We are all crazy on Pesach; מנהג ישראל -- תורה היא! I mean, even at the seder -- we have templates for how much matzah (no way -- you made that up!) and maror (aagh... can't be!) to eat. We know we have to eat less than a k'zayis of karpas. Our wine cups all have more than the minimum shiur (first cup is kiddush, so it a Torah obligation, so has its own shiur), but not too much so we can finish the whole -- or at least majority -- of the cup. We'll be extra careful to be sure there is less than 72 minutes between the first cup and second.... what? you don't have a timer on the table?
Wait... you forgot that you always need to make a ברכה אחרונה before the food is digested? Oh... right... of course you didn't forget that. It just never occurred to you that it applies to the first cup; from which is nearly always more than 72 minutes (maybe even three hours with all those Torah sheets from the day school; Baruch HaShem!) before you eat or drink again....
What? It's not in the haggada; not the 72 minute rule and not a ברכה אחרונה after the first cup. If it's really a thing certainly someone would have noticed before now! Someone would have dealt with it. There must be an answer! Aaagh... just what I needed... something new to worry and stress out about!
Don't worry... R' Fuerst (shiur available at both psak.org and TorahAnytime) spoke on the topic and offered a very a simple bit of advice to avoid all concerns and, in fact, to actually act correctly according to all opinions. We'll get to that. First, though, I am not finished with my fun at your expense. Let's look at some of the other proposed solutions and see what's wrong with them.
Advice #1: Keep magid under 72 minutes. The Chazon Ish is known to have had 30 minute s'darim.
Problem: Your tuition dollars -- thousands of them -- at work! Moreover and more serious: there is a Torah obligation to engage in question/answer with your children at the Seder; that is, in fact, the reason you are there. You want to actively scrimp on a Torah obligation because you have a concern that you might possibly be passively violating a Rabbinic ordinance!? (The Chazon Ish? He didn't have children.)
Advice #2: Drink less than a k'zayis of wine in a cup that is barely one r'vi'is in volume, so there is not obligation of a ברכה אחרונה, but you are still -- בדיעבד -- fulfilling the mitzvah.
Problem: Really. You are going to go בדיעבד on the four cups. Suggest that to your wife and children and report back to me how that went for you. Besides which, just under a k'zayis according to the biggest shiur is right close to a r'vi'is according to the smallest shiur. Give up all hope, ye who enter here.
Advice #3: Just make a ברכה אחרונה for goodness sakes! What's the harm? (In fact, some of the later sages have done just that.
Problem: First, you take a chance on actually uttering an unnecessary bracha; at least a violation of a Rabbinic prohibition, perhaps a Torah prohibition (of using HaShem's name in vain). Worse, you've now separated the first cup from the meal, so it is no longer "at the time/place of the meal", so it is no longer קידוש במקום סעודה, which is an absolute requirement for קידוש, so you have to drink the first cup again and then say magid again (they have to be in order -- hence seder), so you are back to square one.
So... what to do? Follow the simple advice given by R' Fuerst: Drink some water every hour or so. We all know we are not allowed to drink wine between the first and second cup. Why not? The Mishna Brura brings two reasons: (1) you might get drunk and not finish the seder; (2) it looks like you are adding on more than four cups. To solve (1), you must avoid alcoholic beverages. To solve (2), you must drink something that cannot be used for the four cups. Water is not alcoholic and is the one drink that can never ever under any circumstance be considered חמר מדינה, hence is not a candidate for any of the four cups. Also, since you drank a full r'vi'is of wine to start, the water is covered and requires no new ברכה. (Actually, you might not need one anyway; you are not drinking it because of thirst, but to keep you out of a halachic doubt.)
Problem solved! Just don't use water from the Kinneret...
Wait... you forgot that you always need to make a ברכה אחרונה before the food is digested? Oh... right... of course you didn't forget that. It just never occurred to you that it applies to the first cup; from which is nearly always more than 72 minutes (maybe even three hours with all those Torah sheets from the day school; Baruch HaShem!) before you eat or drink again....
What? It's not in the haggada; not the 72 minute rule and not a ברכה אחרונה after the first cup. If it's really a thing certainly someone would have noticed before now! Someone would have dealt with it. There must be an answer! Aaagh... just what I needed... something new to worry and stress out about!
Don't worry... R' Fuerst (shiur available at both psak.org and TorahAnytime) spoke on the topic and offered a very a simple bit of advice to avoid all concerns and, in fact, to actually act correctly according to all opinions. We'll get to that. First, though, I am not finished with my fun at your expense. Let's look at some of the other proposed solutions and see what's wrong with them.
Advice #1: Keep magid under 72 minutes. The Chazon Ish is known to have had 30 minute s'darim.
Problem: Your tuition dollars -- thousands of them -- at work! Moreover and more serious: there is a Torah obligation to engage in question/answer with your children at the Seder; that is, in fact, the reason you are there. You want to actively scrimp on a Torah obligation because you have a concern that you might possibly be passively violating a Rabbinic ordinance!? (The Chazon Ish? He didn't have children.)
Advice #2: Drink less than a k'zayis of wine in a cup that is barely one r'vi'is in volume, so there is not obligation of a ברכה אחרונה, but you are still -- בדיעבד -- fulfilling the mitzvah.
Problem: Really. You are going to go בדיעבד on the four cups. Suggest that to your wife and children and report back to me how that went for you. Besides which, just under a k'zayis according to the biggest shiur is right close to a r'vi'is according to the smallest shiur. Give up all hope, ye who enter here.
Advice #3: Just make a ברכה אחרונה for goodness sakes! What's the harm? (In fact, some of the later sages have done just that.
Problem: First, you take a chance on actually uttering an unnecessary bracha; at least a violation of a Rabbinic prohibition, perhaps a Torah prohibition (of using HaShem's name in vain). Worse, you've now separated the first cup from the meal, so it is no longer "at the time/place of the meal", so it is no longer קידוש במקום סעודה, which is an absolute requirement for קידוש, so you have to drink the first cup again and then say magid again (they have to be in order -- hence seder), so you are back to square one.
So... what to do? Follow the simple advice given by R' Fuerst: Drink some water every hour or so. We all know we are not allowed to drink wine between the first and second cup. Why not? The Mishna Brura brings two reasons: (1) you might get drunk and not finish the seder; (2) it looks like you are adding on more than four cups. To solve (1), you must avoid alcoholic beverages. To solve (2), you must drink something that cannot be used for the four cups. Water is not alcoholic and is the one drink that can never ever under any circumstance be considered חמר מדינה, hence is not a candidate for any of the four cups. Also, since you drank a full r'vi'is of wine to start, the water is covered and requires no new ברכה. (Actually, you might not need one anyway; you are not drinking it because of thirst, but to keep you out of a halachic doubt.)
Problem solved! Just don't use water from the Kinneret...
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