A Fifth Cup at the Seder Is Long Overdue

Among the most iconic rituals of the Passover Seder is the drinking of four cups of wine. Given the evening’s rich symbolic structure—including the Four Questions and the Four Sons—it may not surprise us that wine too appears in a set of four. But what lies behind this particular number?

The most widely accepted explanation comes from the Jerusalem Talmud (Pesachim 10:1), where R. Yochanan, citing R. Benaiah, connects the four cups to the four expressions of redemption articulated by God in Exodus 6:6–7: “I will free,” “I will deliver,” “I will redeem,” and “I will take.” Yet, as evocative as this interpretation is, it may actually obscure the broader message of the biblical passage from which it draws.

Let us return to the full context of Exodus 6:2–8:

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name, the Lord. I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as strangers. I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, enslaved by the Egyptians, and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians, and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God… I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”

In this passage, God not only promises liberation but unveils a profound theological shift. While He had previously revealed Himself to the patriarchs as El Shaddai—a name shrouded in mystery and interpreted variously as “the Almighty,” “the Pourer,” “the Nurturer,” or “the Mountain One”—He now speaks as Y-H-V-H, the ineffable Name, expressing the fullness of His being, faithfulness, and redemptive power.

Rashi comments insightfully on this transition. He explains that God is telling Moses: “I was not recognized by the patriarchs through My attribute of faithfulness (keeping My promises), for although I made promises to them, I did not fulfill them during their lifetimes.”

What promises remained unfulfilled? Rashi points us to the covenantal assurances of land:

• To Abraham: “I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you sojourn” (Genesis 17:8),
• To Isaac: “I will assign all these lands to you and your heirs” (Genesis  26:3),
• To Jacob: “The land I assigned to Abraham and Isaac I assign to you” (Genesis 35:11–12).

While God had indeed fulfilled the promise of peoplehood—the multiplication of Abraham’s descendants—the promise of the Land remained unrealized. Now, God tells Moses that the time has come to complete the covenant. The Exodus is not an end in itself, but a means toward a divine purpose: to bring the people into their own land.

This raises a striking question: if the four cups of wine are meant to mark the four stages of redemption, how can we omit the final promise—“I will bring you into the Land”? How can our celebration of deliverance neglect its ultimate fulfillment?

One possible answer is that the four cups focus exclusively on the Exodus itself, not on subsequent events. However, this explanation falters under scrutiny. According to numerous commentators—including Ibn Ezra, Ramban, and Sforno—the fourth expression, “I will take you to be My people,” refers to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, which also occurs after the Exodus. If the sequence includes post-Exodus milestones, then the fifth promise—entry into the Land—surely deserves inclusion as well.

Why, then, only four cups?

Perhaps the omission of the fifth expression was shaped by historical reality. In the time of the Talmudic sages, the Jewish people lived under Roman rule, far removed from sovereignty in their ancestral homeland. In such a context, “I will bring you into the Land” may have felt more like a deferred dream than a lived reality.

If so, then our present moment demands a reevaluation. In our own time, the Jewish people have returned to their Land and reestablished a sovereign state, the State of Israel, within it. Thus, we must now restore the fullness of God’s promise and reclaim the fifth expression of redemption.

The time has come to drink a fifth cup at the Seder.

For an abridged video version of these thoughts: https://youtu.be/MBl-Zrl_iME