are now many female rabbis, and Reform Judaism has made inclusion of the LGBTQ community a priority, this story reminds us that there is still much work to be done so that the stories of both women and gays and lesbians are told and heard. Indeed, an orange still belongs on a seder plate.
אָמַר רַבָּה בַּר בַּר חָנָה: תְּמַכְתָּא שְׁמָהּ. חַרְחֲבִינָא, אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן לָקִישׁ: אַצְווֹתָא דְּדִיקְלָא. וּבְמָרוֹר — מְרִירָתָא. תָּנֵי בַּר קַפָּרָא, אֵלּוּ יְרָקוֹת שֶׁאָדָם יוֹצֵא בָּהֶן יְדֵי חוֹבָתוֹ בַּפֶּסַח: בְּעוּלְשִׁין, וּבְתַמְכָא, בְּחַרְחֲלִין, בְּחַרְחֲבִינִין, וּבְחִזְרִין. רַב יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: אַף עוּלְשֵׁי שָׂדֶה וְעוּלְשֵׁי גִינָּה וַחֲזֶרֶת.
With regard to tamkha, Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: It is called temakhta in Aramaic. As for ḥarḥavina, Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: This is the plant that grows around the palm tree. The mishna taught: And with maror. The Gemara explains: This is a plant called merirata. Bar Kappara teaches: These are the vegetables with which a person can fulfill his obligation to eat bitter herbs on Passover: With endives, chervil, ḥarḥallin, field eryngo, and ḥazeret. Rav Yehuda says: Also wild endives, garden endives, and ḥazeret.
מַתְנִי׳ כֵּיצַד צוֹלִין אֶת הַפֶּסַח מְבִיאִין שַׁפּוּד שֶׁל רִמּוֹן
MISHNA: How does one roast the Paschal lamb? One brings a spit [shappud] of pomegranate wood
"It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is “soporific.”
I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit.
They certainly had a very soporific effect upon the Flopsy Bunnies!" - Beatrice Potter, Peter Rabbit
The Harvard Gazette, Colleen Walsh
"Experts discuss the science of smell and how scent, emotion, and memory are intertwined — and exploited"
Animal Sacrifice Powered Ancient Jerusalem's Economy
LiveScience.com Tia Ghose
