The Shabbat before Pesach is called “Shabbat Hagadol” (the Great Shabbat) for a number of reasons.
The primary event commemorated on this Shabbat is a great miracle which occurred on this day, several days before the Exodus.
The Jewish people were commanded by Moses to take a lamb and tie it to their bedposts on Shabbat, the 10th day of Nissan, five days they were to leave Egypt. When the Egyptians asked why the Jews were buying so many lambs, they were told that this lambs were intended for the Pesach offering, which would be sacrificed in preparation of the 10th and final plague of the Firstborn. We have to understand that for the Egyptians of those days the lamb represented a god, and to think that one of their deities was going to be sacrificed rattled the firstborn Egyptians to the point that they demanded that the Jews be let free. When Pharaoh refused this request, there ensued a civil war against Pharaoh’s army and many Egyptians died on that day. On this day it was demonstrated that the Egyptians were powerless against the Jews.
Also on Shabbat Hagadol, the Rabbi’s prepare long and extensive lectures to the congregants in preparation to Pesach.
And lastly, the Haftorah read in many communities on this special Shabbat speaks of the coming of Moshiach, referring to the day of his arrival as “the GREAT and awesome day of the L-ord.(Malachi 3:23)
Excerpts taken from “The Great Shabbat” by Baruch S.Davidson
#shabbatshalom
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