“The Great Shabbat” before Pesach - as of 5776

We call the Shabbat before Pesach “The Great Shabbat” because of a great miracle that transpired on the Shabbat before the Jewish Exodus from ancient Egypt.

What miracle was that? It turns out many answers exist to this question, but here we’ll only consider the unique view of Chabad’s Alter Rebbe, from his “Shulchan Aruch”.

“When the Jews ushered in their Pesach lambs on that Shabbat, Egyptian firstborns clustered around them and asked the Jews what they were doing ... They were told, ‘It’s for a sacrifice to God Who will kill the Egyptian firstborns.’”

“The firstborns then went to their fathers and to Pharaoh requesting they expel the Jews. When rejected, the firstborns went to war against their fathers and Pharaoh, killing many of them. This is what is meant by ‘the Egyptians were struck down by their firstborn’.” [Psalms 136:10]

Note the Alter Rebbe makes no mention of the Jews’ success but rather highlights the internal war that arose between the firstborns and their fathers. So what greatness is there in this miracle?

The answer lies in what the Rebbe continues to say, that this miracle served as “the start of the redemption and the miracles.” That is, the greatness of this miracle is not just because many Egyptians were killed (“the Egyptians were struck down by their firstborn”), but rather the order and demand by the Egyptian firstborns to free the Jewish People was the turning-point that embodied the beginning of the Exodus!

This miracle had even higher value than the miracles of their exit from Egypt. The exodus from Egypt occurred once the power and force of Egypt was broken or annulled, during the Plague of Firstborns, when God took out the Jews. In contrast, the miracle of The Great Shabbat occurred while Jews were still within the Egyptian exile, when, nevertheless, the dominant representatives of Egypt (their firstborns) demanded the freedom of the Jews.

This is why on The Great Shabbat we read part of The Hagaddah, for, just as on the night of Pesach, when the Jews left Egypt, we read The Hagaddah, so too we read part of it on this Shabbat, because that’s when actually began “the start of the redemption and the miracles”!

So what has this to teach us now? In my humble opinion, we are seeing the start of The Ultimate Era of Redemption as today we watch all enemies of Israel striking down and destroying each other (in accord with Isaiah 19:2).

(On the other hand, why we continue to suffer horribly from individual sacrifices by Muslim vermin - eludes me! It is simply unintelligible and horrifying.)

Muslim Hate for the World to See

Remember when Hashem first told Moshe go tell the Jews of Egypt they'll be emancipated? Moshe goes to the Jews, performs a few tricks, and - the people believed him (ויאמן העם).

Then Moshe turns to Pharoah to tell him to let the Jews free. But here he finds a negative response. From now on, says Pharoah, Jews will continue to fabricate bricks, the same quota, only they must find straw for themselves. Pharoah will no longer supply this material.

So the Jews are forced to hunt for straw where they can find it. They spread out over the land searching for straw. When the Egyptians see out their windows Jews prowling in their backyards and fields, they come out and attack the Jews with sickles, chopping off their legs.

The deep hate Egyptians harbored for their Jewish peers now becomes all too obvious.

And, as if no better time to go, Moshe disappears from the scene.

Moshe asks God, why this negative turn of events. Says God, I'll bring upon the Egyptians 10 plagues; They'll complain, saying, why punish us for Pharoah's sin; It is he who enslaved Jews. Why fault us?

Accordingly God set up a situation where the deep-seated hate of Egyptians came clear for all to see. When the 10 plagues arrived, every Egyptian knew exactly why he was being punished.

The 10 plagues and its aftermath visited upon ancient Egypt is also occurring in our days, as the current Era of Ultimate Redemption unfolds.

Rabbi Zimroni Chik of Bat Yam says we see the same phenomenon playing itself out today with the Arabs. The open and unabashed hate is there for the whole world to see. Arabs cannot complain they had nothing to do with it, it was strictly their leader's agenda. The world watches as Muslims behave hideously.

Take, for example, Israeli Arabs. It is plain to see they've long surpassed beyond all bounds the definition of "protest". Hundreds of Arabs, all over Israel, in "protest", have destroyed Israeli infrastructure, attacked cars with rocks and incendiary devices, butchered, kidnapped and lynched soldiers and babies, burned vehicles, grave sites, homes and forests, used knives, slingshots and sniper rifles, falsified pictures and videos, teach their newborn to despise, to commit suicide, etc., all because of their inherent bloodthirsty lust.

Also plain to see, for everyone in the world, how even among themselves, Arabs and Muslims are chopping off heads left and right, torturing, hanging, mutilating, first chance they get.

As they are annihilated, continue to be annihilated, and will be annihilated, these Muslims will know full-well exactly why they got their one-way ticket to Hell.

And God/Israel/Torah shall remain victorious.

Persian Gulf War in Retrospect

Miracles, by definition, override Nature. While some miracles subvert Nature, others may well co-operate with it.

Here are examples of both types.

The miracles that occurred in ancient Egypt, such as the splitting of the Reed Sea that created a dry passageway for the Jews, or when water turned into blood for the Egyptians - overruled Nature, "hijacked" it, for the sake of the Jewish people.

In contrast, a recent miracle that occurred in Israel exemplifies the type of miracle that streams through Nature mostly "co-operating" with it. This happened during the Persian Gulf War when Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles (each the size of a bus) at Israel and not one life was lost thereby. (Compare that with what happened when one single Scud missile landed in the American compound in Saudi Arabia about that time; It killed over a score of soldiers.)

