The Four Cups: Nothing is in the way anymore!
Why do we drink four cups of wine? G-d said to Moshe the four words of redemption: Vehozaisi, I shall take you out; Veyitzalti, I shall save you; VeGoalti, I shall redeem you; velakakhti, I shall take you. According to my holy ancestor, the Maharal (Rabbi Judah Loeb of Prague), and other mekubalim, holy mystics, there is a fifth cup, viheveisi, I shall bring you to the Holy Land. The first four cups are for the Exodus and Redemption from Egypt, Babylon, Persia and Edom (Rome). The fifth cup is for a redemption which has yet to come. But most people, simple folks like us, only drink four cups.
In this world wine makes us drunk, and us forget. When Messiah comes there will also be wines that will it us up to the highest levels, because wine really could lift us up. It is only because the world is so low that wine drags us down more. If the world would be as it should be then every drop of wine would lift us to the highest levels. Pesach night is a little bit like the world to come, so the four cups of wine lift us to the highest joy in the world. Suddenly we really understand that everything is right. When Mossiach is coming there will be a new song, but in order to hear this song you have to be drunk on a high level. Therefore, we really only start singing after the third cup of wine, which is when we say Hallel. By the third cup we are already drunk enough to hear the song of the world to come. As much as all the gates of Heaven are open the first part of the night, they are not completely open. After the third cup door we open the door for Elijah the prophet, because everything is open then. Nothing is in the way anymore!
House of Love and Prayer San Francisco, 5733
Photo: Tombstone of Yehudah ben Bezalel Levai (1525 – 1609) (Maharal of Prague)
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