Why Four Cups of Wine: On page 72b of *Pesachim,*Rashi writes that we drink four cups of wine is for the four expressions of redemption: “I will bring you out,” “I will save you,” “I will redeem you,” and “I will bring you to the land.” Elsewhere,¹⁹ Rashi writes that the reason for the four cups of wine is reminiscent of the three cups of wine which Pharaoh’s wine bearer saw in his dream as well as the cup which we drink after the Birkat HaMazon, the Grace after Meals. It seems to me that there is another reason for the four cups of wine found in the Mekhilta, Parshat Bo. According to Rabbi Elazar Hakafar, the four cups of wine are related to the four mitzvot which the people of Israel performed and that the world are not worthy of: the people of Israel were not guilty of unchastity , they didn’t commit slander, and they didn’t change their names, their language, nor their clothing to follow their neighbors. It was because of these actions that they merited redemption from Egypt. In the Mekhlita scriptural verses are brought as proof texts for each of these actions. It was in honor of these actions that we drink the four cups of wine. However, this is difficult. We say “You were naked and barren of mitzvot”²⁰ which suggests that the Israelites did not have any mitzvot to their credit to make them worthy of redemption, and therefore God gave them the blood of circumcision and the blood of the Passover offering. The K’li Yakar²¹. answers this question that these four mitzvotwere all passive acts – they didn’t involve performing an act. The Israelites did not have any active commandments to their credit. Therefore God gave them two commandments which involved performing an action rather than simply desisting from doing something. The Holy one freed them from bondage as a reward for the four commandments but did not take them out of Egypt. Israel ceased serving the Egyptians in the month of Tishri but they did not leave Egypt until the month of Nisan after they had circumcised all the males and offered the Passover sacrifice.

footnotes: ¹⁹ BT Pesachim 108a ²⁰ This verse from Ezekiel is quoted later in the Haggadah. ²¹ Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Lunschitz 1550 – 3 March 1619) was a rabbi, poet and Torah commentator, best known for his Torah commentary K’li Yakar