[net.religion] Elijah and the Passover Seder

smb (04/04/83)

Jerry Leichter's comments about Elijah not being mentioned explicitly in
the Haggadah intrigued me enough to do some checking -- like him, I had
always been taught that a separate cup of wine was poured for Elijah, and
that the door was opened for him during the Seder.

I first checked a rather traditional Haggadah (the Haggadah is the special
prayer book containing the service for the Passover Seder; there's much more
to it than just a meal and 4 cups of wine).  As Jerry said, the passage
recited with the door open has nothing to do with Elijah; rather, it's a
request to call down divine wrath on unbelievers, especially unbelievers
who do nasties to Jews -- not exactly a picture of the peace of the
Messianic age...  This verse was apparently added during the Middle Ages.

The commentary in this particular Haggadah gives more details on
assorted traditions and explanations for the door-opening.  I quote:

	According to commentators on the haggadah, the custom of opening
	the door before reciting the prayer... is derived from the
	belief that there is no need to keep the door closed during the
	"night of vigil" commemorating the Exodus.  Although the custom
	of keeping the door open on that night is very ancient, its
	association with Elijah and the messianic redemption is
	comparatively late.  It is also reasonable to assume that during
	periods when the Jews were being persecuted, the door was opened
	in order to make certain that no foe or informer was lying in
	wait outside.

	Connected with the above is the practice of setting (in the
	center of the table) a cup in honor of Elijah, the harbiner of
	messianic deliverance, who is believed to visit the homes on the
	night of the Seder.  Elijah's cup is not mentioned in many
	Haggadah editions.  It has been plausibly linked with the
	dispute as to whether four cups of wine or five should be taken.
	Since no satisfactory decision was reached, as a compromise a
	fifth cup is poured out but is not drunk.  According to an
	ancient folk belief Elijah will appear shortly before the
	coming of the Messiah and resolve all doubts and disputes.  It
	is possible that for this reason the fifth cup became known as
	the Cup of Elijah and a likely subject for the exercise of the
	folk imagination.  [Actually, the relation of Elijah to the
	Messiah is fairly explicitly stated in Malachi 3:23-24; it's
	canonical, not just tradition.]

The more recent Haggadahs I checked (one Conservative, one Reform) give
similar explanations for the origin of the door-opening and Elijah's Cup;
however, they substitute prayers and songs directly about Elijah for the
older (and less palatable) verse.  That's very much in line with the
their incorporation of other folk customs into the service.  For
example, my family (but not my wife's) has a custom of dipping
hard-boiled eggs in salt-water immediately before the meal; both later
Haggadahs mention this as an optional ritual, though there's nothing on
the subject in the traditional Haggadahs.  A symbolic roast egg has long
been a part of the traditional Seder table, though the explanations of
its meaning have never been particularly clear or explicit.  I've often
speculated on a common origin for it and Easter eggs; tonight, on "All
Things Considered", someone said that the latter tradition goes back to
ancient Egyptian customs (as does the Easter bunny, s(?)he said -- it
was a fertility symbol (of course)).


		--Steve Bellovin
		{rabbit,mhb5b}!smb