Shabbat Greetings
In the last two decades, a new ritual has emerged in the context of the Passover seder: pouring a cup of water for Miriam. This practice, while new, connects deeply to the long-standing tradition of pouring a cup of wine for Elijah. This week’s Torah portion, Va’era (Exodus 6:2-9:35), recalls the source of this ritual as it reminds us of God’s promise of redemption from Egypt. Specifically, the portion details God’s promise to free the Israelites using four verbs: “I will free you,” “I will deliver you,” “I will redeem you,” and “I will take you to be My people” (6:6-7). These four verbs represent four steps in the process of redemption, which is symbolized by the four cups of wine we drink at the seder. Each cup reflects one of these divine promises, and it is necessary to drink a full cup—not just a sip—both as an expression of gratitude to God and as a celebration of our freedom.
As a child, I remember being allowed to drink wine at the seder—specifically, the heavy, syrupy kosher red wine. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that my body reacted poorly to the Manischewitz concord wine. By the second cup, I would feel ill and often needed to lie down. Since then, I’ve switched to drinking quality kosher wine, both red and white, for the seder. And yes, white wine is permitted for Passover.
The number four is deeply significant at the seder. We ask four questions, recognize four types of children, and drink the four cups of wine. These cups are consumed in specific order: one for the Kiddush at the beginning of the seder, another after Hallel (songs of praise) before the meal, a third after the Grace after Meals (Birkat Hamazon), and a fourth at the conclusion, just before we recite “Next Year in Jerusalem.” By the end of the seder, we are often full—both from food and wine—and may even feel a bit tipsy.
However, there is an intriguing question raised by this week’s Torah portion: What happens when we read further, and discover a fifth verb related to redemption? God promises, “I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (6:9), an additional stage of redemption. This raises the question of whether we should have a fifth cup of wine. This issue was something the Rabbis pondered, and from this emerged the tradition of pouring the fifth cup but not drinking it. Instead, the cup is left for Elijah. There is a belief that when Elijah arrives, he will answer all unanswered questions of Jewish law, so we wait for him to come. As a child, my parents would tell me that if I watched closely, I might see the wine in Elijah’s cup decrease slightly as he visited various seders. While I never definitively saw this occur, I appreciated the story that Elijah, with his many seders to attend, would only take a small sip of wine at each gathering.
This ritual, however, invites a deeper reflection. Is entering the land of Israel truly the final step of our redemption? Some traditional prayer books describe Israel as “the beginning of the flowering of our redemption.” This suggests that the redemption is still unfolding. Indeed, many argue that it has not yet been completed—the Messiah has not arrived, and so our redemption remains unfinished. The fifth cup, left untouched, symbolizes this ongoing state of incompleteness. We are still waiting for the final redemption to unfold.
Of course, there are those in Israel who believe the redemption is already complete and who seek to establish a Jewish theocracy governed by Orthodox rabbis. These individuals may not prioritize secular values such as democracy, personal freedoms, or human rights, and I, as a non-citizen of Israel, am cautious about commenting on Israeli politics. However, the political and societal trends I observe in Israel today are, in many ways, concerning. The cup of Elijah serves as a reminder that redemption is still incomplete. We must continue to hope for its full realization and, in our own ways, work towards helping to bring it closer.
SHABBAT SHALOM