We don’t have enough wine for the Seder. What should we do?
We are Shluchim on a small island. A week ago the government made alcohol sales illegal and shut down supermarkets, we are not allowed to leave our home at all. They did this without any notice and we hadn’t yet bought our wine. We did however have 1 bottle of wine that someone had given us a while ago. It’s 750 ml, and won’t be enough for ד’ כוסות for both my wife and I, for both nights. Can I dilute it? If yes, by how much, it’s 4% alcohol. We don’t have grape juice or any other alternative as the supermarkets are complete shut.
Answer:
A bottle of 750 ml contains close to 9 revi’is , i.e. about 9 cups of wine. If you drink only the majority of the cups, you should have much more left. Since the wine is pagum, you must first add more wine to it. For the last cup you must drink an entire revi’is in order to make al hagefen and you can exempt your wife – who will only drink majority of the cup – with the beracha.
You can also add a bit of water so long as it serveable as wine and would normally be drunk as wine.
If you still don’t have enough you can substitute the wine with coffee and tea.
You should preferably use the wine for the 1st cup of Kiddush and 3rd cup for birchas hamazon.
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