The Second Cup
The Cup of Redemption

The second promise states:

I will deliver you from their bondage.

Raise the second cup of wine and sing.

This force which rose up against our ancestors was not the only one that rose up to destroy us. In each and every generation there are those who rise up to destroy us. And there are Righteous Gentiles who stand beside us, helping us defend ourselves. They are appreciated extensions of the Holy One, who is to be blessed, as together we work for a better world.

Set down the cup of wine..

But, before we drink...

Why us? Why the Jewish people? Our numbers amount to little more than a statistical error in the census of China. Why do we play such an active role in our world...? Perhaps we can find an answer in the questions we ask and the stories we tell tonight.

The leaders of Babylonian Jewry in the eleventh century added this, one of the oldest stories about the Seder to the Haggadah:

During the Roman oppression, five rabbis-Akiva, Tarfon, Yehoshu'a, Elazar ben Azaria and Eliezer-held a Seder in the town of B'nai B'rak. They delved deeply into the Haggadah until dawn broke.

Finally, their students came and said, "Rabbeinu, it is time for morning prayers."

Perhaps they added the story, during apparently peaceful times, to remind us that in every generation men and women struggle for liberation, redemption, salvation, renewal, freedom, liberty and right.

Who are the people struggling for freedom in our time?

We need to count ourselves among them.

What have I done this past year to increase freedom?

In their honor, and in honor of all the people of the world who have joined in the struggle for peace, for freedom, and to make the world a better place in which to live, we drink the second cup of wine.