The Four Cups of Wine -- What do they mean? 

Tradition tells us the rabbis of the Talmud created the idea of four cups because God made four promises to the Israelites. Tonight we will consider what promises we make to those living in our time

As we consider the first cup of wine for this year’s Seder, we envision America as a true “land of the free” – where everyone has the food, clothing, housing, education and medical care they need.

 As we consider the second cup of wine, we think of the blessings of our loved ones, how each of us is a special very important part of our families and we again envision America as a true "land of the free" -- where everyone can marry the one they love; where every person is treasured as a unique individual. 

And as we consider the third cup of wine we will dream, we envision a world where no one feels live a slave.. with this cup of wine we will each add our own dream for the world.

For our fourth cup, we will make our own promise.  We will each share what we promise to do to create a world that is free as we say the blessing for this cup.


haggadah Section: Kadesh
Source: Variation on Sinai-org website