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Order and ritual are very important in the seder—so important that they are even reflected in its name: the English word seder is a transliteration of the Hebrew word sēdher, meaning “order.” The courses in the meal, as well as blessings, prayers, stories, and songs, are recorded in the Haggadah, a book that lays out the order of the Passover feast and recounts the story of Exodus. Each food consumed as part of the seder recalls an aspect of the Israelites’ 13th century BCE exodus from Egypt. For instance, matzo (unleavened bread) represents the haste with which the Israelites fled; maror (a mix of bitter herbs) recalls the bitterness of enslaved life; and a mixture of fruits and nuts called charoset (also rendered as charoses or haroset/haroses) symbolizes the clay or mortar the Israelites worked with during their Egyptian enslavement.
Examples of seder in a Sentence
Kristen Bateman, Vogue, 13 Aug. 2024
Many Jewish communities will hold seders the first two nights of the springtime holiday.
—Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2024
The holiday is observed with seders among families, friends and communities, as well as other sacred traditions.
—Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2024
The violence grew much worse during the second intifada, when Hamas was responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks by Palestinian groups, including a 2002 suicide bombing that killed 30 civilians at a Passover seder in Netanya, a coastal city north of Tel Aviv.
—Dalia Hatuqa, Foreign Affairs, 25 Mar. 2017
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Cite this Entry
“Seder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seder. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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