The pathos of this question is evident in the opening words of the Seder: “This is the bread of affliction our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.” The very festival that spoke of liberty gained became – for almost 2,000 years – a poignant reminder of what the Jewish people had lost: freedom, a land, a home. A new phrase was born: next year. “This year we are slaves; next year we will be free. This year we are here; next year in Israel.” The past became the future. Memory was transfigured into hope. It is not too much to call the Jewish people “the people of hope.” What had happened once would happen again. As the prophets of exile – Jeremiah and Ezekiel – said: there would be a second exodus. The loss was only temporary. The Divine promise was forever.
It was in this context that the debate over the fifth cup arose. Jews could speak about the four preliminary stages of redemption – but could they celebrate the fifth, “I will bring you to the land”? That is the debate between Rashi, Rambam and Ravad. Rashi says one should not drink a fifth cup; Rambam says one may; Ravad says one should.
Hence the extra cup at the Seder table. Out of respect for Rambam and Ravad, we pour it. Out of respect for Rashi, we do not drink it. According to the sages, unresolved halachic disputes will one day be resolved by Elijah. (The word Teyku, “Let it stand [undecided],” refers to Elijah: “The Tishbite [Elijah] will come and answer questions and problems.”) Hence the fifth cup became known as “the cup of Elijah.”
In our times, the Jewish people have returned to the land. According to one sage (the late Rabbi Menahem Kasher), we should now drink the fifth cup. Be that as it may, it is no less moving to think back to the 11th and 12th centuries – the age of Rashi, Rambam and Ravad – and know that in the darkest night of exile, the only question was: how far, in the present, do we celebrate hope for the future? Four-fifths, or all five? The promise G-d gave Moses at the beginning of our sedra spoke not just to that time, but to all time.
Pesach kept hope alive. Hope kept the Jewish people alive.
