Commentaire de citation sur L’Exode 6:6

מד' כוסות – corresponding to the four languages of redemption that is found in the Torah portion of Vaera (Exodus 6:6-7): “I will take you out,” “I will save you,” I will redeem you,” and “I will take you [to be My people]....

מד' כוסות – corresponding to the four languages of redemption that is found in the Torah portion of Vaera (Exodus 6:6-7): “I will take you out,” “I will save you,” I will redeem you,” and “I will take you [to be My people]....

Upon returning from synagogue one should arrange one's table in the manner of freedom as we shall explain. One should not sit down at the table until after dark so that one can be certain that it is the time when one is permitted to eat matzah, as it is written, "In the evening you shall eat matzot."
Even the poor should not drink less than four cups of wine; they should eat and drink while reclining. Scripture alludes to this in the verse: "When Pharaoh let the people go…So God led (vayasev) the people round about…" When they were redeemed they ate in the "round-about" fashion.
The optimal way to fulfill the mitzvah of drinking wine is to drink red wine as a reminder of the blood they placed on their lintel and doorposts in Egypt. If their hands are cleaned they may sit at the table and recite Kiddush. Most people have the custom of checking their hands beforehand and then washing them. But if their hands were already clean, there is no reason to wash them and recite al netilat yadaim, the blessing for washing. For this recitation of the blessing is not for eating but for drinking after Kiddush. We have a tradition that one who performs the ritual of "washing" before fruit is being presumptuous.
There are many reasons given for the four cups of wine at the Seder. The four cups are said to allude to the four terms of redemption mentioned in Parshat Va-era (Exodus 6:6): "Say, therefore, to the children of Israel: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. I will take you to be my people and I will be your God." The four cups are alluded to in the words: hotzeiti (I will free you), hitzalti (I will deliver you), ga'alti (I will redeem you) and lakahti (I will take you)."
There are those who say that the four cups refer to the butler's dream regarding to Pharaoh: "Pharaoh's cup was in my hand;" "I pressed them into Pharaoh's cup;" "placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand;" "you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand." (Genesis 40:9-13)
Some say that the four cups stand for the four kingdoms, and others, four cups of vengeance which God will pour out on the nations, "Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, to me: Take from My hand this cup of wine - of wrath - and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. Let them drink and retch and act crazy because of the sword that I am sending among them." (Jer. 25:15-16) "Babylon was a golden cup in the Lords hand. It made the whole earth drunk…" (Jer. 51:7) "There is a cup in the Lord's hand with foaming wine fully mixed from this He pours. All the nations of the earth drink, draining it to the very dregs." (Psalms 75:9) "He will rain down upon the wicked blazing coals and sulfur, a scorching wind shall be their lot (kosam)." (Psalm 11:6)
They also allude to four cups of consolation: "The Lord is my allotted share and portion (kosi); You control my fate." (Psalm 16:5) "You shall anoint my head with oil; My cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5) "I will raise the cup of deliverances and invoke the name of the Lord." (Psalm 116:13) This last verse speaks of two cups: one for the coming of the Messiah and the other for the resurrection.
There are those who wonder why we don’t recite a blessing for the mitzvah of the four cups just as we recite for maror. We only recite a blessing over a mitzvah that is performed at one time, and without interruption. Since the drinking of the four cups of wine are one commandment which is performed on four occasions with interruptions between them, we do not recite a blessing for this mitzvah. Natronai Gaon writes that the four cups of Seder night are a single mitzvah; if one does not drink all of them, one has not fulfilled his obligation and he deserves lashes, according to the sages.
The statement, "Even the poor must not eat until he does so leaning," is a reference to a poor person who normally does not lean leisurely when he eats. Certainly the same applies to a wealthy person who usually leans on a fine couch. One must lean on the left side. Leaning on the right side is not considered 'leaning,' lest his throat become closed . A woman does not need to lean because she lives under the authority of her husband. But if she is a woman of high status, she should lean. Similarly, a widow or a divorcee who does not live under the authority of another should lean.
A son who lives in his father's house, even if his father is also his teacher, should lean. A student at the table of his master teacher does not lean unless his teacher gives him permission. The reason that he may lean at his father's table, but not at his teacher's table, is that his father would forgo the honor nor would he be harsh with him while a teacher should not forgo the honor due to him. A servant at his master's table should lean. The Avi Ezri writes that in our time when it is not the custom to lean at the table, it is not necessary to lean during the Seder either.

וגם הקמתי וגו׳ ALSO I SET UP [MY COVENANT WITH THEM TO GIVE THEM THE LAND OF CANAAN], and yet when Abraham wished to bury Sarah he could not obtain a grave until he purchased one at a high price. So, too, in the case of Isaac, people strove with him for possession of the wells which he had dug. Similarly, of Jacob it is stated, (Genesis 33:19) “He purchased a parcel of field,” in which to pitch his tent. Yet none of them criticised My dealings with them, whilst you say “Wherefore hast Thou done so evil [to this people!]” — But this Midrashic exposition does not fit in with the text for several reasons. Firstly, because Scripture does not state “And they did not ask of Me regarding my Name, the Lord”. And if you say in refutation of my objection that they did not mean that ושמי ה' לא נודעתי actually signifies that they did not ask what is My Name, but it means “He did not tell them that this was His Name and yet they did not ask Him what it was”, then I reply that these words cannot mean that He did not tell them His name, for at the very first when He revealed Himself to Abraham at the Covenant “between the pieces’’ it is said, (Genesis 15:7) “I am the Lord (אני ה׳) who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees”. Further (secondly), how does the context run on to the statements which Scripture places after the above verses, viz., “And I have also heard etc.” and “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel etc.”? Therefore I say: let Scripture be explained in its literal sense so that each statement fits into its proper setting, but the Midrashic exposition may also be given, if you like, as it is said (Jeremiah 23:29) “Is not my word like as fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer which, by the force of its own blow, the rock at which it strikes shatters in pieces”.