[Avodah] The 5th cup

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 06:50:55PM -0700, martin brody wrote:
: Some say the 4 expressions of redemption, particularist, others the 4 times
: the cups are mentioned in the Joseph story, in jail, therefore the 4 cups
: of freedom, were universalist.

R Yehoshua ben Levi or R Shemuel ben Nachman (Y-mi Pesachim 10:1. 68b)
R Levi (sham) says it's the 4 cups of pur'onios that HQBH will give the
umos ha'olam to drink:
    - Kach es kos hayayin hacheimah (Yirmiyahu 55)
    - Kos zahav Bavel beYad Hashem
    - Ki kos beYad Hashem (Teillim 75)
    - Yimtar al reshaim pachim... menas kosam (Tehillim 11)
and the 4 cups of nechamos He will give BY:
    - H' menas chelqi veqosi (Tehillim 16)
    - dishanta vashemen roshi, kori revayah (Teh' 23)
    - Kos yeshu'os esa (x 2) (Teh' 112)

The 4 leshonos in Shemos 6:6-7 is said first, by R Yochanan beshaim R
Benayyah. RHM tells me that R' Matis Blum cites the Gra as tying kos
shel Eliyahu to a 5th lashon -- veheveisi (6:8).

I'm not sure where to find a 5th cup in R' Levi's position. It requires
mastery of Tanakh that I lack.

But the kosos of the sar hamashkim's dream only requires browsing one
pereq of Bereishis.

The first four (from the Y-mi, all in Ber' 40):
    - Vekhos Par'oh beyadi (v. 11, sar hamashkim describing the dream)
    - Va'eschat osam el kos Par'oh (ibid)
    - va'etein es hakos al kaf Par'oh (ibid)
    - venasata khos Par'oh beyado (v. 12, the pitaron)

None of which runs counter accepting the historical evidence that the
minhag emerged for pragmatic reasons. After all:

1- Explaining *how* a minhag came to be historically is different than
explaining *why* HQBH wove things to produce that turn of events.

2- After the practice started, would it have spread -- or if it spread
already, would it still be continuing -- if people didn't find a meaning
in it? So even if these reasons aren't the initial cause, they end up
being the cause of why we're doing it today anyway.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
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