The 15 Steps of the Passover Seder

In this short yet informative video (03:39), Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald briefly explains each of the fifteen steps of the Passover seder in order. The steps are as follows:  

  1. Kadesh – sanctification of the day over wine

  2. Urchatz – ritual handwashing with no blessing

  3. Karpas – eating the green vegetable (symbolic of spring) dipped in salt water (symbolic of the tears of our enslaved ancestors)

  4. Yachatz – breaking the middle matzah of the three matzot piled together – the larger half is reserved as the afikomen, eaten at the end of the meal

  5. Maggid – telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt

  6. Rachtzah – ritual handwashing with a blessing)

  7. Motzi – blessing before eating matzah

  8. Matzah – eating the matzah (the bread of affliction, symbolic of how quickly the Children of Israel left Egypt, symbolic of humility, and more)

  9. Maror – eating the bitter herb, symbolic of the bitterness of slavery

  10. Korech – “Hillel’s sandwich,” made of matzah, maror and charoset (symbolic of the mortar used by our ancestors in Egypt)

  11. Shulchan Orech – eating the festive meal

  12. Tzafun – eating the afikomen, symbolic of the Passover sacrifice

  13. Barech – blessing after eating

  14. Hallel – songs of praise

  15. Nirtzah – conclusion, including the prayer for “Next Year in Jerusalem” and other songs