(ו) לָכֵ֞ן אֱמֹ֥ר לִבְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֘ל אֲנִ֣י ה' וְהוֹצֵאתִ֣י אֶתְכֶ֗ם מִתַּ֙חַת֙ סִבְלֹ֣ת מִצְרַ֔יִם וְהִצַּלְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם מֵעֲבֹדָתָ֑ם וְגָאַלְתִּ֤י אֶתְכֶם֙ בִּזְר֣וֹעַ נְטוּיָ֔ה וּבִשְׁפָטִ֖ים גְּדֹלִֽים׃ (ז) וְלָקַחְתִּ֨י אֶתְכֶ֥ם לִי֙ לְעָ֔ם וְהָיִ֥יתִי לָכֶ֖ם לֵֽאלֹקִ֑ים וִֽידַעְתֶּ֗ם כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י ה' אֱלֹ֣קֵיכֶ֔ם הַמּוֹצִ֣יא אֶתְכֶ֔ם מִתַּ֖חַת סִבְל֥וֹת מִצְרָֽיִם׃ (ח) וְהֵבֵאתִ֤י אֶתְכֶם֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֤ר נָשָׂ֙אתִי֙ אֶת־יָדִ֔י לָתֵ֣ת אֹתָ֔הּ לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹ֑ב וְנָתַתִּ֨י אֹתָ֥הּ לָכֶ֛ם מוֹרָשָׁ֖ה אֲנִ֥י ה'׃
(6) Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am the LORD. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. (7) And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, the LORD, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians. (8) I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I the LORD.”
From where [do we know the requirement to drink] four cups? Rabbi Yochanan [said] in the name of Rav, "Rabbi Banniah said, 'Corresponding to the four [expressions of] salvations: "Therefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out, etc. And I will take you to Me for a people, etc."(Exodus 20:6-7). "And I will bring you out, and I will rescue you, and I will save you, And I will take you."' Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, 'Corresponding to the four cups of Pharaoh: "And the cup of Pharaoh was in my hand and I squeezed them into the cup of Pharaoh and I placed the cup onto the palm of Pharaoh... and you will place the cup of Pharaoh, etc." (Genesis 40:11-13).'
והוצאתי אתכם וגו'. מניין לארבע כוסות בפסח, א"ר יוחנן, כנגד ארבע גאולות, והוצאתי והצלתי וגאלתי ולקחתי השלשה בפסוק זה ואחד בפסוק הבא, ובכל הפוסקים והמפרשים וספרי אגדה שהובאה דרשא זו הובאה בלשון כנגד ארבע לשונות של גאולה, והנך רואה שבירושלמי שהעתקנו חסרה מלה "לשונות", אלא כנגד ארבע גאולות, ולדעתי לשון זה מכוון מאד, כי אם נפרש כפשוטו כנגד ארבע לשונות של גאולה אין טעם בדבר לקבוע בשביל זה ארבע כוסות של הודאה, והרי ענין הגאולה אחד הוא, אם בלשון אחת אם בארבע יעשר לשונית, אבל כנגד ארבע גאולות יתבאר הענין היטב, יען כי כשנעיין יפה נמצא ד' ענינים שונים בד' מאמרים אלו, אשר כל פרט ופרט הוא ענין שלם כשהוא לעצמו ושוה הודאה מיוחדת, כי במאמר הראשון [והוצאתי] מבואר שיוציאם הקב"ה מתחת סבלות מצרים, כלומר שיקל עליהם עבודתם, אבל אין במשמע שיחופשו בכולם מעבודתם, ועל זה הוסיף ואמר והצלתי אתכם מעבודתם, והיינו שלא יעבדו כלל, ואמנם גם לאחר אלה ההנחות עדיין הם עבדי פרעה ואין גאולתם שלמה, הוסיף ואמר וגאלתי אתכם, ויחד עם כל אלה עדיין אינם לעם מיוחד וקנין הקב"ה, ע"ז הוסיף לומר ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם והייתי לכם לאלהים. ומבואר דבמאמרים אלו כלולים ענינים מיוחדים בכלל הגאולה, והמשך הפסוקים הוא בדרך לא זו אף זו, כלומר לא רק הנחה זו אעשה לכם אלא גם זו, ולא גם זו אלא עוד גם זו וכו', וכיון שכן, מבואר פשוט, שעל כל פרט ופרט שבו מעלה יתירה מחויבים בהודאה, ולכן תקנו ד' כוסות של הודאה, ודו"ק. –
ומה שלא תקנו כוס הודאה לענין והבאתי אתכם אל הארץ, דאין לומר מפני שאינו מענין הגאולה, שהרי כמו כן תקנו לענין ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם שהוא ג"כ אינו מענין הגאולה – י"ל פשוט מפני שבהיותנו עתה בגלות והארץ מסורה בידי זרים אי אפשר לישא כוס יין על זה. ואולי לזכר זה תקנו כוס מיוחד לשמו של אליהו לזכרון ורמז שאנו מקוים לביאתו ולתחיית האומה והארץ ב"ב. .
