RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:FOUR CUPS OF WINE:

 

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:FOUR CUPS OF WINE:

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUD YERUSHALMI THE FOUR CUPS OF WINE/ PASSOVER / HAGADDAH

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUD YERUSHALMI AND THE FOUR CUPS OF WINE ON PASSOVER / HAGADDAH

 

Shalom and a sweet Pesach:

 

All of us who have attended a Passover Seder are familiar with the Hagaddah's explanation of the four cups
of wine. The Yerushalmi Talmud gives three other explanations.  

The sages ask in Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Pesachim 10:1, 37b: "From what texts are the four cups of wine derived?"

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Benayah:  "They correspond to the four redemptions: Say, therefore, to the Israelites:  I am God and I will take you out,  Vehotzeiti ,Vehitzalti - "And I shall deliver,"Vega'alti - "And I shall redeem,"Velakachti - "And I shall take."  (Exodus 6:6-7) This is what we read in the Hagaddah.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: " They correspond to the four cups of wine associated with Pharaoh.  "Pharaoh's cup was in my hand and I took the grapes and I pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's
hand (Genesis 40:11) and ...and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand (Genesis 40:13)."

Rabbi Levi said: "They correspond to the four kingdoms that have oppressed
Israel:  Babylonia, Media, Greece and Rome."

And rabbis say: "They correspond to the four cups of retribution that the
Holy One Praised be He will give the nations of the world to drink: 

 1. For thus said the Lord, the God of Israel to me:  Take from My hand this cup of
wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink of it.
(Jeremiah 25:15) 

 

 2.  Flee from the midst of Babylon for this is a
time of vengeance for the Lord.  He will deal retribution to her.  Babylon was a
golden cup in the Lord's hand and it made the whole earth drunk. (Jeremiah
51:6-7)

 

3. For in the Lord's hand there is a cup with foaming wine fully
mixed; from this He pours; all the wicked of the earth drink, draining it to
the very dregs. (Psalm 75:9)  

 

4. He will rain down upon the wicked blazing
coals and sulfur, a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. (Psalm
11:6) 

 

The first reason, which our sages choose to put in the Hagaddah as the reason for the four cups, is God redeeming us. It is the whole essence of Judaism. Even in the Dayanu ("it would have been enough") hymn, there is no Dayanu after the line in the song about God taking us out of Egypt. The first Dayanu comes after 'bringing judgements against them." Many of  our mitzvoth in the Torah have the reason for doing them because   ''God took us out of  Egypt." We have to be a free people to worship, to do 'avodah' (service, also worship) to God and to do 'avodah' for one another.

 

The second is about Pharaoh's gold cups. Note how the line in the Torah emphasizes his gold cup four times. One can be as rich as a Pharaoh , but if one is abusive, if one does not show others honor, one is dishonored and will lose all of his cups of gold. It is nice to be wealthly and to have ''gold cups.''  But if our cups are not running over with God's love for each other, our cups are worthless and we are spiritually impecunious.

 

The third and fourth are about enemies. All of us have those who try to detract from us. Even Judah Ha Nasi had  a prayer asking God to protect him from Jews, his own people, who were against him. True humility is learning that if God is with us, if we are doing our best by God, then other's peoples opinions of us are none of our business and we can still be happy.

 

But take note how nothing in the last meaning in Talmud Yerushami's explanation of the four cups, is about us taking vengeance to those who want to harm us. All of the quotations are about God being the judge. We are not to judge others. Maybe someone does not like us, or does not let us into their clique, because they are jealous of us and they have low self esteem. They need our prayers and not our resentments. We may not like their actions, but we still need to love the person.

 

The last of the four reasons show anger and resentment. We cannot blame the Jews of this time for this, as when the Hagaddah was finally written circa 100 CE, Jews were under horrid Roman rule.  Many Rabbis were on the side of those who wanted to have armed rebellion against Rome, and many were not. It is said that the rabbis in the Hagaddah who were up all night, had just returned from Rome from a failed peace mission. They were at Rabbi Akiva's house of the first night of Passover plotting a revolt with Bar Kochba's men.

 

There are times that we Jews, unfortunately must pick up 'the sword,' but in interpersonal relationships it is better to make Shalom with our fellows and not have resentment, grudges, or exclude people. We need to ask God to remove our feelings of ill will toward others, and just as the Torah tells us that if we see our enemy's  donkey load about to fall, to help him, even before we aid our best friend, we need to pray to God to give those we dislike everything we want for ourselves. If someone is a true unrepentant person, the Talmud tells us 'never to despair of divine retribution'.  These are some of the joys of freedom. We are free to choose to pick up yoke of God's way, and watch how all other earthly yokes fall from our shoulders. That is true freedom.

 

Remember also, there was some doubt if a fifth biblical expression of redemption, Veheiveiti - "And I shall bring" - should also be symbolized, making it necessary for five cups to be drunk. It was therefore decided in the Talmud Bavli to have an extra cup and entitle it "the Cup of Elijah," since unsolved problems in the Talmud are said to "await the decision" of Elijah.

 

Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if when people cannot decide on an issue, individuals or nations, can say, ''Let us await the decision of Elijah and until then let us live in peace."

 

Lastly, a word on Hagaddahs. So many families and friends will have silly disputes over which Hagaddah to use, with many folks calling others' choices 'traif' and other not-so-nice words.

 

Rabbi Natrunai Gaon, leader of the Sura Academy, during  854-862 CE, said that ''adherence to the text of the Hagaddah is mandatory'', and that ''any variation'' is ''akin to heresy''. He posited this because the Hagaddah  is based on the ''sacred words of the Mishnah and Talmud.''  He wrote that one may not delete any part of the text, or replace it with other parts of the text, to ''accommodate their own personal preferences''.

But the Ritvah [Rabbi Yom Tov ibn Asevilli of circa 1300 CE] says differently. His text is called  Hilchos Seder Ha Hagaddah . (Rules of the Seder and the Hagaddah). He says one should discuss the aspects of the Exodus ''without a formal text''. He says the purpose of the discussion is to ''offer praise to God''.  He says this is more ''intensely felt if expressed in spontaneous fashion''. This is similar to what the Talmud in Tractate Brachoth tells us when we pray. We should not do routine prayers. 

 The text of our Hagaddah, says Ritvah, was ''only introduced for those who are ignorant of the Exodus.''  It is for ''those incapable of discussing it in an original manner.'' They may ''exempt their obligation by following the standardized text of the Hagaddah.'' All others should ''seek to converse in as informal and genuine a manner as possible.''

Raavad [Rabbi Avraham ben David]  who lived from  1125-1198 in Provence, France, agreed with Ritvah. He ''expounded upon a verse or two'' related to the Exodus prior to the traditional reading of the Hagaddah.

 Rabbi Natrunai Gaon concluded that the Hagaddah need not be recited in the original Hebrew. It should be recited in any language that the reader understands he stated. This is so that its message is understood. And again, this follows Brachoth Tractate's advice to pray in our own language if we do not know Hebrew.

What Jews are supposed to do a month before Passover is to study the Hagaddah, the passages of the Exodus from Egypt in the Torah, and the Talmud Tractate Pesachim. This is so that when Seder comes, we do not need the Hagaddah to guide our discussions or as a teaching guide. This keeps our conversations fresh and our relationship with God and our fellows forever growing, as free men and women.

Blessings for a sweet Passover.

Rabbi Arthur Segal 

JEWISH RENEWAL:

JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC

BLUFFTON,SC

SAVANNAH, GA

 

 

  

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