Haggadah:Four Cups/2

Four Cups

Exegetical Approaches

This topic is still being developed and updated

Four Statements of Praise

There are four instances in the Haggadah where we sing Hashem's praises, in Kaddesh, Maggid, Birkat HaMazon, and Hallel.  Since praise is normally accompanied by wine, these, too, are said over a cup of wine.

Sources:TosafotPesachim 99bSukkah 38aAbout Ba'alei HaTosafot

Why four? According to this approach, there is no special significance to the number four.  It so happens that there are four places where we "toast" Hashem's miracles and thus there are four cups of wine.

One obligation or four? This approach would view each cup as its own individual obligation, unconnected to the other three.

Can you drink all four at once? Since the liturgy is what is important, drinking all four at once defeats the purpose and so one does not fulfill his obligation of "four cups."  The gemara states that he does nonetheless fulfill the obligation of "wine" which this position would probably understand to mean the mitzvah of "שמחת יום טוב", being happy on the holiday.¹

Who needs to drink? Ba'alei HaTosafot suggests that the head of the household can fulfill the obligation for all those around him,² just as he does during kiddush on Shabbat. R. Y"Z  Soloveitchik explains that according to Ba'alei HaTosafot, since the primary obligation is the recital of words of praise rather than the actual drinking, only one person must drink. This is no different than kiddush on Shabbat where there is a similar obligation of "אמירה על הכוס" and the drinking is secondary.³

Necessary shiur (רוב כוס)? The gemara rules that one must drink "the majority of a cup" to fulfill one's obligation.  It is not clear, though, if this is simply a way of saying that one must drink a "cheekful" (מלא לוגמיו) as one does in Kiddush,⁴ or if it is emphasizing the concept of drinking a cup of wine.⁵ Ba'alei HaTosafot maintain the former, in line with their understanding that the 4 cups are parallel to kiddush, where a "taste" is important to establish "saying over wine" but a full cup is not.

Status of undiluted wine – Undiluted wine does not affect the fulfillment of the basic obligation of four cups since the taste of the wine is not crucial for saying the praise.⁶  Ba'alei HaToafot might suggest, as does Rashbam, that Rava's statement that one does not fulfill the obligation of "expressing freedom" in so doing, is only a secondary level of obligation, a מצוה מן המובחר.

Women's obligation – Since women also participated in the miracle, they must also sing Hashem's praises, and are thus obligated to drink the Four Cups.

How does this relate to reclining?

Expression of Freedom or Happiness

Drinking four cups of wine is a demonstration of our status as free people.

Why four? According to this approach, wine must be drunken in abundance to be an expression of freedom or happiness.  The number four was probably chosen because it is a round number and allowed for associations with other relevant groupings of four:

• Four expressions of redemption – R. Yochanan connects the four cups to the four verbs in Shemot 6 which speak of Hashem's salvation (ארבע לשונות גאולה).
• Four cups of Paroh – R. Yehoshua b. Levi relates them to the four mentions of Paroh's cup in the dream of the Butler, in Bereshit 40.⁷
• Four kingdoms – According to R. Levi they match the four kingdoms that oppress Israel.⁸
• Four cups of wrath and consolation – The opinion of the Rabbis in the Yerushalmi suggests that the four cups correlate to the four cups of calamity that are to be given to the enemies of Israel in the future, which themselves correspond to four cups of consolation that Hashem is to give to Israel to drink.⁹

Why are they drunk where they are? According to the Meiri, once there is an obligation to drink four cups, they were attached to four places where blessings are made in the Haggadah.  The specifics, thus, are somewhat arbitrary.

One obligation or four? This position would view the four cups together as a fulfillment of only one obligation.  It is only by drinking a substantial amount that there is an expression of freedom/happiness.

Can you drink all four at once? According to this approach, it would seem that it should not be problematic to drink the four cups consecutively, rather than in their proper place in the Haggadah.  Rav's statement "ידי יין - יצא, ידי ארבעה כוסות - לא יצא" might be understood to mean that one fulfilled one's basic obligation in so doing, but nonetheless it is a preferred mitzvah to drink on four separate occasions throughout the evening.¹⁰

Who needs to drink? As the obligation is one of drinking and not praise, each individual at the Seder must drink their own cup.

Necessary shiur (רוב כוס)? This position would likely posit that the gemara refers to drinking a full cup (but allows that a majority suffices since "רובו ככולו") rather than a "cheekful", since the emphasis is on the drinking itself, and specifically, on drinking in abundance.

Status of undiluted wine – This position might maintain, like Rava in the Bavli, that one does not fulfill one's obligation of four cups by drinking undiluted wine since this is no longer an expression of freedom.¹¹ It is not clear how this approach would understand Rava's declaration that one nonetheless fulfills one's obligation of "wine". 

Women's obligation

How does this relate to reclining?

Combination

Sources:Rambam About Rambam Hilchot

¹ See Rashbam who explains the gemara in this manner.

² They do, though, recommend that one be strict and provide four cups of wine to all who are present.

³ On Shabbat, in fact, one has no wine one is even able to fulfill the mitzvah over bread.  The wine itself is thus obviously not essential.

⁴ To be considered a "cup" it must measure at least a "רביעית", or a fourth of a "לוג".  Since a majority of a "רביעית" is identical to the measurement of a "cheekful", it is possible that this is the meaning of the gemara.

⁵ The gemara's mention of drinking a majority of the cup is another way of saying to drink a cup's worth, but we maintain that "רובו ככולו", the majority is comparable to the whole.

⁶ Ba'alei HaTosafot nonetheless agree that drinking undiluted wine is preferable in all cases.

⁷ Besides the fact that these verses also speak of a cup of wine, it is difficult to understand why one would try to correlate the cups at the Seder to the cups of Paroh specifically.

⁸ R. Levy might suggest that it is appropriate to recall all our enemies on Pesach, in keeping with the idea that Pesach is a prototype for all future oppressions, and thus all salvations.: "וְהִיא שֶׁעָמְדָה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ שֶׁלֹּא אֶחָד בִּלְבָד עָמַד עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ, אֶלָּא שֶׁבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ, וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם."

⁹ This position might be the flipside of R. Levi's.  While he focused on other oppressors, the Rabbis focus on our future salvation from them, a major theme of Pesach.

¹⁰ The concept might be that it is best to drink the wine over a blessing, even though that is not crucial.

¹¹ If drinking wine is meant to be an expression of freedom or happiness, it should taste good.