(ירושלמי פסחים פ"י ה"א)
When we examine it well we find that there are four different ideas expressed in these four terms, and each one is its own complete idea unto itself and deserving of its own thanksgiving.
In the first statement ("I will take you out"), we see that the Holy Blessed One took them out from under the labors of the Egyptians, which is to say that God lightened their labors--but they were not freed completely.
Then God added to this, "And I will save you from their servitude," which means that they did not serve them at all.
But even after these two promises, they were still servants to Pharaoh and had not achieved full redemption. Thus God added, "And I will redeem you," but even so they were not yet made a special acquisition of the Holy Blessed One, and so God added, "And I will take you to me to be a people, and I will be God to you."
1) והוצאתי אתכם מתחת סבלות מצרים there will be an immediate cessation of the Israelites performing slave labour for the Egyptians.
2) והצלתי, on the day the Israelites would depart from Ramses, when they would cross the border out of the land of Egypt.
3) וגאלתי, on the day the pursuing Egyptians would be drowned in the sea, as testified in Exodus 14,30 ויושע ה' ביום ההוא, “on that day the Lord orchestrated salvation, etc.” After the death of the ones who enslaved, the enslaved are obviously free.
4) ולקחתי I will take you as My people- this will occur at the revelation at Mount Sinai.
The Reason for the Four Cups of Wine: Four Types of Redemption
There were four types of redemption that took place from Egypt, and that the sages decreed a cup of wine for each type of redemption on the basis of the verse in Scripture: "I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord." (Psalm 116:13)
We are obligated to give thanks and praise to God for our redemption from each according to Berachot 54b: "There are four classes of people who have to offer thanksgiving: those who cross the sea, those who traverse the wilderness, one who has recovered from an illness, and a prisoner who has been set free..." As is written:
- "They go down to the sea in ships….in their adversity they cried to the Lord and He took them out (yotzee'eim) from their troubles." (Ps. 107:23-32)
- "Some lost their way in the wilderness…In their adversity they cried out to the Lord and he saved them (yatzeeleim) from their troubles." (Ps. 107:4-9)
- "They reached the gates of death…in their adversity they cried to the Lord and He delivered them (yoshee'eim) from their troubles." (Ps. 107:18-19)
- "Bound in cruel irons…in their adversity they cried to the Lord and He delivered them (yoshee'eim) from their troubles." (Ps 107:10-17) …Let them praise the Lord for his steadfast love, His wondrous deeds for humankind…" (Ps. 107:8)
...When Pharaoh the Egyptians pursued Israel, the Israelites could have experienced great suffering. On the one hand, the wilderness which is filled with snakes and scorpions, and on the other hand, Israel was pursued by the Egyptians and the sea was before them (there was no escape). Yet they were delivered before any harm could come to them. They were in need of the deliverance of God. Moses stood before the people and said to them, "Stand up and witness the deliverance (yeshuah) of the Lord!" the deliverance occurred before the troubles. That is why the Torah says, "God delivered (vayosha) them on that day…") Even if one does not experience danger in the wilderness, there is always the possibility of encountering danger, so that the by definition, a wilderness is considered places of suffering.
