This is a reading that could be done before the first cup of wine is blessed. The reading is based on the Talmud’s explanation for why there are four cups of wine at a Seder. The rabbis of the Talmud created the idea of four cups because they noted that there were four expressions of redemption early in the Exodus story. In Exodus 6:6-7, God promises the Israelites… “I will bring you out;” “I will deliver you;” “I will redeem you;” and “I will take you.”
In our time, we could imagine that each promise & each cup of wine represent current groups that need to be “brought out, delivered, redeemed, or taken out.”
Rabbis for Human Rights (an Israeli social justice group) suggests the following way for interpreting the cups this year. The leader could read or share what follows as a responsive reading with another participant.
As we consider the first cup of wine for this year’s Seder, we envision America as a true “land of the free” – where everyone has a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing of him/herself and of his/her family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services (from Article 25 of the Declaration of Human Rights).
As we consider the second cup of wine, we envision modern Israel as a country that fosters development for the benefit of all its inhabitants. We envision an Israel that is “based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel,” an Israel that “will ensure the complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants” (from the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel, 1948).
And as we consider the third cup of wine, we envision a world where everyone has work and where everyone receives equal pay for equal work. We envision a world where everyone also can enjoy rest and leisure, and periodic holidays with pay (adapted from Articles 23 and 24 of the Declaration of Human Rights).
For our fourth cup, we will dream. We will hope for a world where no one is held in slavery or servitude… a world without sweatshop laborers, where all workers are able to make a fair wage, regardless of which country they are born. We pray for a world where all products are fairly traded, and no one country or financial institution can dictate trade policies (adapted from Article 4 of the Declaration of Human Rights).
Four cups for four visions of a renewed world!
L’chaim – To Life.
So that next year we may all be free… Forgive me, God, for remaining aloof while others are in need of my assistance. Wake me up, God, ignite my passion, fill me with outrage. Remind me that I am responsible for Your world. Don’t allow me to stand idly by. Inspire me to act. Teach me to believe that I can repair some corner of the world. When I despair, fill me with hope. When I doubt my strength, fill me with faith. When I am weary, renew my spirit. When I lost direction, show me the way back to meaning, back to compassion, back to You. Amen. From Rabbi Naomi Levy |