Maror also Marror, refers to the bitter herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s eaten at the Passover Seder

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...

 in keeping with the biblical commandment "with bitter herbs they shall eat it." (Exodus 12:8).

Biblical source

In some listings of the 613 biblical commandments, such as the Minchat Chinuch

Minchat Chinuch

Minchat Chinuch is a legal commentary on the Sefer ha-Chinuch. It was written by Yosef Babad , Av Beit Din of Ternopil...

, the biblical obligation to consume maror is included within the commandment to consume the meat of the sacrificial pascal offering. Ever since the pascal offering ceased to exist with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem

Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...

 in 70 CE, the obligation to consume maror on the first night of Passover has been rabbinical in nature because the only biblical reference to the maror is the verse quoted above in which it is mentioned in reference to the offering. This is in contradistinction to the obligation to consume matzo

Matzo

Matzo or matzah is an unleavened bread traditionally eaten by Jews during the week-long Passover holiday, when eating chametz—bread and other food which is made with leavened grain—is forbidden according to Jewish law. Currently, the most ubiquitous type of Matzo is the traditional Ashkenazic...

on the first night of Passover, which remains a biblical commandment even in the absence of the pascal lamb, because there are other biblical verses that mention matzo as a standalone obligation (Exodus 12:18, Deuteronomy 16:8)

The word derives from the Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 word mar (מר — "bitter"), and is thus related to the English word myrrh

Myrrh

Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....

 (through Aramaic

Aramaic language

Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

 ܡܪܝܪܐ murr).

Symbolism

According to the Haggadah, the traditional text which is recited at the Seder and which defines the Seder's form and customs, the maror symbolizes the bitterness of slavery in Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

. The following verse from the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

 underscores that symbolism: "And they embittered (ve-yimareru וימררו) their lives with hard labor, with mortar and with bricks and with all manner of labor in the field; any labor that they made them do was with hard labor" (Exodus 1:14).

Use at the Seder

Maror is one of the foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate

Passover Seder Plate

The Passover Seder Plate Hebrew: ke'ara is a special plate containing symbolic foods eaten or displayed at the Passover Seder.-Significance:...

 and there is a rabbinical requirement to eat maror at the Seder. Hazeret is used for the requirement called korech, in which the maror is eaten together with matzo. There are various customs about the kinds of maror placed at each location.

During the Seder, each participant recites a specific blessing

Blessing

A blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...

 over the maror and eats it. It is first dipped into the charoset

Charoset

Charoset, haroset, or charoses is a sweet, dark-colored, chunky paste made of fruits and nuts served primarily during the Passover Seder. Its color and texture are meant to recall the mortar with which the Israelites bonded bricks when they were enslaved in Ancient Egypt as mentioned in Tractate...

—a brown, pebbly mixture which symbolizes the mortar with which the Israelite

Israelite

According to the Bible the Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited the Land of Canaan during the monarchic period .The word "Israelite" derives from the Biblical Hebrew ישראל...

s bound bricks for the Egyptians. The excess charoset is then shaken off and the maror is eaten. The halakha

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

(Jewish Law) prescribes the minimum amount of maror that should be eaten to fulfill the mitzvah

Mitzvah

The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...

 (a kazayis or kayazit, literally meaning the volume of an olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

) and the amount of time in which it should be consumed. To fulfill the obligation, the flavor of the maror must be unadulterated by cooking or preservatives, such as being soaked in vinegar.

Types of maror

The most common vegetables used as bitter herbs are horseradish

Horseradish

Horseradish is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to south eastern Europe and the Arab World , but is popular around the world today...

 and romaine lettuce

Romaine lettuce

Romaine or cos lettuce is a variety of lettuce which grows in a tall head of sturdy leaves with a firm rib down the center. Unlike most lettuces, it is tolerant of heat...

. Romaine lettuce is not initially bitter, but becomes so after the first taste, which is symbolic of the experience of the Jews in Egypt. Other suitable vegetables include endive

Endive

Endive , Cichorium endivia, is a leaf vegetable belonging to the daisy family. Endive can be cooked or used raw in salads.-Background:Endive is also a common name for some types of chicory...

 and charchavinah (variously identified as a vine growing around palms, a type of thistle, or a type of acacia), both of which are mentioned explicitly in the Mishna (Pesachim 2:6). Some Sephardic families use green onions or curly 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...

.