בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה “Praised are you…” Even though we already acknowledged that God “Granted us life and sustenance and permitted us to reach this season,” over a separate cup (of wine), the sages saw fit to decree this cup as well. The second cup is meant to arouse God’s compassion to bring us back a second time and redeem us as God promised. That which is stated,“bring us to other appointed times and holidays that will come to greet us in peace,” is nor referring to Shavuot or Sukkot which come after Passover. Rather it refers to the future redemption when the Exodus from Egypt will be secondary and the gathering of the exiles will become essential. It says, “When it comes to greet us,” because each day we come closer to the end time. “Joyful in the building of Your city,” in which God will place a wall of fire about it. “And happy in Your worship.” Joy will not be a result of going from sorrow to happiness, that is, we went forth to relief and took pleasure in all the promises which were made to us. Rather the essence (of the joy) will be that we merited to worship God upon returning, enjoying it without fear of other nations who might try to stop us. Thus, the passage goes on to say, **“We will rejoice (Semeichim) and be happy (Sassim) in You.”**³¹⁷ and Sassim? “In You” - in Your salvation and in you - Your Torah. ³¹⁸ The renewal of the Holy Temple which will come down from heaven, completed and rebuilt, there “We shall eat from the offerings” - with complete satisfaction, “ and from the Passover sacrifices,” - in the plural because then recalling the Passover story will not be enough; then we will also eat the Passover sacrifice as our ancestors did in Egypt, and afterwards over the generations, the Passover sacrifice of the generations. For this will be a second Exodus. God will pass over our houses and enlighten us as the One did originally and without limit. God will do this until he places us beneath His Holy Spirit and we will know how to sing a new song. It won’t be like the song our ancestors who were redeemed from Egypt sang but a song more praiseworthy…. “a new song upon our redemption from subjugation to the nations, and the restoration of our souls from subjugation to the evil inclination so that it cannot incite us as we wrote regarding the four questions Mah Nishtana.

footnotes: ³¹⁷ Why does it say Semeichim ³¹⁸ Added to Rabbi Foa’s text: "This is based on Rabbi Foa’s version and the Version of the Prayers as found in Shaar HaShamayim.”