Why?

It's Childish

One of the objectives of the Seder is to transmit our history and tradition to our children. To do this best we want our children to ask questions. So we eat this strange appetizer (shortly before the time for asking of the Four Questions) to prompt the children to be inquisitive and ask "why is this night different? why is this People different?"

It's Sad

This salty dish is supposed to remind us of the millions of tears shed by our suffering ancestors in Egypt. Freedom tastes better if you have first tasted slavery.

It's Deep

The Hebrew word karpas read backwards (Samech-PeReCH) connotes: 600,000 [suffered] harsh labor.

Maimonides explains that harsh labor in this context refers to the fact that the Egyptians sadistically gave the Jews tasks that were endless and purposeless (like building things that would sink into the ground).

In our own lives, we also experience endless and meaningless labor. When we obsess over work or are consumed with an irrational obsession with whatever it may be we too are suffering from harsh labor.

Ironically, we get this capacity for irrational, unconditional devotion from the soul. The soul is irrational in a good way. Its desire and drive to holiness is not based on any logical cause. It is unconditional and unrestrained.

When we’re in the spiritual Egypt, our soul’s infinity is distorted into an endless drive for material and egotistical ends.

By dipping and eating the karpas we hope to realign things, and allow the soul to dictate our obsessions.