In the case of illness or imprisonment, the person is already experiencing tza'ar, trouble. We give thanks because God has removed the illness or freed us from prison. The Talmud describes these experiences in the past tense because we have already experienced the trouble and afterwards we were delivered.
These four promises anticipate Israel's experience at the time of the Exodus. The Israelites were afraid of leaving Egypt. They realized that if they followed the most direct route out of Egypt and they did not come back within three days, the Egyptians would pursue them and inflict even more severe penalties on them after subjugating them once again.
Therefore God - the One who states the end from the very beginning - made known to Moses that they had no reason to fear the Egyptians; that God would arrange the exodus in the most effective way.
• 'I will take you out' implies from the sea, as we see in Psalm 107. God hinted in this promise that he would not take them by way of the land of the Philistines but rather by the way of the sea. The Israelites had no reason to fear the 'labors of Egyptians' because God planned to drown the Egyptians in the sea. "I will take you out of the labors of Egypt." This verse implies that I am taking you and not the Egyptians out.
• I will save you - from the wilderness. The Israelites might also be fearful that God would bring the people into the dangerous wilderness where they would face many difficult tasks. Since the wilderness is not a place where things grow, they would have to work very hard to find food. God reassured them by saying, "I will save you" implies from the wilderness, as in Psalm 107. Even if sin made it necessary to remain in the wilderness for an extended period of time, God reassured them by saying it will not be necessary for you to do hard labor. God rained down bread from heaven, quail to eat each day during the desert sojourn as well as ample water from a well.
• I will redeem you - Having reassured the people that he would protect them both at the sea and in the wilderness, the people might become anxious that Pharaoh would not let them leave at all; that he would give them freedom but keep them in Egypt. Therefore God made a third promise: "I will redeem you with an out stretched arm and with extraordinary judgments." This was a reassurance that God would pass judgment on the Egyptians and their gods while they were in Egypt.
• I will take you to be My people - Finally to the fear that they would carry the illness and injuries that were inflicted on them during their years of slavery, God reassured them by saying, "I will take you to be My people." This is a reference to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Rashi proves that God healed the Israelites of all their afflictions at the time of the revelation. Also we find the following verse in Exodus 15:26 - "I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians…"
We see then, that the first two promises are promises of safety from the sea and the wilderness, while the second two promises in Exodus 6 are promises of freedom from slavery and from illness. Since these are the four things for which we give thanks and offer praise, the sages decreed that we should toast our redemption with four cups of wine.
Passover's 4 Steps to Breaking Bad Habits
During the Passover Seder we recount in detail the plight of the Israelites as slaves in ancient Egypt, and we celebrate their eventual salvation. However, the Seder is not just about commemorating past events. The Talmudic sage Rabban Gamaliel II called upon us to include a personal element in the rituals of the Seder. “In every generation, a person must see themselves as if they personally left Egypt,”1 he instructed, leaving it to us to figure out how to make this ancient tale of redemption relevant to us today.
One suggestion was offered by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch, the third Rebbe of Chabad, also known as the Tzemach Tzedek. He viewed the rabbinic instruction to drink four cups of wine (or grape juice for those who avoid alcohol) during the Seder as a framework for achieving personal freedom.2
Each cup was instituted to reflect another expression G‑d used to promise the Jews that they would be rescued from Egypt and become a nation with the power to determine their own destiny.3 If we follow this path, the Tzemach Tzedek writes, it can lead us on a personal journey towards freedom from any negative practices that hold us back.
Here is my personal understanding of those four 4 steps to breaking bad habits, based on G‑d’s 4 promises:
1. Stop
G‑d’s first expression of redemption to the Israelites was, “I will take you out” of Egypt. Before you get clean, you must get out of the mud. The first step to breaking free from a habit is to simply stop doing it. Medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides says, “A sinner should abandon his sins,” and suggests that you control your thoughts before they trigger a repeat offence.4 Immediately stop, even if you have already gone at it again.
