HAROSETH

HAROSETH. - A symbolic mixture of fruit, used in the Jewish Passover meal. The Mishnah prescribes (Pesâhîm, II, 8; X, 3) that for the Passover meal a kind of paste or semi-liquid mixture, called hârôseth (from the Neo-Hebrew heres, "clay"), be prepared. This paste was made from "dates, figs, almonds," to which wine, vinegar, and cinnamon were added. Because of its reddish-brown color, it recalled the clay with which the Israelites were forced to make bricks in the land of Egypt (Ex. 1, 14). It was customary for the head of the household at the Passover meal to dip unleavened bread and bitter herbs into this mixture and offer them to the participants. There is no doubt that Jesus Christ followed this custom: when He offered Judas "the morsel" or portion of the lamb after having "dipped" it (Jn. 13, 26), He was alluding to a practice about which historical sources (Talmud, 116a; ed. L. Goldschmidt, II, Berlin 1901, p. 726) are silent.