One of the highlights of the night of the Seder is the drinking of the 4 cups of wine, which men and women are equally obligated in. What is significance of the four cups, and what is the source for drinking them?
If you ask the average person, they will tell you it’s for the Arba’a Leshonot shel Geula/ the four terms of redemption, that God mentions in the Torah when taking us out of Egypt.
I’ll take you out,
I’ll redeem you
I’ll take you…etc.
These four terms of redemption correspond to the four different cups.
This is a well known reason, and it shows up in the Talmud Yerushalmi.
Another, lesser known reason brought down in the Talmud Yerushalmi , and in Rashi Pesachim as well, Is that if you look at the story of Yosef interpreting the dreams of Paroah, the word cup is mentions four times, and those 4 cups correspond to the 4 cups we drink at the Seder.
Why are there two different reasons?
The Chatam Sofer explains that it’s because there are two things going on.
One is that we must say four praises in order to correspond to the four terms of redemption that God redeemed us with:
These praises are,
-the Kiddush that we say on a cup,
-the story of the Haggadah that we say on a cup
-the Birkat Hamazon that we say on a cup
-Hallel, the song of praise that we say on a cup
These are the four textual readings of praise, which correspond to the four texts that Hashem used for redemption.
That’s one aspect, but it doesn’t explain why we have to drink the four cups of wine.
On a regular Friday night Kiddush, a person can listen to the head of the household say Kiddush, answer amen and not have to drink the wine. The head of the household drinks it.
But on the night of the Seder, everybody has to drink the wine.
This added aspect, of having to drink the four cups of wine, comes from the four cups mentioned by Yosef and Paroah.
So there are two things that we have to do. We have to drink 4 cups,, and we have the four statements, and we connected the two.
What is the significance of drinking the 4 cups? Simply speaking, the 4 cups aren’t a toast, like on a regular Friday night. We are actually supposed to drink these 4 cups, in order to increase our feelings of happiness and put us in a derech heirut/ state of freedom. That is why there is a question about whether grape juice can be used. Wine is preferred because of the state of mind we are seeking.
So we have two goals with the four cups of wine- the drinking and the statements,
And they each have their own source.
The drinking comes from the cups of Paroah, and the statements come from the statements of redemption.
But what is the significance of the cups of Paroah? The commentaries say that simply, it is because the redemption started with the cups of Paroah.
The fly flew into the cup of the wine steward, which caused Yosef to interpret the dreams. The wine steward was the one that remembered Yosef, which put Yosef into power. Yosef then set up the whole economy in such a way that only the laypeople were taxed, not the priests. This was significant because when Paroah began to work the people, he did everything by the law. The priests were exempt from the financial tax, so they were also exempt from the work tax, and this applied to Jews as well. That is why the tribe of Levi was not required to work. They were exempt, like in the old days when men in Yeshiva didn’t have to serve in the army.
So Yosef set up the system in such a way that we remained pure, and maintained our identity. Therefore, the beginning of the redemption was really all the way back, before the Jews even got to Egypt. God was setting everything up from behind the scenes, making Yosef the viceroy.
In addition to this, as my friend Mr. Moshe Soudry pointed out, we have to remember the fly that went into the cup.
Rav Matitsyahu Salomon explains that this is significant in that it shows how God controls the world.
What caused the Jews to get out of Egypt?
The fly.
When you see a stubborn fly in the house, that doesn’t want to leave, remember hat it’s not just a stubborn fly. It’s a smart fly, controlled by God. Like smart cars and smart missiles….this is a smart fly, going exactly where it’s supposed to go.
The goal of that fly in the wine steward’s cup was to get the Jews out of Egypt.
So when we have the four cups of wine, we can reflect on how God got us out of Egypt -with the cups of Paroah.
These are the two concurrent explanations for why we drink the four cups:
1- the four praises, for the four textual statements, and
2- the four cups for the cups of Paroah.
Have a wonderful day.