The Fours of the Haggadah:
- The four questions
- The four children
- The four cups of wine
- The four expressions of redemption.
(ו) לָכֵ֞ן אֱמֹ֥ר לִבְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֘ל אֲנִ֣י ה' וְהוֹצֵאתִ֣י אֶתְכֶ֗ם מִתַּ֙חַת֙ סִבְלֹ֣ת מִצְרַ֔יִם וְהִצַּלְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם מֵעֲבֹדָתָ֑ם וְגָאַלְתִּ֤י אֶתְכֶם֙ בִּזְר֣וֹעַ נְטוּיָ֔ה וּבִשְׁפָטִ֖ים גְּדֹלִֽים׃ (ז) וְלָקַחְתִּ֨י אֶתְכֶ֥ם לִי֙ לְעָ֔ם...
(6) Say, therefore, to the children of Israel: I am the Eternal One. I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and I will deliver you from their slavery; I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty judgments. (7) I will take you to Me as a nation people...
- (5)“My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.
- (6) The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.
- (7) We cried to the Eternal One, the God of our fathers, and the Eternal One heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.
- (8) The Eternal One freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents.
ת"ר רביעי גומר עליו את ההלל ואומר (על חמישי) הלל הגדול דברי ר"ט...
The Sages taught in a baraita: With regard to the fourth cup, one completes hallel over it and [over the fifth cup] recites the great hallel; this is the statement of Rabbi Tarfon.
(י) וְאַחַר כָּךְ נוֹטֵל יָדָיו וּמְבָרֵךְ בִּרְכַּת הַמָּזוֹן עַל כּוֹס שְׁלִישִׁי וְשׁוֹתֵהוּ. וְאַחַר כָּךְ מוֹזֵג כּוֹס רְבִיעִי וְגוֹמֵר עָלָיו אֶת הַהַלֵּל. וְאוֹמֵר עָלָיו בִּרְכַּת הַשִּׁיר וְהִיא יְהַלְלוּךָ ה' כָּל מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וְכוּ'. וּמְבָרֵךְ בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן וְאֵינוֹ טוֹעֵם אַחַר כָּךְ כְּלוּם כָּל הַלַּיְלָה חוּץ מִן הַמַּיִם. וְיֵשׁ לוֹ לִמְזֹג כּוֹס חֲמִישִׁי וְלוֹמַר עָלָיו הַלֵּל הַגָּדוֹל מֵ(תהילים קלו א) "הוֹדוּ לַה' כִּי טוֹב" עַד (תהילים קלז א) "עַל נַהֲרוֹת בָּבֶל". וְכוֹס זֶה אֵינוֹ חוֹבָה כְּמוֹ אַרְבָּעָה כּוֹסוֹת. וְיֵשׁ לוֹ לִגְמֹר אֶת הַהַלֵּל בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁיִּרְצֶה אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְקוֹם סְעֵוּדָּה:
(10) And afterwards, he recites the Grace after the Meals over a third cup and drinks it. And afterwards, he mixes (pours) a fourth cup and finishes the Hallel over it. And he recites the blessing of song and that is "May all of your creatures praise you, etc." And he recites the blessing, "Who creates the fruit of the vine," and does not taste anything afterwards the whole night, except for water. And he should mix (pour) a fifth cup and say upon it the Great Hallel (Psalms 136), from "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good" (Psalms 136:1) to "Upon the waters of Babylon" (Psalms 137:1). And this cup is not obligatory like the [other] four cups. And he can finish the Hallel anyplace that he desires, even though he is not in the place of the meal.
ורשב"ם גורס רביעי אומרים עליו הלל הגדול דכוס חמישי מאן דכר שמיה. ואם בא לומר כוס חמישי רשות ואם ירצה יעשה כוס חמישי הכי הוה ליה למימר הרוצה לעשות כוס חמישי אומר עליו הלל הגדול. אבל לפי גירסת הספרים משמע דלר' טרפון וי"א כוס חמישי הוה ליה חובה ונהגו העולם לעשות רשות.
