Karpas
Encyclopedia
Karpas is one of the traditional rituals in the Passover Seder
. It refers to the vegetable, usually parsley
or celery
, that is dipped in liquid (usually salt water) and eaten. The liquid may be any of the seven which make food capable of becoming ritually impure, although salt-water or vinegar are usually used. The idea behind the salt water is to symbolize the salty tears that the Jews shed in their slavery in Egypt
.
The general idea of dipping a vegetable into saltwater is to arouse the curiosity of the children, as per the theme of the Seder night that the story is to be recounted by way of question and answer. Such an action is not usually done, and thus arouses the curiosity of the children.
Some have explained the dipping of the Karpas to symbolize Joseph
's tunic being dipped into blood by his brothers. Karpas is therefore done at the beginning of the seder, just as Joseph's tunic being dipped into blood began the Israelites' descent to Egypt. Indeed, the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon of Hebrew traces it to the Sanskrit
word karpâsa, meaning cotton.
Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...
. It refers to the vegetable, usually parsley
Parsley
Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
or celery
Celery
Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac , depending on whether the petioles or roots are eaten: celery refers to the former and celeriac to the latter. Apium graveolens grows to 1 m tall...
, that is dipped in liquid (usually salt water) and eaten. The liquid may be any of the seven which make food capable of becoming ritually impure, although salt-water or vinegar are usually used. The idea behind the salt water is to symbolize the salty tears that the Jews shed in their slavery in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
The general idea of dipping a vegetable into saltwater is to arouse the curiosity of the children, as per the theme of the Seder night that the story is to be recounted by way of question and answer. Such an action is not usually done, and thus arouses the curiosity of the children.
Some have explained the dipping of the Karpas to symbolize Joseph
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
's tunic being dipped into blood by his brothers. Karpas is therefore done at the beginning of the seder, just as Joseph's tunic being dipped into blood began the Israelites' descent to Egypt. Indeed, the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon of Hebrew traces it to the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word karpâsa, meaning cotton.