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

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 08:06:12PM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
> Thank you.  Note footnote 38, about the English translation of R Dovid
> Feinstein's hagada, and the original Hebrew.   As I wrote in this forum
> years ago, I believe the English translator misunderstood the Hebrew...

The footnote is clear about the possibility of a disconnect (the
transliteration at the end is mine):
    R. David Feinstein, The Kol Dodi Haggadah (Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah
    Publications in conjunction with Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem, 1990),
    p. 106. There it is stated that the wine is removed "in consideration
    for the losses caused by the plagues." This appears in the Hebrew
    original (New York: Tiferet, 1970), p. 21, as the somewhat more
    ambiguous "nohagim sheshofekhim le'ibud hamakkos."

In the past, we asked RZL, the translator, who is a member. But when he
checked with RDF, RDF himself couldn't recall which was intended. (The
footnote's "the somewhat more ambiguous" is well-founded.) In any case,
RDF's own uncertainty means that he agrees with the idea that spilling
the wine can commemorate the suffering of the Egyptians.

However, whatever RDF's own position, we cannot say it was "in order to"
commemorate. Any such linkage would be an after-the-fact insertion of
intent to an existing minhag. Just that RDF is among the later acharonim
who believe such linkage is a good idea.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 The meaning of life is to find your gift.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   The purpose of life
Author: Widen Your Tent      is to give it away.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                   - Pablo Picasso