The obligation to drink four cups of wine at the Seder is rabbinic. According to the Jerusalem Talmud, these four cups correspond to the four phrases related to freedom which appear in Parshat Va’era (Shemot 6:6-7): “I will take you out (ve-hotzeiti),” “I will save you” (ve-hitzalti), “I will redeem you” (ve-ga’alti), and “I will take you” (ve-lakachti). However, there is a fifth phrase as well in the next verse: “I will bring you” (ve-heveiti). In fact, some people drink a fifth glass of wine at the seder when they recite Hallel HaGadol (The Great Hallel – Tehillim Chapter 136). Some even feel that this is not simply a custom, but rather the ideal way to fulfill the mitzva, as Rabbi Tarfon states (Pesachim 118a), “We recite Hallel HaGadol while holding the fifth cup (prior to drinking it).”
Another interpretation of the four cups is that they correspond to the four kingdoms which subjugated the Jews, namely Babylon, Persia/Medea, Greece, and Rome. In the future, G-d will punish these enemies, and they will be forced to drink from “the cup of staggering.” (See Yeshayahu 51:22-23.) In this scheme, the fifth cup symbolizes the ultimate salvation of the Jewish people.
The disagreement as to the symbolism of the four cups may help us understand the different opinions about the status of the fifth cup. If the four cups symbolize the downfall of Israel’s oppressors, then the cup of salvation is not similar to them. This may explain why many see the fifth cup as optional. However, if the four cups correspond to the different phrases of redemption, the fifth phrase easily fits the scheme, and thus adding a fifth cup can easily be seen as the ideal way to fulfill the mitzva.
In practice, our custom is not to drink a fifth cup of wine. Some even forbid it on account of the prohibition of adding mitzvot to the Torah (bal tosif). How then do they explain the statement of Rabbi Tarfon quoted earlier? They maintain that he was referring only to someone sick or very delicate. Such a person is permitted to drink a fifth cup of wine. He would then recite Hallel HaGadol prior to drinking this additional cup.
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