The miracles during the Persian Gulf War, because they did not appear to supplant Natural , derived from a source of divinity much higher than that which produced the miracles in Egypt 3,326 years ago.

All Israelis know of and can recount miracles that occurred to them or their friends in the Israeli wars. All these miracles, by virtue of the fact that the miracles did not overwhelm Nature, but rather enclothed themselves within Nature's "garments", as it were, points to an elevated source of Godliness that drives them, one much loftier than for those that happened for the Jews during the exodus from ancient Egypt.

Such miracles that "hide" within Nature will continue to occur until an even higher source for more fantastic revelations will usher in the Final and Ultimate Era of Redemption in all its stunning glory.

Expression of Jewish Instinct

A week after their flight to safety, Jews fleeing Egypt felt a sudden fright. Suddenly they saw a mighty, rumbling army in fearsome array, rapidly advancing in pursuit after them.

Torah testifies (Ex.14:10):
 "וייראו מאד ויצעקו בני ישראל אל יהוה"

The Jews were trapped in a beach enclave with no flank to escape to, caught between the desert and the sea. These were dreadful moments. King Pharoah himself, in armored chariot, led the charge. The mighty empire's army, a juggernaut excited for victory, kicked up dust as they charged forward.

Jews acted on instinct; They turned to God. Out of fright, their prayers issued forth as screams from the pit of their hearts.

The unique context of their present situation gave these prayers its vocal character. Jews always prayed to God, but any other time of day or day of the week, they would have evoked a different sort of prayer. This special situation they found themselves in is what now cast their form of invocation.

(Only after they saw their prayers go unanswered they turned on Moses to complain.)

Prayer to G-d comes natural for the Jew. Abraham, Isaac and Yaakov worked hard on this form of worship, so much so that this inculcation projected and bequeathed a congenital instinct to their children. They prayed - not because they elected for something in particular this one time, but rather because prayer of the Jew connects him to God! Prayer is the vehicle by which the Jew bonds to G-d. He prays every day, year in year out.

It's not so much a Jew wants something for himself when he prays. Rather, the Jew wants to bond with Hashem. Yes, the Jew asks for personal and selfish concerns too, but all the while he rates his personal desires less than primary. Worship of Hashem is what is paramount in a Jew's life.

The Torah is quite specific; "They were frightful, so they screamed." Any other moment of the day their prayers would have manifest differently, but pray - they always would.

But why pray now - with the Egyptian army ready to steamroll them; If they trusted God will spare them, again, there was no need for prayer now; And if they held doubts about God's salvation, then what good would prayers do?

Rashi explains (Ex.14:10): Because Jews always first prayed to God - for anything - because they worshipped God and always wanted to cleave to Him. Any other day, it could have been in quiet earnestness, but at this point in time - they cried out.

Israel - A Spectator's View

For those who disagree that - as of now - we are inside the Era of Redemption, inside of Moshiach's times, just come sit with me on my cloud for one moment and let's look down to see things from this perspective.

There are those who regard the aftermath of the "Arab Spring" as inviting menacing prospects that lurk in Israel's future, that unrest among Arab countries can spill over the border.

Remember when the Jews of Egypt, under Moses, first got their respite from oppressive slave labor? It happened with the very 1st of the 10 plagues. How could an Egyptian slave overseer even think of the Jewish element when suddenly he's obsessed about finding some water to drink?

The same thing is happening all over again. Just when Syria and Egypt, two countries with huge armies and arsenals, posed a real threat to Israel, Jews can now watch these armies crumble and implode even as we speak.

If the Jews in Egypt actually found relief from slavery by the 1st plague, why did God not redeem them right then; Why keep them inside Egypt until all 10 plagues run their course? Because after so many years under slavery, Jews needed convincing from their erroneous thinking, thinking the Egyptians were strong and invincible. Jews had to see and relearn the power of God, as He tore away their myths.

Just as Israelis think America is all-powerful and a necessary partner to realistically face down her multitude of threats, wherever they might arise, God implanted an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish regime in America, to ween the Jews off this erroneous thinking that America for them is an important protectorate. If anything, America needs Israel (See "Secret of Superpower Status").

Just as the Egyptians were shaken to the core, taught that there is none else but God, so too the nations that seethe with hate against the Jewish nation are now being stricken with a plague, call it the Post-Arab Spring plague, the first of many that will strike them.

Not one word of the Rebbe ever fell by the wayside. The Rebbe said - Israel is the safest place in the world for Jews! He never changed his mind.

Syria is imploding from within. We hardly have to lift a finger. Lebanon, the other menace in the North, also begins to crumble. The language of firepower has replaced verbal differences.

The relative quiet years that pervaded the Middle East are giving way to an inferno. Jews need only sit back and watch how the Arabs deal each other the 10 plagues - as the Redemption unfolds.

In order to receive the Torah at Sinai, Jews had to be purged of their myths, had to internalize the fact that they are God's special children, that they need put their faith in Moses, the prophet and leader of the generation, and beside God - there is none!

Similarly today, before the ultimate stage of Redemption manifests, we have to internalize that the Era of Redemption has begun, and it calls for accepting the leader of the generation.

Thanks for your company. You might disagree on Israel's long-term prospects and the Redemption Era we're into, but now that you've shared the Chabad viewpoint, you'll not easily be able to dismiss it, as the events unfold.