2. Adopt
After the Israelites left Egypt, they were ill at ease with their new identity. G‑d promised: “I will save you,” and supplied them with protective clouds of glory and manna from the sky. The second step on the path to breaking free is to immerse yourself in an alternative, positive reality. When dropping an old habit, adopt a new one to take its place and fill the void. Happiness researcher Gretchen Rubin says that it is much easier to form new habits after a change in life. Adopt your new activity steadily and continuously so it becomes the new you.
3. Rationalize
G‑d gave the Israelites the holy Torah on Mount Sinai as a roadmap to living a meaningful life. The expression, “I will deliver you,” alludes to the study of Torah, which spiritually and intellectually transforms you. The third step on this journey is to establish the ethical reasoning of your decision and an understanding of the new person you are trying to become. As the Israelites said after receiving the Torah, "naaseh v'nishma” (“we will do and we will understand”). After you “do” by adopting a positive activity, the next step on the journey to change is learning and understanding.
4. Internalize
As the Israelites wandered through the desert, G‑d promised them that He would bring them to the Promised Land. Knowing that they would have a place to call their own allowed them to establish an emotional connection with their new selves. This positive emotional bond is reflected in the expression, “I will take you as a nation.” The fourth step on this path is to not only rationalize and understand the person you want to become, but to also fully internalize the change within you, because emotion plays a big part in influencing the decisions we make.
“Through the story we are redeemed from Egypt,”5 the Tzemach Tzedek once commented. You have the power to make the Passover narrative your own success story.
FOOTNOTES
1.Pesachim 116b.
2.Ohr HaTorah, Shemot, vol. 1, p. 185.
3.Exodus 6:6-7.
4.Mishneh Torah, Laws of Teshuvah, 2:2.
5.Rebbe Rayatz, eve of 20 Kislev 5692; Sefer Hamaamarim 5710, p. 197.
English
The Four-fold Promise of Redemption
Looking deeper, we see that the first three expressions--"I will bring you out," "I will save you," "I will deliver you"--primarily relate to taking the Children of Israel out from a physical subjugation. However, the primary goal of the deliverance from Egypt was to bring them to spiritual freedom through receiving the Torah, as stated by G‑d in His first revelation to Moses at the burning bush, "When you will bring out this Nation, you will worship G‑d on this mountain (Mount Sinai)." This is referred to in the fourth expression: "I will take you, for me, as a Nation, and I will be, for you, the L-rd."
This same process of expanding familial closeness applies to territorial proximity as well. Since many families lived in one area, they decided that their combined land would become the territory of their new unified nation. The unifying forces were familial closeness, a single language, and a single territory.
This was not the case with the Nation of Israel. Everything was given to them by Divine command. G‑d said to Abraham, the father of the Nation, "Go out from your land and your birthplace… to the land [that will become Israel] which I will show you." This means that the formation of the Country of Israel was by Divine decree. The force which unifies the Nation is G‑d's commands; it flourishes only when the Nation of Israel is serving G‑d, may He be blessed. Therefore, it is impossible to separate the Nation of Israel and the Land of Israel from G‑d, and from the fulfilling of His Divine Command, the Torah. Therefore, the holy Zohar proclaims, "G‑d, the Torah, and Israel are one."
What is the significance of the spiritual deliverance being phrased by the term, "I will take you?"
Let us discuss the term, "And I will take." Our Sages of blessed memory state (Tractate on Marriage, page 2b): "Why do we find that marrying a woman is called "taking," as the verse says, ‘When a man takes a woman?’ [The Talmud answers:] Since it is written in the Torah [in Genesis] that G‑d made Adam fall asleep and took part of his side and [from it] made a woman, and called her Woman [in Hebrew, "Isha"] because she was taken from a Man [in Hebrew, "Ish"]. [The Talmud continues:] This is comparable to a person who has lost an object. [Who searches after whom?] The person searches after the lost object [i.e. the lost object does not search for its owner]. Therefore it is the nature of a man to go after a woman. [The man lost part of his side and searches for the woman] and therefore, it is written, "When a man takes a woman [in marriage].
