Seder plates are not all the same. Some have five places for symbolic foods, and some have six. The "extra" spot, which does not appear on every Seder plate, is for Hazeret.
Hazeret is not mentioned in the Haggadah and has no role in the Seder. So, what is it doing on the Seder plate?
Making things even more complicated is the variety of translations for Hazeret. Is it horseradish? If so, what is the Maror? Is it lettuce? Don't we already have a green vegetable, Karpas, on the Seder plate?
My colleague, Rabbi Stephen Wylen, author of Settings of Silver, has an explanation.
The Seder borrows from Greco-Roman dining customs. Romans were really into lettuce, and began a formal meal by dipping bitter greens, (in Hebrew, Hazeret), into a fruit sauce (Hebrew: Haroset). When we read in the Four Questions, "Why on this night do we dip twice?" it is referring to two dippings that were originally done during the appetizer phase of the meal, the second being another leaf (Karpas) in salt water.
The Haroset was originally more like Chinese duck sauce, which makes the idea of "dipping" more understandable. People commonly explain the second dipping as the Hillel sandwich, consisting of Matzah, Maror and Haroset, but, as Rabbi Wylen observes, "that is not a dipping but a piling."
By moving the Haroset to the Hillel sandwich, the poor Hazeret was left all alone and abandoned.
Some Seder plates retain a place for Hazeret. One explanation I have heard is that, as mass production of Seder plates became common, a popular design was the Magen David. Having six sections on the plate meant that a sixth symbol became necessary, and the Hazeret was returned to its place on the plate for reasons of balance.
I don't know if that is true. However, I have no objection to a nice arugula or Belgian endive at my Seder, and I am happy to enjoy my Hazeret where it belongs: as an appetizer.
Chag kasher v'sameach,
Rabbi Larry Milder
