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Is Karpas parsley or a potato?

by Rabbi Ari Shishler

  

Library » Holidays » Passover » Seder » Laws and Rituals | Subscribe | What is RSS?

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Question:

Rabbi, perhaps you can settle this argument I'm having with a friend: is Karpas parsley or a potato? Thanx-SederKid

Answer:

This question is a rabbi’s dream - you’re both right.

Karpas can be either potato or parsley - or onion for that matter. It’s a matter of custom. Karpas needs to be a small piece of ready-to-eat vegetable that you sample at the beginning of the Pesach Seder . Any edible vegetable will do, but the classics are potato, parsley, celery or onion.

You need to make sure to eat less than a kezayit1 of the Karpas, although the main meal may be a long way away at that stage.

(See What is Karpas?)

Footnotes

  • 1. Approximately 1oz. or 28g.

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RELATED CATEGORIES

Holidays » Passover » Seder » The Seder Plate
Seder
Festive meal eaten on the first two nights of the holiday of Passover (In Israel, the Seder is observed only the first night of the holiday). Seder highlights include: reading the story of the Exodus, eating Matzah and bitter herbs, and drinking four cups of wine.
Pesach
Passover. A Biblically mandated early-spring festival celebrating the Jewish exodus from Egypt in the year 1312 BCE.