Shabbat HaGadol: On Lambs, Preparation, and the Birth of a Nation
Shabbat HaGadol is always the Shabbat immediately preceding Pesach. It is very fitting that Pesach, the ultimate holiday of preparation, should have its own day honoring the very fact that Pesach requires preparation. In his 13th century master work of halachic codification, the Arba’ah Turim, Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher tells us the origins and history of Shabbat Hagadol. The Torah commanded each Jewish household in Egypt to take a lamb into the house on the tenth of Nisan, four days before the sacrifice of the korban Pesach. Each household was to tie the lamb to the leg of a bed and keep it there for four days. Their Egyptian neighbors came asking the Jews why they were doing such a strange thing. The Jews responded with the truth, “Our God has commanded us to keep this lamb with us for four days and then to slaughter it as a sacrifice on the fourteenth of Nisan.”
Now, the Egyptians were very upset at this, since the lamb was a deity for them. Indeed, that is why the lamb was chosen to be the Paschal sacrifice, in order to show God’s dominion and the emptiness of idolatry. Although the Egyptians were upset, they were not able to stop the Jews from preparing for and carrying out this mitzvah. On the year of the first seder in Egypt, the redemption took place on a Thursday, which placed the tenth of Nisan on Shabbat. Therefore, it is known as Shabbat HaGadol because of this miracle of Pesach preparation. It is in recognition of this miracle that we continue to mark Shabbat HaGadol as a special pre-Pesach date.
Rabbi Yoel Sirkis in his work Bayit Chadash, a commentary on the Arba’ah Turim, asks an obvious question. That first year in Egypt it happened to be that the tenth of Nisan fell out on a Shabbat. But the mitzvah of the Torah is to take a lamb into your home specifically on the tenth of Nisan. The fact that the tenth of Nisan was a Shabbat was seemingly only a coincidence. If so, why do we continue to celebrate this event on Shabbat even if Shabbat is not the tenth of Nisan? We should be celebrating on the tenth of Nisan! What is the intrinsic connection between Shabbat and this miraculous event of Pesach preparation?
I thought to answer Rabbi Sirkis’s question by taking a look at a unique aspect of the holiday of Pesach. The entire holiday of Pesach revolves around the home and the household. The first mention of the Paschal lamb instructs us to take it into our home. Carrying out the mitzvah of Pesach required a home to spread the blood on the doorposts. Even the redemption itself came to homes and not just individuals: God passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt. Even today, the central mitzvah of Pesach is performed by the household in the home, together around a communal meal. Other holidays may have a festive meal, but on Pesach, the meal is the central mitzvah of the day. The individual would not have been saved on Pesach were it not for their connection to the group. Even Moses himself could not perform this mitzvah and merit redemption without the structure of a home and community. The mitzvah of the Paschal sacrifice itself was not even done by every individual, but rather a household together performed the mitzvah, one act which included every member of the household. The Torah even relates to us that the idea of a household could be extended beyond the immediate family for this mitzvah to include relatives and friends. The central act of salvation was joining oneself to a community and sitting with that community the duration of the night in solidarity.
Pesach is not only the holiday of freedom; it is also the birthday of the Jewish nation. Indeed, our freedom was merited through becoming a nation. The essence of the holiday is the “taking of one nation from the midst of another nation”. The redemption of Pesach is inextricably linked to the Jewish sense of community and nationhood. The central act of the holiday is simply belonging, joining, and connecting to the whole. This is of course the sin of the wicked son at the seder. He sees himself as separate from the community, and he does so specifically at the time we celebrate our peoplehood. The hagaddah relates that in so doing, he denies that which is fundamental. Peoplehood and community is the fundamental principle of Judaism and of Pesach.
I believe this is why the sages chose to always commemorate the start of Pesach, its preparation, not on the tenth of Nisan, but on Shabbat. Shabbat is our time for community and family on a continual basis. It is the time we set aside to be a part of the Jewish nation as a whole. It is therefore very fitting that the real preparation for Pesach should begin with Shabbat, a day of community and belonging.
Now, the Egyptians were very upset at this, since the lamb was a deity for them. Indeed, that is why the lamb was chosen to be the Paschal sacrifice, in order to show God’s dominion and the emptiness of idolatry. Although the Egyptians were upset, they were not able to stop the Jews from preparing for and carrying out this mitzvah. On the year of the first seder in Egypt, the redemption took place on a Thursday, which placed the tenth of Nisan on Shabbat. Therefore, it is known as Shabbat HaGadol because of this miracle of Pesach preparation. It is in recognition of this miracle that we continue to mark Shabbat HaGadol as a special pre-Pesach date.
Rabbi Yoel Sirkis in his work Bayit Chadash, a commentary on the Arba’ah Turim, asks an obvious question. That first year in Egypt it happened to be that the tenth of Nisan fell out on a Shabbat. But the mitzvah of the Torah is to take a lamb into your home specifically on the tenth of Nisan. The fact that the tenth of Nisan was a Shabbat was seemingly only a coincidence. If so, why do we continue to celebrate this event on Shabbat even if Shabbat is not the tenth of Nisan? We should be celebrating on the tenth of Nisan! What is the intrinsic connection between Shabbat and this miraculous event of Pesach preparation?
I thought to answer Rabbi Sirkis’s question by taking a look at a unique aspect of the holiday of Pesach. The entire holiday of Pesach revolves around the home and the household. The first mention of the Paschal lamb instructs us to take it into our home. Carrying out the mitzvah of Pesach required a home to spread the blood on the doorposts. Even the redemption itself came to homes and not just individuals: God passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt. Even today, the central mitzvah of Pesach is performed by the household in the home, together around a communal meal. Other holidays may have a festive meal, but on Pesach, the meal is the central mitzvah of the day. The individual would not have been saved on Pesach were it not for their connection to the group. Even Moses himself could not perform this mitzvah and merit redemption without the structure of a home and community. The mitzvah of the Paschal sacrifice itself was not even done by every individual, but rather a household together performed the mitzvah, one act which included every member of the household. The Torah even relates to us that the idea of a household could be extended beyond the immediate family for this mitzvah to include relatives and friends. The central act of salvation was joining oneself to a community and sitting with that community the duration of the night in solidarity.
Pesach is not only the holiday of freedom; it is also the birthday of the Jewish nation. Indeed, our freedom was merited through becoming a nation. The essence of the holiday is the “taking of one nation from the midst of another nation”. The redemption of Pesach is inextricably linked to the Jewish sense of community and nationhood. The central act of the holiday is simply belonging, joining, and connecting to the whole. This is of course the sin of the wicked son at the seder. He sees himself as separate from the community, and he does so specifically at the time we celebrate our peoplehood. The hagaddah relates that in so doing, he denies that which is fundamental. Peoplehood and community is the fundamental principle of Judaism and of Pesach.
I believe this is why the sages chose to always commemorate the start of Pesach, its preparation, not on the tenth of Nisan, but on Shabbat. Shabbat is our time for community and family on a continual basis. It is the time we set aside to be a part of the Jewish nation as a whole. It is therefore very fitting that the real preparation for Pesach should begin with Shabbat, a day of community and belonging.