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How many cups of wine are we to drink at the Passover
seder? Today, the answer seems simple, as clearly stated in the Shulhan
Arukh: "Four cups must be drunk at the seder."[1]
However, this simplicity is relatively new. In the Mishna it is written, "No
fewer than four cups of wine," which leaves considerable room for variation.
Indeed, during the Mishnaic period, the sages were divided about the number
of cups to be drunk, four or five. [2]
Central to the debate is the following text from
the Talmud: "The rabbis taught: after the fifth cup is poured, the Hallel (psalms
of praise) are completed and the great Hallel (Psalm 118) is recited, according
to Rabbi Tarfon." [3] This version appears
in five manuscript editions and is referred to by six Geonim [4].
Based on this reading, Maimonides rules: "The fifth
cup should be poured and the great Hallel recited. This cup is not obligatory
as the first four cups are."[5] The reading from the printed
Talmud[6] "The rabbis taught: after the
fourth cup is poured," is the same as that quoted in several medieval sources
(Rashi, Rashbam, the Tosofot and Shulkhan Aruch). Among the authorities that
support the
custom of drinking five cups of wine at the seder,
there are those who rule that the fifth cup is as obligatory as the other four
while other consider it optional. The "four expressions of redemption"
in Exodus 6:6-7 underly this debate: "Say, therefore, to the Israelite
people: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians
and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem with an outstretched
arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be
My people.…" (Exodus Rabbah 88) The Torah continues, "I
will bring you into the land, which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob...."
The question is whether or not "I will bring you" is a fifth expression
of redemption.
Many commentators would agree with Rabbi Abraham
ben Nathan Hayarch (Constantinople, 1519) who wrote, "'I will bring' is
not an expression of redemption but rather a prophecy" because the generation
that left Egypt did not actually enter the Promised Land. Rabbi Hayim David
HaLevi (Israel, 1926-) elaborates, "The four expressions complete the redemption
because if the Jew does not merit inheriting the land of Israel, he lives in
the Diaspora and completes his redemption through his Torah." Others believe
that "I will bring" is an expression of redemption. The question remains
unresolved.
 By
the 17th century, the custom of placing Elijah's cup on the seder table began
to appear in the Ashkenazic rite. The seder night is a night of watchfulness,
when the people of Israel re-enact their redemption from Egyptian slavery and
await the future, final redemption: "In Nisan, the people of Israel were
redeemed and in the month of Nissan, they will be redeemed again."7
This concept finds expression in several seder customs, in particular the opening
of the door for the prophet Elijah, harbinger of the redemption. Elijah's cup
was a natural continuation of this act; after the door is opened for an honored
guest, he is honored with a glass of wine.
Rabbi Elijah, the Vilna Gaon (Lithuania, 1720-1797),
was the first to propose that Elijah's cup is the fifth cup: "When Elijah
comes, the doubt [whether there are four cups or five] will be resolved. Therefore,
we pour a fifth cup, because of the doubt, but do not drink from it." This
explanation is widely accepted but leaves one question unanswered: Why did the
Cup of Elijah appear so late, after the halachic [legal religious] question
was nearly forgotten?
Elijah's cup may thus be considered the fifth cupnot
because Elijah will resolve the doubt, but rather because his arrival as "harbinger
of the redemption" will herald the final redemption; at that time, the
prophecy, "I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession" may be fulfilled.
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[1] Hil. Pes. 472:8.
The Shulkha Aruch is major code of Jewish law compiled in the mid-16th
century by Rabbi Yosef Karo. [back]
[2] M. Pes. 10:1. The Mishna was the
first post-biblical code of Jewish Law, published in approximately 200
CE. [back]
[3] Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 108b.
The Babylonian Talmud consists of the Mishna and Gemara,
a written record of analytical discussions of the Mishna, along with philosophy,
ethics, and practical advice, by the rabbinic authorities who lived between
200 and 500. [back]
[4] The word "gaon" (plural "geonim")
literally means genius. It is used to refer to the leaders of the Bablylonian
Jewish community in the 6th - 12th centuries. It is also an honorary title
used for a few great Jewish scholars and leaders. [back]
[5] Hamatz u'matzah 8:10; Maimonides lived
in Spain and Egypt, 1135-1204. [back]
[6] The first printed editions of the Babylonian Talmud
were published in c. 1500 [back]
[7] Babylonian Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 11a [back]
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