Maror, the bitter herbs

“According to the Halacha, a person who swallows maror without tasting its bitterness does not fulfill his obligation. There is a parallel to this concept in our spiritual service. The Pesach after R. Schneur Zalmon of Liadi returned from his first visit to the Maggid of Mezeritch, he commented: “maror should be eaten slowly. To better himself, a person must take time and meditate deeply on his faults until he comes to tears.”

“The fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating maror at the seder endows each Jew with the potential to transform bitterness into sweetness- R. Yehudah Arieh Leib of Gur” (The Chassidic Haggadah, page 100)

Six months ago we celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We vowed to become the best version of ourselves possible. The Seder gives us an opportunity to reflect how far we have gone on this journey of self-improvement and how far yet we need to go until we face our Creator on Rosh Hashanah 5781. I have tried to call everybody in my congregation and I have learned that we are being safe by staying inside. We are all watching TV, streaming movies, reading books, and knitting. I recommend that we also spend some of this time thinking about the vows we made during our High Holidays and how we can fulfill them. Don’t waste this opportunity that our circumstances, calendar and rituals provides us.