The upcoming Shabbat is known as Shabbat Hagadol, the great Shabbat. What is so great about it?
This name comes in connection with a great miracle that took place on the Shabbat before Pesach many years ago. The last year of the stay of the Jewish people in Egypt was marked by great plagues befalling their oppressor of two hundred and ten years. After the ninth plague, Hashem instructed Moshe to tell the Jewish people to take a lamb into their homes on the tenth day of Nissan and to subsequently slaughter it on the fourteenth day, on which they would leave Egypt. This was a matter of tremendous self-sacrifice, since sheep were being worshiped as an idol in Egypt of those days.
When the Egyptians saw how the Jews were taking their "gods" captive, they were not too pleased - and probably angered - by such impudence. They asked them to clarify what was going on. Gently, the Jews explained that this was going to be slaughtered and brought as a sacrifice to the one and only G-d, who would - on that night - kill all the firstborn Egyptians, after which they would leave the country for good. When the firstborn - who had, together with all other Egyptians, experienced the first nine plagues - heard this, they became really afraid and they begged their fathers and leaders to let the Jews go. When their request was refused, they started a civil war. Psalm 136:10 refers to this, saying, "Who smote Egypt through their firstborn." This is considered a great miracle.
Since it is known that the 14th day of Nissan that year was on a Wednesday, it must be that the tenth was on Shabbat. Therefore, we always commemorate this miracle on the Shabbat before Pesach.
In general, we celebrate holidays on the day of the month that they occurred; however, this case is different, since the tenth day of Nissan is also the day on which Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moshe and Aharon, passed away (39 years later). That day was then instituted as a fast day. Since on Shabbat one is not allowed to fast, the commemoration of the miracle was set for the Shabbat before Pesach.
The above commentaries explain why this Shabbat is called the Great Shabbat. The ?great? supposedly refers to the greatness of the miracle. Yet, when standing still for a moment, it may seem that there was no great miracle at all. Even after the first-born civil war it was still not possible for the Jews to leave Egypt. Only after the firstborn were killed, on the night of the 14th, were the Jews able to embrace freedom. What, then, was the miracle?
We could have called the Shabbat ?great? just because a miracle took place then, which makes it greater than a Shabbat on which no miracle took place. The Halacha insists, however, that there was a ?great miracle?, which is the cause for us calling the Shabbat by that title.
One cannot say that the miracle was that the Egyptian first-born fought with their parents instead of with the Jewish people, because if they believed the Jews on their word that they were going to die as a punishment from Hashem, it would never enter their minds to attack those same people who had such a close connection with the One above. Besides, the Psalm doesn?t mention this, but rather says that the miracle was in connection with the uprising of the firstborn.
Concerning the anniversary of Miriam?s death, we also need some clarification. Even if originally the ?great miracle? was commemorated on the tenth, it makes sense to say that Miriam?s demise many years later made a change to this. There used to be a book with many holidays and fast days, which were instituted by our sages throughout the ages in connection with different happy and sad occurrences. This book was called Megilat Ta?anit. A fast day mentioned in that book was able to overrule the prohibition to fast on Rosh Chodesh, the new month. Certainly it would be able to move the ?great miracle? celebration to Shabbat.
What has to be understood, though, is why this is the only special day we find in the Jewish calendar that is connected to a specific day of the week. Obviously, there must be a deeper reason behind that.
We read in the Haggadah, "In every generation people stand up against us to destroy us, but Hashem delivers us from their hands."
In two instances we even have a holiday to celebrate the victory over a lot of people. Chanukah celebrates the winning of the war of the ?few against the many?, as we say in the Al Hanissim prayer, and Purim celebrates the deliverance from the hands of the wicked Haman, who had decreed to destroy all the Jews. After Haman was hanged, the Persian King, Achashverosh, gave permission to the Jews to stand up against all their enemies; an opportunity which was used to the fullest extent. However, none of these miracles are referred to as ?great?.
The difference between all those miracles and the miracle of the uprising of the firstborn is that the war was waged neither by Hashem nor by the Jewish army. The enemy itself waged it! And within the category of ?enemy?, it was waged by the first-born, which refers to the strength and power of the nation (Onkelos translates the words ?first born? as ?strength?).
