Tonight I made Havdalah and used up a bottle of grape juice containing a drop of wine saved from the previous year.  

Allow me to explain.  

At the Seder, we all pour a fifth cup, which is designated as Eliyahu’s cup. Since no one drinks it, it is poured back into the bottle and then is used for kiddish the next morning. At least that is what we did.  

About 2 years ago, I had the bright idea to keep the wine from the bottle containing Elija’s cup, keep adding to it, and use the bottle throughout the year. Now, a year later, we have been drinking from Elija’s cup for a whole year. Is it a Segula? I don’t know, but it made for a conversation piece at the Shabbos table and perhaps gave hope to those who drank from it. 

Shabbos Hagadol just passed, and this year I feel the name “Hagadol” comes from the Haftorah, where the Pasuk declaring the eventual arrival of Elijah mentions the “Yom Hagadol VeHanorah”.  

On the subject of this Pasuk, Elijah’s name is written without the “Vav” in this particular verse. Rashi notes that there are five places where his name appears with the final Vav missing, and, correspondingly, five places where Yaakov’s name is written with a Vav. This is a “security” that our forefather has taken to ensure that Elijah will indeed come one day, on that “great” day. 

True to form, our great siddur-master, Wolf Heidenheim, has Eliyahu’s name written without the Vav in every prayer that derives from that final verse in Micah: 

Namely in the Bentchen: “Horachaman Hu yishlach lanu es ELIYAH Hanavi…” 

And in the after-Brachos of the Haftorah: “Samchenu Hashem Elokeinu B’ELIYAH Hanavi Avdecha…” 

Finally, a childhood memory. The Maxwell House Hagadah and some others, which relied heavily on 1950s-style illustrations, were really the drivers of my imagination. The men in the pictures had such important square-jawed faces with large Yarmulkas as they turned their attention toward the open door. One Hagadah even had a biblical Elijah entering in a cloud of smoke. Oh! The Excitement! 

Let me end with a link to a most spectacular new resource I am posting online. It is the history documented by a sweet and sincere man, Mr. Bruno Stern, who wrote two books in his lifetime about his hometown of Niederstetten and German-Jewish life in America. More Here.