Passover: Mortar and Apples

Hebrew

Ḥaroset has a place of honor on the seder plate, but the traditional Haggadah says nothing about its meaning.

Ḥaroset has no biblical source, and it first appears in the Mishnah (Passovers 10:3), again without explanation. The Talmud, as is its wont, fills in the gaps.

Rabbi Levi says: In remembrance of the apple[1] and
Rabbi Yoḥanan says: In remembrance of the mortar.
Abaye said: Therefore, it must be tart and thick. Tart in remembrance of the apple, and thick in remembrance of the mortar (Babylonian Talmud Pesaḥim 116a).

The early Amoraim (Talmudic rabbis), Rabbi Levi (third generation) and Rabbi Yohanan (second generation) each assign one symbolic meaning to ḥaroset. They are followed by Abbaye (fourth generation) who specifies the qualities required of ḥaroset, characteristics that support the symbolism.

The thick ḥaroset arguably resembles mortar, but what does Rabbi Levi mean by “the apple”? Rashi refers us to this Midrash:

When they were about to go into labor, Israelite women in Egypt would go out into the fields and give birth in the apple orchards, as it is written: “I woke you under the apple [tree]” (Song of Songs 8:5).
And the Holy Blessed One would send an angel [or descend*[2]] from the heavens to cleaned them and make them beautiful, just as a new mother / midwife grooms an infant, as it is written: “And as for your birth, on the day you were born...” (Ezekiel 16:4). (Exodus Rabbah 1:5/BT Sotah 11b)

When the Hebrew women in Egypt were afraid to give birth at home lest the Egyptians hear their cries (or those of the infant or both), they went out to the orchards where both they and their babies received devoted divine care.

The efforts of the Hebrew women to conceive and give birth while enslaved and the divine support they received in their efforts to save their infants (see the complete midrash for details) are an expression of the hope and faith that the Israelites continued to hold despite the oppressive weight of their work with mortar and bricks. Both slavery and hope are both contained within the ḥaroset.[3]

But the Haggadah says nothing about this. Perhaps because the ability to hold hope in a crisis can hardly be expressed in words, it must be demonstrated.

Next year may all people be free.

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[1] Lovers of date Haroset, worry not. Rabbi Levi is talking about symbolism, not giving a recipe. In fact, the two of oldest surviving Haroset recipes, both preserved by Maimonides, are based on dates and figs.

[2] According to some manuscripts of the Talmud, see Joshua Levinson, The Twice-Told Tale, page 299. I thank Dr. Gila Vachman, of the Schechter Institute and Project Zug for the reference.

^[3] For more sources on Haroset, see source sheet (bilingual) here.