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