ארבעה כוסות

Drinking Four Cups of Wine

- Jeffrey Wieskopf

 

 

At the time of destruction of the Second Temple, the Rabbanim created Takkanot so that we would be able to recall life during the days of the Temple. One of these Takanot was the creation of the Pesach Seder, which involves drinking four cups of wine. But why did the Rabbanim specifically choose four cups? In answer to this question, there are both biblical and non-biblical explanations.

To begin, there are two biblical sources from where the four cups of wine may have originated. The first source is found in Bereshit, when Joseph is in jail and interprets the dream of Pharaoh’s butler. As part of the exchange between the butler and Joseph, the following words are said,  “And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand... and you will deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when you were his butler.” Based on this pasuk, the Rabbanim decided to have one cup of wine at the Pesach Seder for each time that the word cup is written in the pasuk. Indeed, drinking a cup of wine symbolizes salvation. To quote from a pasuk in Psalms, which we recite weekly during Havdallah, it says,  “I will lift up the cup of salvation”.

The second biblical source is found in Shemot, where it says, “...and I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from your bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people...”. Thus, the Rabbanim decided to include one cup of wine for each of the terms of deliverance – bring you out, deliver you, redeem you, and take you to me / vehotzeti, vehitzalti, vega’alti, velakachti.

            Two non-biblical explanations for the four cups of wine provide the following interpretations.  The first explains that drinking the four glasses was introduced during the time of the Second Temple. According to this explanation, each glass of wine represents one of the four ancient kingdoms (Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome) that oppressed the Jewish people throughout our history. The second explanation simply states that each cup of wine represents one of the four seasons. This has an important connection to Pesach, since it states in the Torah that Pesach is celebrated in the spring/Aviv, which according to the Torah is the first of the four seasons.

 

http://www.vbm-torah.org/pesach/hj-pes.htm