loft Portion LSAT MCAT GMAT GRE ACT/SAT Why We Drink our Cups Of Wine SIILOMO RISKIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH TIMES W by do we drink four cups of wine at the seder table? Accord- ing to the Babylon- ian Talmud, the number four signifies God's four different expressions of deliverance used when he renews His promise of redemption to Moses. "I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an out- stretched arm and with great judgments, and I will take you to me for a people." Exo- If you're taking one of these tests, take Kaplan first. CLASSES STARTING NOW AT THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER IN WEST BLOOMFIELD For More Information Call (313) 569-5320 KAPLAN dus 6:6 7. - The Jerusalem Talmud, however, also records anoth- er explanation. R. Yehoshua ben Levi teaches that the four cups divine correspond to the number of times that wine cups are mentioned in the butler's dream and in Joseph's interpretation of it, when they were both impris- oned in an Egyptian jail. "...And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." Ex- odus 40:11. Without hesita- tion, Joseph announces the butler's imminent freedom: ‘`...you shall give Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when you were his butler." Exodus The answer to the test question. Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood presents 0 - 0 AUCTION EXTRAORDINAIRE Saturday, April 24, 1993 7:30 p.m. TEMPLE EMANU-EL 14450 W. Ten Mile, Oak Park $7.50* paid in advance $10.00* at the door a Featuring: An Elegant Dessert Buffet, courtesy of Matthew Prentice of Unique Restaurant Corp. • • • • • 40:13. At first glance, R. Ye- hoshua's position is strange. Is he telling us that when we fill our goblets with wine, it is preferable to remember the perplexing dream of a des- perate prisoner rather than the language God Himself uses for redemption. Several explanations could be given for R. Yehoshua ben Levi's position. First of all, al- though a jailed wine butler may not sound inspiring, the word kos (cup) appears four times in the passage of the dream, creating a parallel be- tween the four cups of wine on the seder table and the four cups of wine in the but- ler's account. An important view in Jewish law even in- sists that we drink the ma- jority of the cup — no matter how much wine it holds — at each juncture of the seder, Champagne, courtesy of Cloverleaf Market • 50/50 Drawing • Fine Dining • Sports Tickets • Art • Automobile • Theatre • Autographed Sports Equipment • Fur Coats • Trips • Clothing • And Much More... For further information call the Temple Office: 967-4020 * includes 3% contribution to Mazon Getting A Get 46 The Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit wishes to inform the Jewish public that a Civil Divorce without a Jewish Get is worthless according to Jewish law. A cou- ple may not remarry in Jewish law until after a Get. THE TABLE CONNECTION You can arrange to have a Get by calling our office at Tel. 559-5005. 7custom designed furniture COUNCIL OF ORTHODOX RABBIS • MERKAZ 17071 West 10 Mile Rd. • Southfield, MI 48075 • 559-5005/06 and the psalmist often speaks of the "cup" of salvation. Hence the Jerusalem Talmud -cites the more specific refer- ence. Second, the butler's dream is essentially about serving Pharaoh, so by linking the butler's four cups and the seder's four cups, we are de- claring that the essence of our lives and the purpose of our - freedom must be service — in our case, obviously, service to God. The butler, while in prison, dreams of his freedom in or- L....._ laminates, wood, lucite '1URIEL WETSMAN 661-3838 ) '- I Rabbi Riskin is chief rabbi of Efrat and founder and dean of Ohr Torah Institutions. Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach: Exodus 38:12-34:26 Numbers 28:19-25 Ezekiel 37:1-14. der to once again serve his master. The cry that reaches us on the night of the seder from the butler's remote cell is that the meaning of free- dom is not merely freedom from something but is rather freedom for something. Did we leave Egypt to spend our lives accumulating 'little em- pires' of our own before head- ing for the golf course when we retire, or did we leave Egypt for something far more significant: serving our God with at least as much com- mitment as the butler has to serve his Pharaoh? Third, the butler's eventu- al freedom begins with a dream he has one night while still in jail, teaching that our own redemption must begin with a dream, no matter how distant, no matter how elu- sive it may seem. Not all dreams will be realized, but without the dream, no change will ever be effectuated. As significant as these ideas may be, however, I be- lieve there is yet a further message built into the sug- gestion of R. Yehoshua ben Levi in the Jerusalem Tal- mud. In Hebrew, the word "song" has both a feminine form, shi- rah, and a masculine form, shir. For example, toward the end of the narrative segment of the Haggadah, we read how God "...has brought us forth