Pesach/Passover

Frequently Asked Questions

A seder plate holds the six symbolic foods of the Passover seder: zeroa (a roasted bone), beitzah (a roasted egg), maror and chazeret (two forms of bitter herbs), charoset (a sweet fruit-and-nut mixture), and karpas (a vegetable dipped in salt water). Most seder plates, including the six-compartment designs in this collection, are built with a marked section for each.

The Cup of Elijah is a cup of wine set out on the seder table for the prophet Elijah, whose symbolic arrival is part of the seder's closing sections. It's traditionally a distinct, often more ornate cup than the ones guests drink from — this collection's sterling silver Cup of Elijah, engraved in Hebrew, is made specifically for that role.

A Miriam's cup is a cup filled with water placed on the seder table to honor the prophetess Miriam, associated in tradition with the well that sustained the Israelites in the desert. It's a more recent custom than Elijah's cup and is especially common at egalitarian seders. This collection includes a green-stemmed glass Miriam cup.

A seder plate holds the six symbolic foods and usually has six sections; a matzah plate or tray holds the three matzot used during the seder. They're separate pieces with separate jobs, which is why several sets in this collection — including the retro seder-and-matzah sets and the stacked combination — sell the two together as a matched pair.

A matzah plate or a Miriam's cup is the most useful gift for a seder host, because most tables already have a seder plate but often lack one of those two. For a bigger gift, a kiddush fountain handles wine for a full table of guests. All get used at the meal itself, which is what makes a Pesach gift land.

One seder plate is the standard for most tables — it sits near the seder leader, who distributes the symbolic foods at each point in the evening. Some hosts running very large or multi-table seders set out one plate per table so everyone can see and reach the items, but for a typical home seder, a single plate is all you need.