Pharaoh was - even at that time, after nine plagues - a very powerful ruler. So much so that when he refused to let the Jewish people go after Moshe warned him about the final plague, Moshe still had to refer to the Jews as ?your servants?. He did this, despite his anger at that time, to honor Pharaoh, as Rashi explains. That shows how mighty Pharaoh and the Egyptian regime was until the last minute of the Jews? slavery. Therefore, when the ?strength? of Egypt started to fight against this very strong power, that is called a ?great miracle?. Such a miracle stands out from all of the other miracles in history.
What are miracles? A miracle is a change of nature. Every ?regular? miracle is just change of the physical laws of nature. A ?great miracle? is when spiritual nature changes.
The world can be divided into three categories: white, black and gray. We were given the ability to deal with the white, the positive, and the gray. When we do a mitzvah, we draw down a positive force into the world. When we use a mundane object for a mundane purpose, but for the sake of heaven (for example, we eat an apple to be able to feel stronger and serve Hashem better), we connect with the positive, the ?white? within the ?gray?. To deal with the ?black?, the negative, however, we do not have the power. The only way we can deal with it is by staying away. All the mitzvot of prohibition in the Torah are made for that purpose.
The great spiritual miracle that took place during the uprising of the Egyptian first-borns was that evil was being transformed to good (in that, at least, it was battling evil).
The Talmud points out that Miriam?s death appears in the Torah in close proximity to the laws of the red heifer. Impurity caused by contact with a lifeless body could only be ?fixed? by sprinkling the person with water mixed with ashes of the red heifer (as well as some other procedures). This teaches us that just as the ashes of the red heifer have the power to transform the greatest level of impurity to purity, so does the demise of a righteous person bring atonement to the entire generation, including grave sins done deliberately.
This is the connection between Miriam?s death and the revolution in Egypt. Miriam?s death was able to transform sins into merits; black into white. That is exactly what happened when the firstborn Egyptians became the enemy of the rest of the nation. There, too, ?black? became ?white?.
This might be the deeper reason why we do not commemorate the miracle of the revolution on the tenth of Nissan. Since that day has a similar content because of Miriam?s death, there is no need to have both commemorations on the same day. However, since the two are not exactly the same, we still commemorate the ?great miracle? on the Shabbat before Pesach.
May we speedily merit to see the transformation of all evil into good with the coming of Moshiach, now!
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Asher ben Shimon writes commentary for www.TorahThoughts.tk.
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.
This name comes in connection with a great miracle that took place on the Shabbat before Pesach many years ago. The last year of the stay of the Jewish people in Egypt was marked by great plagues befalling their oppressor of two hundred and ten years. After the ninth plague, Hashem instructed Moshe to tell the Jewish people to take a lamb into their homes on the tenth day of Nissan and to subsequently slaughter it on the fourteenth day, on which they would leave Egypt. This was a matter of tremendous self-sacrifice, since sheep were being worshiped as an idol in Egypt of those days.
When the Egyptians saw how the Jews were taking their "gods" captive, they were not too pleased - and probably angered - by such impudence. They asked them to clarify what was going on. Gently, the Jews explained that this was going to be slaughtered and brought as a sacrifice to the one and only G-d, who would - on that night - kill all the firstborn Egyptians, after which they would leave the country for good. When the firstborn - who had, together with all other Egyptians, experienced the first nine plagues - heard this, they became really afraid and they begged their fathers and leaders to let the Jews go. When their request was refused, they started a civil war. Psalm 136:10 refers to this, saying, "Who smote Egypt through their firstborn." This is considered a great miracle.
Since it is known that the 14th day of Nissan that year was on a Wednesday, it must be that the tenth was on Shabbat. Therefore, we always commemorate this miracle on the Shabbat before Pesach.
In general, we celebrate holidays on the day of the month that they occurred; however, this case is different, since the tenth day of Nissan is also the day on which Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moshe and Aharon, passed away (39 years later). That day was then instituted as a fast day. Since on Shabbat one is not allowed to fast, the commemoration of the miracle was set for the Shabbat before Pesach.
The above commentaries explain why this Shabbat is called the Great Shabbat. The ?great? supposedly refers to the greatness of the miracle. Yet, when standing still for a moment, it may seem that there was no great miracle at all. Even after the first-born civil war it was still not possible for the Jews to leave Egypt. Only after the firstborn were killed, on the night of the 14th, were the Jews able to embrace freedom. What, then, was the miracle?
We could have called the Shabbat ?great? just because a miracle took place then, which makes it greater than a Shabbat on which no miracle took place. The Halacha insists, however, that there was a ?great miracle?, which is the cause for us calling the Shabbat by that title.
