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SHABAT HAGADOL
The holiday of Pesach is ushered into our lives and homes by the great Shabat - Shabat Hagadol – that precedes it. Though there are many arguments advanced over the ages as to why this Shabat preceding Pesach should be titled as the great Shabat, there seems to me to be one overriding theme that deals with this matter. And that is, that it is the greatness of Shabat that enabled Pesach and its wonders and freedom and redemption to occur at all.
The Midrash tells us that Jews already commemorated a Shabat of sorts in Egypt under the rule of the Pharaoh. Even before the acceptance of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the Jews were already commanded and taught about Shabat at Marah. The daily manna that fell from Heaven was a constant reminder to them of the existence and the holiness of the Shabat. Without Shabat, Pesach itself loses much of its message and purpose.
Thus Shabat itself imparts much of its grandeur and greatness to the holiday of Pesach that arrives on its heels. A Pesach without Shabat is truly empty of the spiritual freedom that is its goal and purpose. For physical freedom, as essential as it is for personal and national life to prosper, does not really address the soul.
In Yosef Mendelovich’s book about his Soviet imprisonment, he recalls sitting in a Soviet prison with a Baptist minister as a cellmate. As they spent hours thinking about themselves and their fates, they came to the conclusion that they would probably never again in their lives, even after being freed from the Gulag, feel as free and spiritual as they then felt in that small cold cell. Such is the inner freedom that Pesach strives for. And in Jewish terms, only Shabat can help a person get there.
The difficulties in Shabat observance to the modern Jew lie in the myriad laws that truly define the Shabat. But it is those very laws that give Shabat its holy and spiritual character. Otherwise, Shabat becomes an ordinary day of the week. Here in Israel, in certain circles of our society, it has become a time of drunkenness, lewdness, stabbings and horrific road accidents.
From being the most positively special day of the week, it has degenerated into being the most dreaded of days. It is the so-called freedoms of uninhibited behavior and actions that have no limits or restraints that have created this ogre of violent and even deadly Friday night and Saturday escapades.
All life has limitations and laws attached to it. They are for the general public and private good, and for the peace of the society and the welfare of the individual. It is the very existence of the laws and restrictions of the Shabat that invest it with its peace and serenity, its grandeur and holiness.
And, therefore, the greatness of Shabat must precede Pesach in order for Pesach itself to reach its proper expression and purpose. I know that are those who will scoff at this rabbinical wisdom, but all of the millennia of Jewish life and history testify to its accuracy and correctness.
There is tradition that the rav of the congregation or the community delivers a major lecture on Shabat Hagadol. Initially this was to review the important and necessary laws and customs regarding the proper celebration of the Pesach holiday. Over time this lecture morphed into an exhibition of the rav’s prowess in Talmudic studies and rabbinic responsa. In our current generation it has also become a sounding board, especially here in Israel, for the rav’s exposition of views on current national and political affairs in Israel and in the Jewish world generally.
The Midrash has taught us that every generation has its necessary preachers and lecturers. And, in every generation they are to fit the needs of their generation and be relevant to the particular problems of that time and place. But the thread that binds all of these generations is the Shabat Hagadol.
That unwavering loyalty to the concept, laws and customs of Shabat is what shapes all other discussions on matters of Jewish concern. Jewish security and continuity rests (bad pun but an unintended one) on the strength of Shabat commemoration and observance.
Pesach, which symbolizes our successful national enterprise and ultimate triumph over those who always seek to destroy us, is effective and possible only after the Shabat Hagadol experience. That is the secret of the special greatness of this Shabat.
