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    One of the central mitzvot of Pesach is the directive to teach one’s child on the first night, the story of “yetziat mitzrayim”, God’s great deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt. On this night, Jewish parents are required to become official teachers of their children and conduct a very special “class” according to a very specific “lesson plan”. The Rabbis designed this ”lesson plan” so that any parent, with or without teaching experience, could easily follow it. They designed it for all generations with great educational insight incorporating multi-sensory modalities and utilizing multiple visual aids. This special “class” is, of course, the Pesach Seder and the specific “lesson plan” we use to teach it is the Pesach Hagaddah. In this context, the custom or minhag of Elijah’s Cup, the Kos Eliyahu, has its own particular place in the overall “lesson plan” and its own special role to play.

    To understand the role that Elijah’s Cup plays, we first have to understand the requirement to have four cups of wine at the seder. The general consensus among the commentaries is that the Rabbis instituted each of the four cups to commemorate four different types of freedom that were attained. When God told Moshe that He was going to take Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt, He used five different terms, each corresponding to a different type of freedom. The first four that were attained at that time we identify as: the freedom from slavery, the freedom from the land of Egypt itself, the freedom of having God take us as His people and finally the freedom inherent in receiving the Torah. The fifth term that is written, “And I will bring you into the land”, is believed to be a reference to the time when Mashiach comes - an event that will be heralded by none other than Eliyahu Hanavi himself. Therefore, we drink four cups of wine to celebrate the redemptions that have already occurred and put a fifth on the table, the Kos Eliyahu, in anticipation of the redemption that we anxiously await.

    An alternate understanding of Elijah’s Cup is given by Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (1720-1797) better known as the Vilna Gaon. The Gemara is actually not definitive as to how many cups of wine we are to drink at the Pesach Seder. While we follow the opinion that says we should drink four, there is another opinion that specifies that we should drink five. According to this view, Hallel should be said on the fifth cup, not the fourth. In an acknowledgement of the general principle that all unresolved halachic arguments will be answered by Eliyahu Hanavi when he comes, the Vilna Gaon explains that this is why it is called Elijah’s Cup because it is he who will tell us which view is correct.

    The cup of Eliyahu is poured after Birchat Hamazon, right before Hallel. At this time, we use a hands on teaching method to convey a lesson and open the door to the outside. There are two reasons given for this custom. The first is to show our belief that this night is a “leil shimurim”, which translates as a “night of watching”. The Torah tells us that the night of our redemption from Egypt will forever be a night that God, so to speak, gives us some sort of extra protection. Thus, opening the door to the street at this late hour is a concrete depiction of our trust in God and His promises. The second reason is to demonstrate our faith that Mashiach will come. We open the door as if to say we anticipate and await his arrival even if he tarries. This relatively simple act of opening the door now becomes a powerful statement to our children of our faith in the promise of the coming of Mashiach.

    In conclusion, we see that these insights into the minhag of Elijah’s Cup are just some of the many that are built into the Rabbis great “lesson plan” for the Pesach Seder. In so many ways they facilitate for us the successful fulfillment of our mitzvah of “higadatah l’vincha”, of relating to our children the story of our redemption from Egypt. By doing so they have ensured that the lessons of the night will be learned and passed down from generation to generation. May we all be able to teach and live these lessons of the Pesach Seder and may our faith in the coming of Mashiach be turned into a reality so that when we recite the last line of the Hagaddah - “L’shannah habah b’yirushalayim!, “Next year in Jerusalem!”, we will no longer be merely uttering a heartfelt hope but rather be proclaiming a bold statement of fact.