Passover: Freedom or Independence?

On Saturday night, we will all sit at the Seder table once again to reenact the Exodus from Egypt. Some of us will use the Seder primarily as an opportunity to get the whole family together for a festive meal. For others, it will be a nostalgic return to a childhood memory. Some of us may try to understand the text of the Haggadah as an historical document, while others may wish to examine its relevance to our own lives, or even choose to update the Haggadah by adopting readings and themes they find more relevant or meaningful to their conception of freedom. After all, Passover is Hag HaHerut, the Festival of Freedom, and the concept of freedom is certainly one that should concern our thoughts when we read the Haggadah.

I can remember quite a few attempts at infusing the Seder with new meaning by giving new interpretations its symbolic elements. One of the most popular methods is that of reinterpreting the significance of what has come to be referred to as the “Cup of Elijah.” Time and again, this traditional Cup of Elijah has been identified with another missing guest at the Seder, and assigned to another suffering or enslaved victim, or another aspect of hope.

Once, it was Soviet Jewry. At another time, it was the Jews of Syria. More recently, it has evolved into the Cup of Miriam as a sign of feminist consciousness raising.

But before we assign yet another identity to the Cup of Elijah, perhaps we should consider what it may be meant to symbolize in the context of the traditional Haggadah, and the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

I know that many of us have been brought up to think that the Cup of Elijah is merely a game, a ruse for keeping the children awake until the end of the Seder. We fill the cup, send the kids to open the door for Elijah, and then one of the adults takes a surreptitious sip so that the level of the wine is a little lower when the youngsters return. Not surprisingly, if that’s what it’s all about, then it is certainly an element of the Seder in need of reinterpretation.

But that’s not really what it’s about.

Traditionally, each cup of wine at the Seder is said to symbolize a divine promise. The cup of Elijah is no different.

I know that we commonly speak of the “four cups”. We know that at the Seder we are each required to drink four cups of wine, each cup representing one of God’s promises to Israel, one of the four expressions of salvation (Exodus 6:6-7):

I will bring you out
I will deliver you
I will redeem you
I will take you

These are Israel’s four freedoms, and each cup of wine is said to represent one of these promises.

Of course, anyone who reads the text through to the next verse should immediately become suspicious of that explanation of the deeper symbolic meaning of the four cups. After all, five promises are stated, not four. The fifth is: “I will bring you unto the land.”

We, living here, in a sovereign state of Israel, should find that fifth promise especially significant. Its absence is a little troubling. The biblical narrative does not seem to be saying that God freed Israel from bondage in order that they be free, or in order that they may wander the desert, or receive the Torah, or worship God and keep his commandments. The Bible appears to be saying that God freed us from slavery in order that we might inherit the land of Israel, the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet, the Haggadah seems to downplay that aspect entirely.

A cynic might say that the reason that the Haggadah ignores the “Zionist” message is that the Rabbis who gave us the Haggadah resided in Babylonia, and they had no interest in delivering a message that would require that they “make aliya.” But that argument does not ring quite true. While I do not doubt that nearly 2000 years of exile affected the Haggadah and the messages and values it imparts, I am also aware of the fact that the Haggadah draws primarily upon the Mishnah. The requirement of drinking four cups of wine is a Mishnaic one, and the Mishnah was composed in the Land of Israel.

Moreover, the idea of linking the four cups with the four promises doesn’t come from the Babylonian Talmud, but from the Jerusalem Talmud.

And so it would seem that if we wish to find that fifth promise, we have to look elsewhere. I would suggest that the most obvious place to look is the fifth cup of wine, the so-called Cup of Elijah.

The Rabbis were not sure whether we should drink four cups or five. It was that lack of certainty that led to establishing the custom of the Cup of Elijah – a cup of wine that, due to the uncertainty, is poured but not drunk. But what is there to be uncertain about? There are, after all, five promises.

While there are indeed five promises, I believe our ancestors may have been uncertain as to the ultimate nature of freedom and the correct interpretation of the symbolism of Passover. What is the true message of Hag HaHerut? What is the fundamental aspect of freedom? Is it personal autonomy, or is it national sovereignty? Is the primary message of Passover one of individual liberty, or one of national independence?

Either option can be argued. One can certainly maintain that the main purpose of the Exodus from Egypt was to free Israel from slavery in the sense that each Jew became free as an individual. Each person became free to keep God’s commandants. Each person became free to live a Jewish life wherever he may choose. That is the essence of freedom: personal autonomy. That is the foundation upon which a free society is built.

On the other hand, one might plausibly argue that personal autonomy was not the objective, but merely the means for achieving a higher goal, that of national identity and sovereignty. The purpose of the exodus from Egypt was to make it possible to establish an independent Jewish society. The ultimate goal was to attain sovereignty in the land of Israel, so that we might establish a society in which we would be free to live full Jewish lives, a society founded upon Jewish values, in which we would be responsible for our own destiny.

Which is more important? Which is more fundamental? Which facilitates which? Does freedom of the individual make it possible for us to establish a free society, or is a free society a prerequisite for individual freedom and autonomy?

I don’t know. And I think our Sages didn’t know either. Perhaps there is no right answer. Perhaps the answer depends upon who you are. Perhaps there is one right answer for us, living here in Israel, and another equally right answer for Jews living abroad.

I don’t know. But I believe that the idea behind the Cup of Elijah may be to raise those questions in our minds, and to allow each of us to answer them in our own way.

The Cup of Elijah is a symbol of uncertainty. We pour five cups in recognition of the five promises. We drink four cups in acknowledgement of the four promises. We pour five cups because Passover is about national liberation. We drink four cups because Passover is about personal freedom.

By setting aside the untouched Cup of Elijah we allow ourselves to say that simultaneously we have four cups and we have five cups. The Cup of Elijah validates both answers. The Cup of Elijah leaves the ultimate answer with each of us. We must all choose for ourselves. Perhaps, in the end, the Cup of Elijah tells us that the most important element of freedom is the right to choose.

Avinoam Sharon

© 2005 Avinoam Sharon