[Avodah] Why remove drops from Cup; Ought the cup be topped up?

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 09:52:36AM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> .
> R' Meir G. Rabi asked:
> > Is the Koss filled before being raised for its Berachah?

> Rabbi Shimon Eider, on page 271, writes: "The minhag is to add wine to the
> cup to replace the wine that was spilled out..."

...
>               Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ...             In Chapter 9 of
> the Halichos Shlomo on Moadim, in the Orchos Halacha section, note 241, it
> says, "If much was missing (nechsar harbeh) from the kos, his (RSZA)
> practice was to refill it before the bracha of Asher Gaalanu." ...

I had made up a sevara that it should depend on whether one uses a
finger, so that the cup is basically full minus 16 drops, or you had used
a teaspoon. One can argue that the former would almost always leave the
cup visually similar to when you started, and it wouldn't be a kos pagum.

So, when reading the post I am thinking that RSE was basing himself
on sources from qehillos that just took out 16 quarter-spoonfulls, or
spill out from the side of the cup, and RSZA is writing based on the
East European (or maybe it is just Litvish?) norm of using your figure
and just getting a drop or two.

Thinking: maybe this dosn't reflect a machloqes, it's simply diferent
uqimtos.

If you could see if RDE's primary description is of using a finger or
later in the sentence "yeish omerim" style, we could confirm or falsify
my theorizing about his assummptions.

Chodesh Tov!
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

PS: Sorry for letting that piece of spam through to the list. I knew
I had spam in the queue when I started, but then the subject line had
me think I miscounted how many pieces and that wasn't it.

-- 
Micha Berger                 Education is not the filling of a bucket,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   but the lighting of a fire.
Author: Widen Your Tent                   - W.B. Yeats
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF