Exploring Wine in Judaism

Friday Night Kiddush

Fun fact: Note that before reading Genesis 2:1, the leader speaks the last part of Genesis 1:31 in an undertone until he reaches the last two words of the verse (“Yom Ha-shishi”), which he then clearly says. This is intended to connect the words “Yom Ha-shishi” with the following two words of Genesis 2:1 (i.e., Vaikhulu Ha-shamayim”) to form an acronym for the sacred Name of God (i.e., YHVH).

1. What is the relationship between Creation and the exodus? How do they exist within Shabbat?
2. Why were these Torah passage included in the Kiddush blessing?
3. What purpose does wine have in this ritual?
4. What is the effect of reading these passages weekly?

Possible discussion questions:

1. Why wine?
2. How do you feel about the assumption that wine is a source of merriment for all? Are there other things that could replace wine to reach the same goals of rejoicing?

Humanist Kiddush

Wine:
symbol of pleasure and sorrow,
symbol of passion and the blood of life,
symbol of plenty and of excess.
Let us bless our lives with community
by sharing our joy, our spirit, and our bounty,
by inviting visitors to join us,
by welcoming the stranger,
by caring for those in need.

Let us dedicate ourselves to creating a healthy community.
The fruit of the vine – with it, let us drink "To Life!"

All read aloud together and raise our glasses in a toast to life:
"L'-Hayyim!"

From the OneTable Shabbat Guide

Pretty much all Jewish ceremonies and celebrations involve wine, and Shabbat dinner is no exception. But ritual doesn’t exist for the sake of itself, it exists to accomplish something, almost like an ancient form of technology.

While it’s tempting to imagine that our sages simply decided to sweeten celebratory practices from births to weddings with wine because, well, wine, they actually do it because the wine itself is like a switch: flip it, and we’ve set time apart, made it special, holy, other. It’s not about the wine itself, it’s about what it has the power to do when we raise our glass with intention.

That’s the magic of kiddush, from the Hebrew word for holy — our ability to demarcate time, to say that this Friday night, this Shabbat dinner, this exact moment,

which has never occurred before and never will again, is special. Cheers to that.

Reflection

During the week ... we lose some of the light in our eyes; it is restored to us by the reflection of light in our kiddush cup. -Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 113b

All of creation comes closer to its origin on Shabbat. That moment, that movement, begins with kiddush. -Likutei Moharan

Often one person recites or chants kiddush on behalf of everyone present. Short or long, that’s a tall order. It is undeniably intimidating to stand up in front of your guests make kiddush.

The words are hard enough. Then there’s the choreography. In some circles, everyone remains seated for kiddush, in others everyone stands, and in still others you stand while reciting the kiddush but sit down to drink the wine. What about the wine itself? Does the person who chants kiddush pass their cup around the table for everyone to taste? Or do you invite your guests to pour wine from the bottle into their own glasses before kiddush, recite the blessing, then everyone drinks their own?

The short answer is yes. There are as many ways to make kiddush as there are words in the kiddush itself. Some hosts recite on behalf of everyone present. Some people sit during kiddush and others stand. Women can make kiddush according to some interpretations, while in others kiddush is always recited by men. Some people even have nifty wine fountains that allow the host to divide their own glass of wine into servings for their guests in a single pour.

There are also ways to use wine as a conduit to sanctify Shabbat without the formal recitation of kiddush. In fact, the best part about kiddush might be its parallels to a modern ritual everyone can relate to: making a toast.

Framing kiddush in terms of toasting is a perfect way to step into ritual without feeling stepped on. Every language has a different word for cheers — in Hebrew it’s l’chaim, "to life" — and your guests will most probably bring to the table some expertise in this regard. Another approach is to explain the purpose of kiddush, to use wine as a conduit to sanctify time, then go around the table and invite each guest to say, as they raise their glass to the weekend, what they’re putting down from the week. At the end, you can raise your glasses and toast together, l’chaim.

Fun Facts

If you don’t have wine or grape juice, or just feel like experimenting, use a beverage you don’t normally drink throughout the week, perhaps another type of juice, a mocktail, or maybe beer or whiskey (depending on what kind of week you had).

At some point, people got the idea that a kiddush cup has to be a chalice or a goblet or something. Nope. As long as it holds about four ounces of liquid or more, what matters about the cup is that it’s different, special, other.