The Cup of Intimacy
Week Four of Counting the Omer
Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, Leviticus 16:1 – 20:27
Matt Absolon, Beth T’filah, Miramar, FL
You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. (Leviticus 20:26)
Three weeks ago we all participated in the four cups of Passover. We read in the Gospel texts how Yeshua and the disciples partook in two of the four cups of wine at that last seder in the upper room. After we have told the story, recited the blessings of deliverance, and enjoyed a hearty meal, we then partake of the fourth and final cup, the Cup of Praise. We sing songs of praise as we draw close to one another, and close to our God.
This fourth cup is also known by another name, “The Cup of Intimacy.” In Exodus 6:7, the Lord says, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.” When the Torah says “I will take you,” the text uses the same word as that used for a groom “to take” a bride, “v’laqakhti.” It is a word of intimacy and in this context invokes the picture of a groom carrying away his bride in marriage.
The Midrash speaks of this intimacy and its connection to salvation in its commentary on the Exodus 6 passage:
There are four expressions of redemption: I will bring you out, I will deliver you, I will redeem you and I will take you. . . . The Sages accordingly ordained four cups to be drunk on the eve of Passover to correspond with these four expressions in order to fulfill the verse: I will lift up the cup of salvation (yeshuah), and call upon the name of the Lord (Psalm 116:13). (Midrash Rabbah Exodus, VI.4 emphasis added)
In this week's portion, we see a continuation of this theme. God desires that we should belong to him, to sanctify us from among the nations, “that you should be mine” (Lev 20:26). God desires union with us. In fact, the assertion can be made that this is the entire goal of his work in the world: intimacy and union with his chosen people.
In his commentary on Pesach, the eminent Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov zeroed in on the fourth cup as the greatest aspect of redemption.
“I will take you . . . .” The greatest aspect of the redemption is that He brought us near to Him and granted us also spiritual redemption. – Eliyahu Kitov, The Book of Our Heritage 3 vols. (Feldheim, 1988), 2.269
One of the fruits of God's desire for relationship with his people is the restoration of the Jewish nation. As we recite every week in Shabbat services, “bring us back, Lord, and we shall come: renew our days as of old.” This renewal comes as a by-product of God's desire to take us, and our desire to be brought closer to him. As we read in this week's haftarah portion:
“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen,
and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old. . . .
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant them on their land,
and they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land that I have given them,”
says the Lord your God. Amos 9:11, 14 - 15
When God brings us near, when we are again willing to return to him and be taken by him, then he will “restore the fortunes of my people Israel.” As we focus on this season of renewal during the time of counting the Omer, we do well to meditate on the fourth cup of Passover, the cup of intimacy and praise.
Speaking as a Rosh Kehilah, it is vital for our hearts to focus on redemption, salvation, and deliverance. But in order to maintain those spiritual graces in our life, we must fully drink from the Cup of Intimacy. The goal of God's great deliverance is to be intimate with his people. With you and with me.
We must find time to be intimate with the Lord, to worship him in his beauty and strength, and to express our profound gratitude towards his redemption in our lives. To close in the words of our King David:
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield,
and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2.