Pesach: A Future Redemption

Parashat Tzav (Lev.6:1-8:36) encapsulates the experience of the Kohanim and their vital role as servants of the Most High. After seven days, Aaron and his sons take on the role originally intended for Adam—before the fall in Gan Eden. Instead of being found naked, the newly installed priesthood is clothed in splendid garments and eat an offering that is not forbidden but is called, "a Holy of Holies.” The Korbanot draws one closer to the Creator and His creation—embodied in the offerings of animal, vegetable, mineral and water, all given to humanity for use in an elevated manner.

Just in time for Pesach, we are reminded that the Offerings reinforce the concept that human beings are unique from the rest of creation. Forgetting this principle led Egypt to the worship of cows and sheep, which is why Israel slaughtered the Passover lambs—to demonstrate the folly of regarding animals as deities.

The wine poured during Passover meal features a prophetic aspect. The four cups correspond to the four promises God makes to the Israelites in Exodus 6:6–7:

1. "I will bring you out" (Hotzeiti)

2. "I will deliver you" (Hitzalti)

3. "I will redeem you" (Ga'alti)

4. "I will take you as My people" (Lakachti)

Each cup celebrates a stage in the redemption from slavery to freedom — physical, emotional, and spiritual. There's actually a fifth expression in Exodus 6:8. This promise isn't about the Exodus itself but about entering the Promised Land — a future redemption.

5. "I will bring you into the land..." (Heveiti)

The Talmud debates whether this warranted a fifth cup. They didn’t reach a final decision, so in many traditions the cup is poured but not drunk, symbolizing an open question and a hope for full redemption.

In The Book of Our Heritage, author Eliyahu Kitov explains that after each guest has had their four cups of wine during the Seder, a fifth cup of wine is set aside for Elijah and if it is time, the prophet will come. "The Sages of earlier generations saw the fifth cup as an allusion to the final redemption that Eliyahu will announce when Gog and Magog (the fifth kingdom] will fall. The evening of the Seder is referred to as leil shimurim — "a night of watching." The Hebrew shimurim is plural, referring to two redemptions on this evening: the redemption from Egypt and the redemption that will yet be.”

Passover reveals the power of the One True God with the release of the Twelve Tribes of Israel after two hundred ten years of exile, leading to the birth of a nation that serves as witness of God’s reality. The entire Exodus experience fulfilled the Covenant Between the Pieces made exactly four hundred thirty years prior to Pesach. The Egyptian Exile served as the essential evidence that Avraham’s descendants would inherit the Promised Land.