Page 6 - HaMizrachi #8 Pesach

Rabbi Yehoshua Fass
THIRSTING FOR

THE FIFTH CUP

REGAINING OUR LOVE FOR BOTH PROMISE AND LAND

lthough it usually requires They never experienced the י ִ תא ֵ ב ֵ ה ְ ו But the reenactment experience
herculean efforts to drink the redemption phase of coming into the shouldn’t end there. It should continue.
A fourth cup at the end of the Land of Israel, thus mandating only four We should attempt to transport
Seder, what would you say if I told you cups of wine. ourselves back to the same nexus of
that you got off easy? post-Red Sea as well. We should be
Nevertheless, it is evident that our posed with the same challenge of י ִ תא ֵ ב ֵ ה ְ ו
The Gemara (Pesachim 109b) Sages struggled with this last reference – moments after the Exodus – as were
instructs us to drink four cups of wine, of redemption and its practical our forefathers – challenging us as a
to commemorate the four different manifestation at our Seder, from nation to continue onwards to enter our
wordings of redemption found in suggesting that all must drink the Homeland, Eretz Yisrael.
Parashat Vaeira: י ִ תא ֵ צ ֹוה ְ ו (I took you fifth cup to not having a fifth cup at
out), י ִּ ת ְ ל ַּ צ ִ ה ְ ו (I saved you), י ִּ ת ְ ל ַ א ָ ג ְ ו (I all (Netziv). Common practice is of The fifth cup on the table represents the
redeemed you), י ִּ ת ְ ח ַ ק ָ ל ְ ו (I took you). option of י ִ תא ֵ ב ֵ ה ְ ו – the very choice the
course to have the fifth cup at the table Jews had moments after the Exodus from
However, there is one more reference to – but not to drink it – as some sort of Egypt, and the astounding opportunity
redemption, namely י ִ תא ֵ ב ֵ ה ְ ו (I brought compromise. This cup is known as the miraculously available to our nation
you) – that should seemingly require us cup of Eliyahu HaNavi. today.
to have a fifth cup at the Seder.
The Vilna Gaon explains that when In fact, after the establishment of the
The Rif and Rabbeinu Chananel explain there is an uncertainty that cannot be State of Israel in 1948, Rav Menachem
that according to Rabbi Tarfon we are resolved, we believe that the prophet Mendel Kasher unsuccessfully lobbied
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indeed required to drink a fifth cup of Eliyahu, who returns as a harbinger of the Israeli Rabbinate to establish a fifth
wine and recite the remaining portion of the messianic era, will resolve it. Thus, cup of wine at the Pesach Seder to reflect
Hallel. we pour a fifth cup in his honor, and he the completion of this final redemption.
will tell us if we should drink it when he
The Ran falls short of endorsing Rabbi Perhaps in our times, the fifth cup is the
Tarfon’s position but does state that arrives. most significant. It represents the very
there is an obligation to drink four cups But this is odd. Rarely do we have a real accessibility of fulfilling our national
(our general practice). However, the fifth safek (a halachic doubt) represented destiny and embracing and experiencing
cup is a reshut (optional) and can even as a symbolic reminder of a divergent our modern-day miracle.
be viewed as a mitzvah min hamuvchar (a
choicest mitzvah). opinion as we practice a ritual. This is the challenge our generation
The question remains: Why do we have faces: the option of fulfilling the fifth
The Rambam seems to follow the phase of redemption – י ִ תא ֵ ב ֵ ה ְ ו – and
opinion of the Ran and rules that the the fifth cup on our table? whether we choose to embrace this gift
fifth cup is categorized as a reshut but Perhaps the answer is that on Seder that G-d has bestowed upon us and
should preferably be associated with night, we are mandated to do much more return to our Promised Land.
finishing the Hallel as well. 1 than merely commemorate the Exodus
2
So yes, general practice is to drink only story. As the Rambam writes, each of 1 Hilchot Chametz Umatzah 8:10.
four cups of wine during the Seder. us is instructed to reenact a visceral 2
Why? Although the Jews enslaved in experience that helps us view ourselves Hilchot Chametz Umatzah 7:6.
1895-1983. Author of the encyclopedic
Egypt experienced all four stages of as if we have been redeemed. Singing 3 masterpiece Torah Shleimah.
redemption, they were punished due Hallel as if we had witnessed G-d’s
to their lack of enthusiasm for the Land miracles ourselves and eating the same Rabbi Yehoshua Fass is Co-Founder
of Israel, and for the sin of the Spies matzah as we did hurrying on our way and Executive Director of Nefesh
that caused them not to enter Israel. out from slavery. B'Nefesh

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