One cannot say that the miracle was that the Egyptian first-born fought with their parents instead of with the Jewish people, because if they believed the Jews on their word that they were going to die as a punishment from Hashem, it would never enter their minds to attack those same people who had such a close connection with the One above. Besides, the Psalm doesn?t mention this, but rather says that the miracle was in connection with the uprising of the firstborn.
Concerning the anniversary of Miriam?s death, we also need some clarification. Even if originally the ?great miracle? was commemorated on the tenth, it makes sense to say that Miriam?s demise many years later made a change to this. There used to be a book with many holidays and fast days, which were instituted by our sages throughout the ages in connection with different happy and sad occurrences. This book was called Megilat Ta?anit. A fast day mentioned in that book was able to overrule the prohibition to fast on Rosh Chodesh, the new month. Certainly it would be able to move the ?great miracle? celebration to Shabbat.
What has to be understood, though, is why this is the only special day we find in the Jewish calendar that is connected to a specific day of the week. Obviously, there must be a deeper reason behind that.
We read in the Haggadah, "In every generation people stand up against us to destroy us, but Hashem delivers us from their hands."
In two instances we even have a holiday to celebrate the victory over a lot of people. Chanukah celebrates the winning of the war of the ?few against the many?, as we say in the Al Hanissim prayer, and Purim celebrates the deliverance from the hands of the wicked Haman, who had decreed to destroy all the Jews. After Haman was hanged, the Persian King, Achashverosh, gave permission to the Jews to stand up against all their enemies; an opportunity which was used to the fullest extent. However, none of these miracles are referred to as ?great?.
The difference between all those miracles and the miracle of the uprising of the firstborn is that the war was waged neither by Hashem nor by the Jewish army. The enemy itself waged it! And within the category of ?enemy?, it was waged by the first-born, which refers to the strength and power of the nation (Onkelos translates the words ?first born? as ?strength?).
Pharaoh was - even at that time, after nine plagues - a very powerful ruler. So much so that when he refused to let the Jewish people go after Moshe warned him about the final plague, Moshe still had to refer to the Jews as ?your servants?. He did this, despite his anger at that time, to honor Pharaoh, as Rashi explains. That shows how mighty Pharaoh and the Egyptian regime was until the last minute of the Jews? slavery. Therefore, when the ?strength? of Egypt started to fight against this very strong power, that is called a ?great miracle?. Such a miracle stands out from all of the other miracles in history.
What are miracles? A miracle is a change of nature. Every ?regular? miracle is just change of the physical laws of nature. A ?great miracle? is when spiritual nature changes.
The world can be divided into three categories: white, black and gray. We were given the ability to deal with the white, the positive, and the gray. When we do a mitzvah, we draw down a positive force into the world. When we use a mundane object for a mundane purpose, but for the sake of heaven (for example, we eat an apple to be able to feel stronger and serve Hashem better), we connect with the positive, the ?white? within the ?gray?. To deal with the ?black?, the negative, however, we do not have the power. The only way we can deal with it is by staying away. All the mitzvot of prohibition in the Torah are made for that purpose.
The great spiritual miracle that took place during the uprising of the Egyptian first-borns was that evil was being transformed to good (in that, at least, it was battling evil).
The Talmud points out that Miriam?s death appears in the Torah in close proximity to the laws of the red heifer. Impurity caused by contact with a lifeless body could only be ?fixed? by sprinkling the person with water mixed with ashes of the red heifer (as well as some other procedures). This teaches us that just as the ashes of the red heifer have the power to transform the greatest level of impurity to purity, so does the demise of a righteous person bring atonement to the entire generation, including grave sins done deliberately.
This is the connection between Miriam?s death and the revolution in Egypt. Miriam?s death was able to transform sins into merits; black into white. That is exactly what happened when the firstborn Egyptians became the enemy of the rest of the nation. There, too, ?black? became ?white?.
This might be the deeper reason why we do not commemorate the miracle of the revolution on the tenth of Nissan. Since that day has a similar content because of Miriam?s death, there is no need to have both commemorations on the same day. However, since the two are not exactly the same, we still commemorate the ?great miracle? on the Shabbat before Pesach.
May we speedily merit to see the transformation of all evil into good with the coming of Moshiach, now!
--------------------------------------------------------
Asher ben Shimon writes commentary for www.TorahThoughts.tk.
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.