Weekly Torah Portion: Tzav – Shabbat Hagadol
This Shabbat, the tenth of Nissan, is referred to as Shabbat Hagadol – the Great Sabbath. Why is the Shabbat before Passover called “great” (gadol)?
The Talmud (Shabbat 87b) tells us: “As to the Nisan in which the Israelites departed from Egypt, on the fourteenth they slaughtered their Passover sacrifices, on the fifteenth they went forth, and in the evening the first-borns were smitten… and that day was a Thursday.” In Exodus (12:3) we read: “Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household.” If the Israel departed from Egypt on the Thursday the fifteenth of Nisan, then “the tenth of this month” refers to the Saturday immediately preceding the exodus – Shabbat Hagadol.
What makes this particular Sabbath “great”? The midrash explains:
When the Holy One told Moses to slaughter the paschal lamb, Moses answered: “Lord of the Universe! How can I do this? Do you not know that the lamb is Egypt’s god, as it says (Exodus 8:22): “If we sacrifice what is untouchable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?” God replied: By your life! Israel will not leave here until they slaughter the Egyptian gods before their eyes, that I may show them that their gods are nothing (Exodus Rabba 17:3).
R. Jacob b. Asher, “Baal Haturim” (Spain 1270 – 1340) explained:
The Sabbath preceding Passover is called Shabbat Hagadol, and the reason is that a great miracle was performed on that day…we find that the tenth of the month was the Sabbath, and each took a lamb for the paschal sacrifice, and tied it to his bedpost, and when the Egyptians asked why are you doing this, they replied that it was to be slaughtered as a paschal sacrifice as commanded to us by God. And their teeth were set on edge because their gods were being slaughtered, but they could say nothing. In recognition of that miracle, we call that day the Great Sabbath (Tur, OH 430).
Others point to the haftarah read on this Sabbath – which may have been chosen in accordance with the tradition “In Nisan they were redeemed, and in Nisan they will be redeemed in the time to come” (Rosh Hashana 11a) – in which we read: “Behold, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great (gadol) and terrible day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 3:23). According to this approach, this Sabbath gets its name from the haftarah, as do Shabbat Shuva and Shabbat Nahamu.
Sefer Shibolei Haleket (R. Zedekiah b. Abraham Harofe Anav, Italy, 1210 – 1275) explains:
Another reason is that on the Sabbath before Passover the people stay late into the afternoon…in order to hear the sermon expounding upon the laws of removing leaven…and it goes on, and the people do not return home until it is over, for if they do not hear it now, when will they hear it, for Passover arrives this week following the Sabbath…and due to this length, the day seems greater and longer to the people than other days, and therefore they refer to this Sabbath as the Great Sabbath (Sefer Shibolei Haleket, Seder Pesah 205).
1. What is the connection that the midrash suggests between Passover and the Sabbath that precedes it? Why was it necessary to “slaughter the Egyptian gods before their eyes?”
2. How does the Tur’s explanation differ from that of the midrash? What is the nature of the miracle that occurred on Shabbat according to the midrash, and what is its nature according to the Tur? Is the “greatness” expressed in the Israelites’ conduct, their great faith and their courageous acts, or is it expressed in the reaction of the Egyptians and the proof of the greatness of the God of Israel?
3. Why was God’s redemption of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt contingent upon their liberating themselves from Egyptian culture and idolatry?
4. Like the explanation that attributes the name of the Sabbath to the haftarah, Sefer Shibolei Haleket tries to answer a question that the sources do not seem to address: Why do we treat the Saturday before Passover as the “great” day, rather than the tenth of Nisan? What is special about this particular Sabbath?
Iyunei Shabbat is published weekly by the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, The Masorti Movement and The Rabbinical Assembly of Israel in conjunction with the Masorti Movement in Israel and Masorti Olami-World Council of Conservative Synagogues.
Chief Editor: Rabbi Avinoam Sharon
