Maror

[2] Ever since the Paschal offering ceased to exist with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the obligation to consume maror on the first night of Passover has been rabbinical in nature.

The only two biblical references to the maror are the verse quoted above (Exodus 12:8) and in Numbers 9:11: "[t]hey are to eat the lamb, together with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs".

[3] The Mishnah[4] specifies five types of bitter herbs eaten on the night of Passover: ḥazzeret (lettuce), ʿuleshīn (endive/chicory), temakha, ḥarḥavina (possibly melilot, or Eryngium creticum), and maror (likely Sonchus oleraceus, sowthistle).

[5] The word is cognate to other Near-Eastern terms for lettuce: the Talmud identifies hazzeret as hassa,[6] similar to the Akkadian hassu and the Arabic hash.

In addition, the Talmud remarks that Romaine lettuce is not initially bitter, but becomes so later on, which is symbolic of the experience of the Jews in Egypt.

The second species listed in the Mishnah is 'ʿulshin, which is a plural to refer to both wild and cultivated types[6] of plants in the genus Cichorium.

Horseradish likely began to be used because leafy vegetables like lettuce did not grow in the northern climates Ashkenazi Jews had migrated to, and because some sources allow the use of any bitter substance (if so, the five species in the mishnah would only be illustrative examples).

The identity of this species was preserved among the Jews of Yemen as the plant Sonchus oleraceus, a relative of dandelion native to Israel.