Ten Halachos
27. The Gemara in Brachos (דף נ''א ע''א ) mentions ten halachos stated about the kos shel bracha, all of which are meant to honor and elevate it in order to say a bracha to Hashem (לבוש ). They are: הדחה , שטיפה , חי , מלא , עיטור , עיטוף , [see below for an explanation of these terms] picking it up with two hands, holding it in the right hand, lifting it a tefach, and looking at it. Some add sending it as a gift to one’s wife.
28. Four halachos. R’ Yochanan says in the Gemara there that we only adopt four of the halachos: הדחה , שטיפה , חי , and מלא . This means these four things have a greater level of chiyuv, but one should do all ten to perform the mitzva in the best possible way (רשב''א, רא''ה ריטב''א שם ). We will now go through the common and accepted relevant halachos.
הדחה
29. Dirty cup. If a kos shel bracha is dirty with leftover bread that was soaked in the wine, its interior must be rinsed with water (שו''ע סי' קפ''ג ס''א ) or wiped with a cloth (מ''ב סק''א ).
30. Clean cup. If the cup is clean, meaning no bread was soaked in it, strictly speaking there is no need to rinse its interior (תוס', שו''ע שם ). However, even without leftover bread-infused wine, the common minhag is to rinse it, for example if it was used once for just wine, and one now wants to use it again. If it is completely clean and has not just been used at all, there is no need whatsoever to rinse it (רבינו יונה, מ''ב סק''ג ), e.g., one took a clean kos out of the cupboard (חוט שני שבת ח''ד פרק פ''ה י''ד ).
31. Based on Kabbala. Some cite a practice based on Kabbala to rinse the kos with water even if it is completely clean and has not recently been used at all (ערוך השלחן, כף החיים).
שטיפה
32. שטיפה is like הדחה, only it is rinsing the exterior and it is slightly less thorough than הדחה . If the exterior is dirty, the exterior should also be rinsed with water or at least wiped with a cloth. The minhag is to rinse it even if it is not dirty from leftover wine in which bread was soaked, as above, and according to the Zohar, even if it is completely clean.
חי
33. Diluting the wine. Wines used to be extremely sharp, so it was customary to dilute them with water. The halacha was that the water should be added by ברכת הארץ [the second bracha of Birkas HaMazon] as a praise for the land, which produces strong wines (שו''ע שם ס''ב ). Nowadays, though, we do not customarily dilute wine with water because our wines are not as sharp (רמ''א שם ). Nevertheless, some add a drop of water to our wines as well based on Kabbala (מג''א בשם ב''י ). Some add a drop of water into the cup or bottle before pouring the wine; others add three drops of water to the bottle before pouring the wine into the cup. All of this is a form of the diluting of the wine discussed in the Gemara (שו''ת רב פעלים ח''ב סי' מ''ה, כף החיים סק''ו ).
34. Whole. Some explain that “חי ” of the Gemara refers to the fact that the cup itself must be whole (טור בשם י''מ שם ). Thus, the Shulchan Aruch rules (סי' קפ''ג ס''ג ) that one must try to find a whole cup, at least l’chatchila (מ''ב סק''י ). In other words, the cup itself should not be broken, even if it can still hold a revi’is, and there should not be even a small break in the rim (מ''ב סקי''א ). Similarly, the base of the cup should not be broken, even if it can still stand on its base (מ''ב שם ).
35. Hole. If the cup has a hole or crack and cannot hold a revi’is, it may not be used as a kos shel bracha, as it is not even considered a kli (שער הציון סקי''ד ). If one made Kiddush with such a kos and realized afterward that it had a hole, he does not need to make a bracha again if there was wine on the table in front of him, e.g., in the wine bottle. However, if there was no other wine in front of him, he must make the bracha again (קובץ מבית לוי ח''ג עמ' ע').
מלא
36. The kos shel bracha should be filled to the brim (רמ''א סי' קפ''ג ס''ב ) even if lifting the cup will cause some wine to spill out. However, there is no reason to spill some wine when pouring as we do for Havdala. Even if one fills it just short of the top, as long as the cup appears full, it is called “מלא” (מ''ב סק''ט ).
37. If one does not have enough wine to fill the kos all the way but he has at least a revi’is of wine in the cup, he can fill the cup by adding a grape, a piece of ice, or a Lego piece into the cup so that it gives the impression of a full cup.
עיטור
38. There is a machlokes in the Gemara about the meaning of עיטור. One Amora (רב יהודה ) would seat his talmidim around him during the bracha. Another Amora would place other cups of wine around his kos, and when he reached ברכת הארץ , he would add from them to his cup (רב חסדא, ופירש"י שם ). Others explain he would place nice cups around his kos to beautify it. The poskim, Shulchan Aruch, and Mishna Berura do not cite the halacha of עיטור ; although we follow the other nine out of ten halachos l’chatchila, עיטור is the exception (טור ).
עיטוף
39. It says in the Gemara (שם ) that Rav Popa wrapped himself in his tallis and Rav Asi put a kerchief on his head. This means he put the kerchief over the hat he wore (ב''י ). Thus, every yerei Shomayim should be careful to say the bracha wearing a hat, not just his “small kerchief” [i.e., yarmulka] (ב''ח, מג''א, מ''ב סקי''א ). Some also don an overgarment. The minhag today is to put a hat on for Birkas HaMazon even when bentching alone and without a kos (מ''ב שם ).
Pick It Up with Two Hands
40. Picking it up with two hands. The Gemara says one should pick up the kos with two hands, as the posuk says, “קודש וברכו את ידיכם שאו ה',” i.e., lift your hands [plural], and then make a bracha to Hashem.
41. Accept it with two hands. The wording of some poskim is that one should “accept it with two hands” (טור, שו''ע ס''ד ), i.e., one person should lift the kos with two hands and give it to the one making the bracha, who should accept it with two hands (כף החיים ). The reason one accepts it with two hands is to show that accepting the kos is beloved to him (ט''ז, מ''ב סקי''ב ).
Putting It in the Right Hand
42. After taking the kos with two hands, one should move it to his right hand before starting the bracha due to the importance of the right hand. The left hand should not assist so that the kos does not look like a burden (שו''ע ס''ד ומ''ב ).
Lifting It a Tefach
43. When holding the kos for the bracha, it should be held a tefach high, as the posuk says, “כוס ישועות אשא ובשם ה' אקרא .” When sitting next to the table, the kos should be lifted a tefach above the table so that it is visible to all those present and they can look at it (שו''ע ס''ד, מ''ב סקט''ז ).
Looking at It
44. When saying a bracha with a kos, one should look at the kos so that he does not stop concentrating on the bracha (שו''ע שם ). If one is bentching from a bencher, as is appropriate to do (מ''ב סי' קפ''ה סק''א ), it is proper to look at the kos every so often (פסקי תשובות הע' 43).
Sending It to One’s Wife
45. The Gemara says that according to some, one should also send the kos shel bracha to his wife. The Shulchan Aruch rules (שם ס''ד ) that if the baal habayis makes the bracha, he should send the kos to his wife to drink so that she should also receive bracha. If there are other guests at the table, they should also drink from the kos shel bracha. If a guest made the bracha, he should send the kos to the baal habayis so that the baal habayis will receive bracha.
