Wine of Punishment or Wine of Blessing? - Va'era 5785

One of the well known practices at the Seder is to pour off some wine from the wine cup for the Ten Plagues (seven of which we read about in this week’s Parsha).  Some people have the custom to dip their finger in the cup for each plague and put a drop in a container.  Another custom, and this is the Chabad custom, is to actually pour a drop of wine into a broken container.

There are many explanations for why we pour off the wine.  One is that although the Egyptians were wicked and their punishment and defeat were necessary, we still feel bad for their suffering.  They are after all human beings, created by Hashem.  This is the Jewish heart that empathizes even with our enemies.

Another explanation is that the pouring off  of the wine symbolizes the punishment the Egyptians received.  Kabbalah explains that wine is related to judgement and the broken container represents impurity.  We are symbolically pouring judgment to the impurity.

What do we do with the rest of the wine that is left in the cup after we remove the drops? There is a custom recorded that in the past the wine would be poured out and the cup rinsed and refilled.  I don’t think anyone does that nowadays. We just refill the cup and after the recital of the Haggadah we say the blessing on it and drink it. 

I saw an intriguing question about this from Rabbi Mordechai Farkash.  There is a rule that we should not make a blessing on “wine of punishment.”  This cup seems to be a cup of punishment, since we have removed some of it to symbolize the punishment of the Ten Plagues. How do we make a blessing on it?  

I’m going to give a bit of a Talmudic answer. Stay with me.  (Talmudic study is unique. There is no other study as profound and deep, and it is what sets Judaism apart from all other religions. It our heritage and our treasure. You can get an insight into this incredible wonder in the upcoming course I am giving beginning on February 5. Click here for details.)

In the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot (Mishna 4) the Mishna says: “Ten miracles were performed for our forefathers in Egypt, and another ten at the sea. Ten afflictions were wrought by G‑d upon the Egyptians in Egypt, and another ten at the sea.”  Meaning that when Hashem brought the ten plagues on the Egyptians, these were miracles for the Jews and saved them from the Egyptian bondage. 

Now here is a Talmudic question. Why is the order in the Mishna this way - first the miracle for the Jews and then the plagues for the Egyptians?  It would seem that first came the plagues, and they brought about the miraculous redemption of the Jewish people. So would it not be more accurate to say first that ten afflictions were wrought upon the Egyptians and then that ten miracles were performed for our forefathers?

The answer is that while it is true that generally it works that way, like on Chanukah and Purim when there was a war and only after that did we experience the relief of freedom, Pesach was different. The very plagues themselves were miracles for the Jews.  When the Egyptians’ water became blood, the Jews had pure water, and they sold it to the Egyptians.  Another example is during the plague of darkness, when the Egyptians couldn’t see anything, and the Jews used that very opportunity to look through the Egyptians' houses and make lists of their valuables that they later borrowed.  In general, the fact that the Jews were not afflicted by the plagues was in itself a miracle, since their behavior was in many ways similar to the Egyptians.

There are generally two different types of Divine revelations: Chesed - kindness, and Gevurah - judgment.  In most of our miraculous redemptions, first there was the judgment on the enemies and then the kindness to our people.  On Pesach, both judgment and kindness were revealed in the very same plague.  

And here we come to a deep mystical concept.  In order for two opposite Divine energies to be revealed in the same event, it is necessary for this energy to come from a place that is beyond both.  In other words, the Passover revelation and the miracle of the plagues came from Hashem’s essence where kindness and judgment are not separate.  So the Mishna is telling us that Hashem performed ten great miracles for our forefathers in Egypt - miracles on such a high level that those same miracles brought the afflictions to the Egyptians.  So the order of the Mishna is precise - it was because the miracles came from such a lofty place that they were able to bring about redemption and judgment in the same event.