[The Talmud continues] We learn from this that when a person comes to complete a part which is missing from them, we use the term "taking", as our Sages of Blessed memory say, "If a man proposes with the words, ‘You are the one I have taken,’ [instead of the ordained form of, "You are betrothed to me"], this is also considered to be a binding marriage. It is probable to say this is the reason the word to take [in Hebrew, "lakach"] contains the same letters as a part [in Hebrew, "chelek"].
This concept of woman being part of man also applies to the soul. It is written that the soul in its source was attached to G‑d and indeed it is called "a part of G‑dliness from above" (Job 31:2), until it became distanced from Him and descended to become enclothed in a turbid physical body in this world. So too the Nation of Israel is called a part: "For His Nation is a part of G‑d." (Deut. 32:9) In the subjugation and exile in Egypt, the Children of Israel became distanced from G‑d. They descended to the lowest level and sank into the 49 gates of impurity. Therefore, the fourth term of deliverance mentioned in the verse above is "taking"; i.e. G‑d takes back his lost object, the Divine Soul which dwells within the Children of Israel, and reattaches it to the source from which it was hewn.
This also lets us understand the order of the four cups of wine on the night of the Passover Seder dinner. For it is written in the Zohar, that the four cups correspond to the four letters of the Name Havayah (the Tetragrammaton: yud, hei, vav, hei). ...the fourth cup corresponds to the deliverance term of "taking", for then G‑d brings back a part of His Soul to the Rock from which it was hewn.
With regard to the word Teshuva [i.e. repentance; lit. return to G‑d] it is written that it can be rephrased as, "Tashuv hei [i.e. return the hei.) This is because the [last] letter hei from the Tetragrammaton represents the Nation of Israel and the letter vav represents G‑d. When the Nation of Israel and the Shechinah are in exile, this hei is separated from G‑d. Therefore, the Sages of Blessed memory, say, "Teshuva [i.e. the return of the hei] is so great, since it brings the deliverance near." This also agrees with what we have explained, that the fourth cup corresponds to the letter hei. When we repent and we return to G‑d, there is a union of all four letters of the Tetragrammaton and this brings the complete deliverance. May it be the will of G‑d that we should soon see these words in their fulfillment and completeness.
Muswell Hill Synagogue
Firstly, God proclaimed that he would ‘bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt’. This is physical redemption, simply a lightening of the load, and a relief from burden. To Hirsch, this is a first and necessary step on the way to true freedom. Once material stresses are lifted from off a person, he/she can then feel freer to consider the spiritual.
Secondly, God would “deliver you from your bondage”. Here Rabbi Hirsch understands ‘bondage’ not to mean physical slavery but rather the mentality of slavery. The next step after a relief from burden was to shake off the damaging philosophy propagated by Pharaonic Egypt that we have no control over our destiny. In Egypt, a caste system was created where everyone had their place and there was next to no social mobility. Here God freed and redeemed us from being enslaved to man and to nature.
Thirdly, God declared, “and I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm”. This according to Hirsch is where “man must become aware of the source of his freedom”. In other words, so far freedom has been negative – from physical burdens, from a slave mentality. Now freedom is something positive, freedom to appreciate God rather freedom from any burden. This difference between positive and negative freedom was discussed by Sir Isaiah Berlin in his ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’ and most recently from a Jewish perspective by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his Hagada (Essays, p68). With this third step, God reveals himself as the Creator of our freedom, and paves the way for a specific bond with the Jewish Nation.
Lastly, God explains, “I shall take you to Me for a people”. The previous three representations of redemption could be experienced by all of mankind. This fourth one however, was indicative of the election of the Children of Israel to take the concept of redemption and explain it to the world. For this the Jewish people would need to regulate themselves as a nation according to the word of God. Religion would not just be something of the private domain, remaining with the individual. Rather, it would be interchangeable with the constitution of the nation. Our happiness and satisfaction as a nation will truly come when we live as a nation according to the Torah and its mitzvot.
So the four cups of wine that we drink at the Seder, are stations along the path of freedom and redemption, each one leading us closer to our goal as a people – to be God’s people.