To make a seder work we have to transform our table from the place we usually eat into a time machine.  We do that with a simple glass of wine.  The “magic words” we use are the words of the Kiddush.  This bracha is the way we create Passover.  The act of blessing the wine changes the week into holy time.  It starts the holiday.  We both toast God and tell ourselves that a significant moment has arrived.

In the Torah God makes 4 promises to the Jewish People:

1. I will bring you out.

2. I will deliver you.

3. I will redeem you.

4. I take you as my people. Exodus 6:6-7

The seder is built aroung 4 cups of wine.  Each cup remembers a promise. 

With this first cup, we begin to go free.