Easter Egg on Passover Plate?

Easter Egg on Passover Plate?               by PROF. PINCHAS SHIR
 

One of the items on the Jewish Seder Plate, used during the celebration of Passover, is “egg”, in Hebrew ‘beytzah’. Of course, many people associate eggs with Easter. But what what is an egg (so deeply connected with modern popular celebrations of Easter) doing on the Jewish Passover plate? We all have heard that eggs are associated with springtime, fertility, new life, etc. But what does any of this have to do with Passover (aside from the fact that it occurs in Spring)?
 

The answer lies in the other name used for the egg in the Passover celebration – the chagigah. Translating from Hebrew, chagigah literally means “festivity” or “celebration”. Besides this general description, chagigah is a special term used to describe the special festival offering. In the Bible, the Passover offering was called pesach. Early rabbis created a term for a special “festival offerig’ - chagigah. This term originates from the Hebrew word chag which means,  “a festival” or “celebration”. Even today, when wishing someone a “happy holiday” in Hebrew, people say –chag sameach.
 

In the Passover celebration, the egg has nothing to do with springtime, new life, or fertility. It is a visual representation of another festival offering, distinct from the Passover sacrifice represented by zeroah, the lamb shank bone also found on the Passover plate.
 

To use another bone would have been confusing, so instead the rabbis used a beytzah – an egg roasted with fire as the symbol of this special festival offering.