Who knows four?

(You may want to see also previous divrei Torah for Pesach: 1 (TA) 2 (TA) 3 (TA))

The number four appears in the seider so frequently that its presence is often commented upon:

• The four cups of wine -- and the four terms of redemption and the four mentions of the word "cup" when the butler discusses his dream with Yoseif, the sources of this law
  
• The four questions
• The four "barukh"s in "Barukh haMaqom"
• The four sons
• The four names of the holiday: Pesach, Chag haMatzos, Chag haAviv and Zeman Cheiruseinu
• The four matzos

"The four matzos"? Don't we in fact have three (or, as R' Moshe Feinstein and R' JB Soloveitchik did, following the Vilna Gaon, have two) matzos?

What I mean by that are the four meanings we associate with the mitzvah of matzah:

1- We start with "Ha lachma anya -- this is the poor man's bread which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt..." The bread of servitude. "Lechem oni -- bread of poverty."
2- Then we ask questions, and teach Maggid embodying the other idea of "'lechem oni', she'onim alav devarim harbei -- that we answer upon it many things."
3- We have the matzah upon which one must eat the qorban pesach. Historically, this concept of matzah was given third, before the actual redemption.
4- The matzah also represents the haste of the exodus itself. Rabban Gamliel's is the matzah that we eat "because the dough lacked [the time] to leaven before the King of Emperors. the Holy One blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them."

(1) Poverty and suffering, transformed through (2) Torah study and (3) mitzvah observance, becomes (4) redemption. The story of Mitrayim and Yetzi'as Mitzrayim is that exile and troubles exist for the sole purpose of turning them into opportunities for growth and redemption.

That too is how the four cups divide the seider:
1- First cup:
Qadeish: necessary before drinking wine
Urchatz: necessary before...
Karpas: Vegetables, as in "the cucumbers we had in Egypt" that the exodus generation complained of missing in the desert, dipped in salt water resembling tears
Yachatz: breaking the middle matzah, because poor people need to save for later, and saying "Ha lachmah anya"

The first cup is dominated by symbols of life in Mitzrayim. Then we fill the second cup...

2- Second cup:
Maggid: telling over the story. The matzah of teaching.

3- Third cup:
Motzi, Matzah, Maror, Koreich, Shulchan Areich, Tzafun, Bareich: these steps will (G-d willing, soon) be the actual eating of the qorban pesach "on matzos and maror". The matzah of the mitzvah.

4- Fourth cup:
Hallel, Nirtzah: Praising G-d. The post-redemption Jew.

In the song "Echad mi yodei'ah?" each verse combines the answers of the previous verses. So that when you get to "Who knows four?" the answer is "Four are the mothers, three are the fathers, two are the luchos haberis, one is G-d..."

I would like to suggest that the answer doesn't end after the word "imahos" (mothers), but includes the whole sequence.

G-d is one.

Man is created in His Image, which means we exist to similarly be free-willed creative beings, but also we exist as recipients of His good. Therefore man lives in two worlds: G-d's and the one we share with our fellow man. And these are expressed in the two tablets: one containing mitzvos between us and Hashem, the other between people.

This balancing act requires that we have three loci in our soul: our existence in this world, our existence in heaven, and the world within our minds, where we choose between them. The chesed of Avraham, the avodah of Yitzchaq, and the torah study of Yaaqov. Three are the fathers.

As actors, we act in three planes. However, in receiving from G-d, we realize we receive on planes beyond three -- reception is perceived in fours. Rosh haShanah, when we act to repent and earn our redemption, we have a three-part Mussaf (Malkhos, Zichronos, Shoferos). Pesach, the gifted redemption, is in four.

The meaning of four is therefore build on that of three, which in turn comes from two and The One.

The work of the seider is therefore to make the transition from being a oni, a creature batted around by the winds of fate, living in "Mitzrayim" between two narrows, between "the pan and the fire". And through thought and deed we accept our redemption, becoming a servant of G-d.

Something to think about tonight, during bedikas chameitz: Chameitz then is the ignoring of this gift of redemption. Standing back when the opportunity is there. The passivity of letting the dough rise. Falling short on one's Torah study and mitzvah observance; perhaps one even takes these tools in hand, but doesn't use them redemptively. This is the chameitz of which the Ari haQadosh writes, "Anyone who removes all chameitz from their house is guaranteed to have a year without sin."

Chag kasher vesamei'ach! (belashon "lo zu af zu")