By HaRav Dov Begon
[From his book, “Israel Redeemed” – translated by Rabbi Menachem Weinberg]
The Miracle of Shabbat HaGadol
“The Sabbath before Passover is called Shabbat HaGadol [the great Sabbath] because of the miracle that was performed then” (Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Chaim, 430). What was that miracle? The year that Israel left Egypt, the tenth of the month of Nissan came out on a Sabbath. Every Jew took a lamb for his Pascal offering and tied it to the bedpost, as it says:
“On the tenth of this month, every man must take a lamb for
each extended family, a lamb for each household. . . . Hold it in
safekeeping until the fourteenth day of this month. The entire
community of Israel shall then slaughter their sacrifices in the
afternoon” (Exodus 12:3, 6). The Egyptians saw this and asked
them why they were doing this, and they replied, “To sacrifice
it for the sake of Passover, following God’s command to us.”
The Egyptians gritted their teeth over the fact that the Israelites
were slaughtering their gods, while they, the Egyptians, were
not allowed to say anything in response. And because the tenth
of the month came out that year on the Sabbath, it was decided
that the Sabbath before Passover must always be called “Shabbat
HaGadol” (Mishnah Berurah, Ibid).
According to our sages, the great miracle occurred when the Israelites bound the lamb and publicized that they were about
to slaughter it, despite the Egyptians considering it a god. The
Egyptians were unable to speak a word and they could not touch
the Israelites.
The Egyptians worshipped and subjugated themselves to base
materialism. They saw in the lowly and base material the source and purpose of all of life. The surrender to materialism and passion was the
chief axis around which the culture of the society and individual
in Egypt turned. This animalistic ideology was symbolized by the
lamb and the calf. Suddenly Israel rose up, a people who were enslaved
to Egypt, who in turn were enslaved to their passions and their
beasts, and Israel slaughtered their deity before their eyes, without
the Egyptians being able to protest or touch them. This, by
itself, was a great miracle which God performed, still performs,
and will perform in the future for the Jewish People forever.
The Ramban brings another reason for why the Israelites chose
precisely a lamb: It is because the month of Nissan is under
the astrological sign of the lamb, and the Egyptians believed
in astrology – that is, that everything is under the control of
the constellations and nature. They did not believe that there is
Someone who is the Supreme Deity, the true Master of all. God
therefore commanded that Israel slaughter a lamb and consume
it, to make known to Israel and to the whole world that not by
the power of the constellations did we leave Egypt, but because of
the decree of God, and because of His love for the Jewish People.
On Shabbat HaGadol, even before Passover, we must recall
the great miracle that was performed for us. Despite our being
a weak, enslaved people in Egypt, we raised up our heads, and
the miracle, for all of Egypt to see, was performed for us out of
God’s love of Israel. Today too, all our enemies will be unable to
overcome us, because “He who chooses Israel with love” (Morning
prayers) continues with His great love and compassion for
the Jewish People.
The Pace of Redemption – in Egypt and for All Time
The miracle of the Exodus occurred with suddenness, chipazon.
After hundreds of years of slavery, the redemption came with
lightning speed. All at once for all to see, both Israel and Egypt,
God’s omnipotence was revealed, unlimited by time and space.
Everyone saw that when God wishes it, He can redeem us in a
moment.
Regarding the Pesach offering it says, “You must eat it with
your waist belted, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your
hand, and you must eat it in haste. It is the Passover (Pesach)
offering to God” Shemot 12:11)).
Rashi comments:
“The offering is called the ‘Pesach’ (Hebrew for ‘pass over’)
because God passed over the Jewish homes amongst the Egyptian
homes, skipping from Egyptian to Egyptian, with the Israelites in
between being spared. Therefore, you too must perform all the
entire service with alacrity, skipping for the sake of God.”
The matzot too were first made with haste: “[The Israelites]
baked the dough that they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened
[matzah] cakes, since it had not risen. They had been driven
out of Egypt and could not delay, and they had not prepared any
other provisions” (Shemot 12:32).
The miracle of the Exodus occurred with suddenness and with
haste, and we consumed the Pesach offering hastily as well, yet
our sages teach us that the Pesach offering in the future will not
be consumed in haste but slowly and moderately (Pesachim 96a).
In our own generation, the generation of our national rebirth,
we must distinguish between miraculous spiritual redemption
and a more gradual natural process. The student of Rav Kook,
and Rosh Yeshiva of Merkaz Harav, Rabbi Ya’akov Moshe
Charlap, taught: Since in the redemption from Egypt the fundamental element was the liberation of the spirit, the redemption therefore occurred hastily. Yet as far as the physical liberation, the majority of the
nation, with their exilic character, feared everything and wished
to return to the exile, saying, “Let us select a leader and return to
Egypt” (Numbers 14:4).
The physical redemption may proceed slowly, but will not be
followed by additional exile. Regarding the redemption of the
spirit in the future redemption, we may expect that it will be
hasty as well. Rav Charlap continues:
“The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His Temple,
and the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in, behold,
he is coming!” (Malachi 3:1). Nature advances gradually. Miracles
come suddenly. When it comes the turn of the soul to be redeemed,
the light of the soul’s redemption will suddenly begin to shine and
to emanate. . . . And the sons will return to their Father in Heaven
with remarkable repentance, with total love, following the Lord
their God and clinging to Him . . . And even those far removed
from God and from His Torah will hear and will come to crown
God with the crown of kingship (Rav Charlap, M’Ma’ayanei
HaYeshua 21:4).
“A redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob – says the L-rd. As for Me, this is My
covenant with them – says the L-rd. My spirit that is upon
you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not
depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed,
nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed – says the L-rd –
henceforth and forever” (Isaiah 59:20).
We were born in Egypt and we are growing to
adulthood in Jerusalem. On the Seder night, all Jews sit together in families, joyously retelling the story of the Exodus, the story of the birth of the Jewish People and of their being chosen. It is a story that discretely reveals a small share of God’s great love and affection for
His people Israel, His firstborn son, whom He saved from slavery
and took for a people. Thank God, in our day we can tell those
present at the Seder that God likewise brought us into the Land
that He swore to our ancestors to give to us as an inheritance.
We must remember that not only at the Exodus did God love us,
but that He loves us every day and every second.
When a baby is born, a fine new soul appears in the world,
for “man’s soul is God’s candle.” Yet the joyous parents have
their eyes trained on the future as well. They ask: What will be
the future of this fine soul when it grows up and matures? How
will it be privileged to spread its good, sweet light? We do not
suffice with the birth; our eyes are always looking towards the
future. It was that way at the Exodus as well. We were born and
set apart and redeemed in Egypt. Yet our eyes are lifted towards
the future redemption, the redemption towards which our nation
and all mankind are heading.
The Jewish People have come a long way over thousands of
years since the Exodus. Finally, with God’s help, we are meriting
to come home to Jerusalem. The Jewish People were born in
Egypt, but the revelation of their benevolent soul for all mankind
is in Jerusalem, the source of light of the world. That is where
the redemption of Israel and the world, which began with Israel’s
appearance on the stage of history in Egypt, will finally take
place. We will merit to continue marching upward along the long
path from Egypt to rebuilt Jerusalem, and we will be privileged
to see the rebuilding of the Temple. Through us will be fulfilled,
“For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of God
from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:4).