And Rashbam [follows] the textual variant, "We say the Great Hallel on the fourth cup," as 'who mentioned the name' of the fifth cup; and if it is coming to say [that the fifth cup is optional and, if wants, he should do a fifth cup, this is how it should have said it: "One who wants to do a fifth cup should say the Great Hallel upon it." But according to the textual variant of the books, it is implied that for Rabbi Tarfon and the 'those that say,' the fifth cup is obligatory, but the world has become accustomed to make it optional.
The Origins of Elijah's Cup
"What does one do, faced with this kind of disagreement? Jewish law tries whenever possible to propose a solution that pays respect to all views, especially when they are held by great halahic authorities. The solution in the present case was simple. A fifth cup is poured (out of respect for Ravad and Maimonides) but not drunk (out of respect for Rashi.)" - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
(8) I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I the Eternal One.”
(9) He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
מַתְחִיל בִּגְנוּת וּמְסַיֵּם בְּשֶׁבַח, וְדוֹרֵשׁ מֵאֲרַמִּי אוֹבֵד אָבִי, עַד שֶׁיִּגְמֹר כֹּל הַפָּרָשָׁה כֻלָּהּ:
He begins [answering the questions] with [the account of Israel’s] shame and concludes with [Israel’s] glory, and expounds from “My father was a wandering Aramean” until he completes the whole passage.
"The missing fifth represented the missing element in redemption. How could Jews celebrate arriving in the land of Israel when they were in exile? How could they drink the last cup of redemption when they had said at the beginning of the seder, "Now we are slave, next year we shall be free; now we are here; next year in the land of Israel"? - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
שֶׁבְּכָל הַלֵּילוֹת אָנוּ אוֹכְלִין בָּשָׂר צָלִי, שָׁלוּק, וּמְבֻשָּׁל, הַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה כֻלּוֹ צָלִי.
On all [other] nights, we eat meat roasted, stewed or boiled, [but] on this night, [we eat] only roasted [meat].
The Missing Fifth Child
On the 11th day of Nissan, 5717 [April 12, 1957], the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—issued a landmark pre-Passover letter that in many ways reframed a core purpose of the Passover seder: To find and invite “The Fifth Son,” any Jewish man or woman who “is conspicuous by his absence from the Seder service.”
While the “Four Sons” differ from one another in their reaction to the Seder service, they have one thing in common: they are all present at the Seder service. Even the so-called “Wicked” son is there, taking an active, though rebellious, interest in what is going on in Jewish life around him. This, at least, justifies the hope that someday also the “Wicked” one will become wise, and all Jewish children attending the Seder will become conscientious, Torah-and-Mitzvoth-observing Jews.
Unfortunately, there is, in our time of confusion and obscurity, another kind of a Jewish child: the child who is conspicuous by his absence from the Seder service; the one who has no interest whatsoever in Torah and Mitzvoth, laws and customs; who is not even aware of the Seder-Shel-Pesach, of the Exodus from Egypt and the subsequent Revelation at Sinai.
(יח) וַיַּסֵּ֨ב אֱלֹקִ֧ים ׀ אֶת־הָעָ֛ם דֶּ֥רֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר יַם־ס֑וּף וַחֲמֻשִׁ֛ים עָל֥וּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
(18) So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt.
דָּבָר אַחֵר, חֲמֻשִׁים אֶחָד מֵחֲמִשָּׁה יָצְאוּ וְאַרְבָּעָה חֲלָקִים מֵתוּ בִּשְׁלֹשֶׁת יְמֵי אֲפֵלָה (מכילתא):
Another explanation of חמשים is: only one out of five (חמשה) went forth from Egypt, and four parts of the people died during the three days of darkness because they were unworthy of being delivered (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:19:3; cf. Rashi on 10:22).
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks argues that each Missing Fifth (a cup, an expression, a verse, a question, a child) points to something incomplete in our present situation. These are all a measure of what can be achieved.
What aspect of incompleteness do you think each Missing Fifth represents?