Seder and the Fourth Cup

[atpollard]

Just a small, specific question about the Fourth cup (Hallel):

Is it consumed under all Jewish traditions or do some traditions leave the fourth cup untouched?

Wikipedia explained that there is some difference in traditions on whether there are 4 or 5 cups, and that some traditions leave the 5th cup untouched, and I read elsewhere that the last cup was left untouched (in their particular tradition) ... so I was trying to figure out if the untouched cup was ALWAYS the fifth or if it could sometimes be the fourth.

Thanks.

 

[Harmonious]

Just a small, specific question about the Fourth cup (Hallel):

Is it consumed under all Jewish traditions or do some traditions leave the fourth cup untouched?

Wikipedia explained that there is some difference in traditions on whether there are 4 or 5 cups, and that some traditions leave the 5th cup untouched, and I read elsewhere that the last cup was left untouched (in their particular tradition) ... so I was trying to figure out if the untouched cup was ALWAYS the fifth or if it could sometimes be the fourth.

Thanks.

I haven't heard of leaving the 4th cup untouched. It is supposed to be drunk after Hallel, a recitation of many chapters of Psalms of Great Praise of God (and the penultimate step of the Seder).

There is usually an additional cup, separate and apart from any participants' set of Four Cups, that isn't touched, that is specifically left for Elijah, who is specifically invited right before the fourth cup is poured.

I see where the confusion could come, as an untouched cup would be at the same time. But it isn't a 5th cup (unless you drank during Shulchan Orech, the meal). It is a separate cup altogether.

 

[Akivah]

And Elijah gets the best. He got a crystal goblet, the rest of us were drinking our wine from plastic cups.