The Miracles of Shabbos HaGadol Are Returning in Our Times - What Did the Rebbe Reveal 40 Years Ago?

00:00 A wonderful story I heard from Rabbi Leibel Groner, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, the Rebbe’s personal secretary, whose yahrzeit also falls around this time, on Erev Pesach. It’s a story that happened, a truly wonderful story that belongs to these days. It’s especially relevant to the situation we’re living through now, and it’s connected to this time of year as well. This Shabbos that we’re about to enter, Shabbos Hagadol—Rabbi Groner related that it was in 5735. Shabbos Hagadol also fell on 10 Nissan, as it does this year. At the Shabbos Hagadol farbrengen, the Rebbe gave a wonderful, deep, and distinctive explanation of Shabbos Hagadol. We see that in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, he describes exactly what the great miracle was that made this Shabbos Shabbos Hagadol: On 10 Nissan, “the tenth of the month,” as it says in the Chumash, the Jewish people received the Divine command, “On the tenth of the month, let each of them take a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for a household”—to take a lamb for the Pesach offering. This led the firstborn of Egypt to question them: “What are you doing with it?” They explained that it was for the Pesach offering, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu was going to kill the firstborn of Egypt, and that they would be leaving Egypt in the coming days. This caused an internal war in Egypt. The Egyptian firstborn went to Pharaoh and demanded emphatically that he set the Jewish people free. Enough—we don’t want to die. Of course, Pharaoh refused, and that led to a civil war in which many Egyptians killed one another. “Who struck Egypt through its firstborn,” as it says in Tehillim, chapter 136: “Who struck Egypt through its firstborn, for His kindness is everlasting.” There was an internal war in Egypt, and much blood was shed. In commemoration of this miracle, this Shabbos is called Shabbos Hagadol. There the Rebbe went into a deep and wonderful explanation: Why specifically Shabbos? Why not 10 Nissan? What exactly is the explanation here? What is the connection specifically to Shabbos? Even though this year

02:26 it also happens on the same day—10 Nissan falls on Shabbos—that isn’t always the case. Yet we don’t celebrate it on the date of the month, as we do other festivals, but specifically on Shabbos. The Rebbe gave a wonderful, deep explanation of “A psalm, a song for the Shabbos day.” The Midrash tells us that Shabbos means that it brings an end to the harmful forces: “the day that is entirely Shabbos and rest for everlasting life.” This refers to the removal of harmful forces from the world, which is why it is also connected to this miracle of “striking Egypt through its firstborn.” That, too, is about bringing an end to harmful forces in the world. It was a wonderful, profound explanation of the subject. That was on Shabbos. A few days later, on Tuesday, 13 Nissan, which is also the yahrzeit of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe was in his room, and his secretary, Rabbi Groner, was there too. As usual, Rabbi Groner had brought in a bundle of letters. The Rebbe sat looking through them, going from letter to letter, in the course of his daily work of reading and responding to the hundreds of letters that arrived. Then, suddenly, without any apparent connection to anything, the Rebbe asked Rabbi Groner whether there was any news in the world. Rabbi Groner told the Rebbe that yes, the news had reported that the king of Saudi Arabia had been killed that day. The Rebbe asked Rabbi Groner whether people were discussing the reasons, the circumstances, how it had happened. Rabbi Groner told him that the news said it was a nephew who wasn’t right in the head somehow—not a person who was fully mentally well—and he had done what he did. The Rebbe said to him: “That’s how it was at the splitting of the sea, too. There were Jews standing at the sea who saw the great miracle of the splitting of the sea, and they claimed that there must have been a wind that blew and caused the sea to open.” Rabbi Groner took the opportunity

04:43 and said: “Clearly, this is connected to what the Rebbe spoke about on Shabbos.” After all, on Shabbos the Rebbe had spoken about “striking Egypt through its firstborn,” and here something of that kind had happened. It was understood from the exchange that the Rebbe was indeed hinting at a connection between what had been discussed at the farbrengen about Shabbos Hagadol and the miracle—this event that had occurred. The king of Saudi Arabia at that time was involved in the whole matter. It was after the Yom Kippur War, and he had put a great deal of pressure on the United States against Israel over oil and so on. So what happened was connected to this whole theme of “striking Egypt through its firstborn.” That, in brief, is the story as Rabbi Groner told it. Today, I want to say that when we hear a story like this in our own time, we see “striking Egypt through its firstborn” in the most tangible way, right before our eyes. In these days, it is unfolding before our eyes in a way more wondrous than ever before. Who could have dreamed? Who could have imagined all the wonderful things happening here? The war against the cruel enemy, the Haman and Amalek of our generation; the dismantling of Iran and everything that means for terror throughout the world, and the way it is unfolding. And a large part of all this is happening in the manner of “striking Egypt through its firstborn”: they themselves are killing one another and bringing an end to the terror within their own ranks. That is truly the great miracle of Shabbos Hagadol. I want to take this opportunity today to revisit another point, an explanation I was privileged to hear from the Rebbe on Shabbos Hagadol exactly forty years ago. I was privileged to be with the Rebbe on Shabbos Hagadol. As this year, it fell on Shabbos, 10 Nissan. It was a wonderful Shabbos. I had the privilege of being there for Shabbos Hagadol several times, but this was a special Shabbos, because people were

07:01 coming not only because of Shabbos Hagadol, but also because the Rebbe’s birthday, 11 Nissan, falls around this time. When Shabbos Hagadol falls on 10 Nissan, Motzaei Shabbos is 11 Nissan, the Rebbe’s birthday. So all the guests who could come did, even though Erev Pesach, with all its preparations, is not an easy time to travel. But many, many chassidim did everything they could to be together with the Rebbe on this great day, his birthday. It was a special day of joy, and the Rebbe held a farbrengen that year. The birthday farbrengen was also on Shabbos—that is, on Shabbos Hagadol. The Rebbe held a farbrengen that Shabbos not only because of Shabbos Hagadol, but also in connection with his birthday. It was an exceptionally special, joyous, wonderful Shabbos. At that farbrengen, the Rebbe also addressed Shabbos Hagadol, giving a wonderful explanation that, as we said, connects remarkably with our own days and the great miracles we are witnessing before our eyes. When we look at the sources, why is this Shabbos called Shabbos Hagadol? Because of the great miracle that took place. But when we look at sources before the Alter Rebbe’s—before the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, at the Tur and the Beis Yosef, we find not just one miracle, but several. In the Tur, in the laws of Shabbos Hagadol, he cites—he brings another Midrash. He says that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded the Jewish people on the tenth of the month to bring the Pesach offering—the lamb—that lamb was, in fact, the idol of the Egyptians. Of Egypt, as is well known, as it also says in the Torah. The Jewish people followed the Divine command given through Moshe Rabbeinu, and each family went and bought itself a lamb. The Egyptians asked them, “What are you doing?” And they explained, “We are going to fulfill the command of Hakadosh Boruch Hu,”

09:15 To slaughter that lamb for the Pesach offering, and so on. For the Egyptians, that was the worst thing you could possibly do: take their idol. Because to them, the animals—especially the sheep—were considered their gods. And here you were telling them outright: We’re going to slaughter them, offer them as a sacrifice to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and eat from it. It was the worst thing imaginable. The great miracle was that none of the Egyptians could do anything. They were furious, filled with a desire for revenge. But an enormous miracle happened: not one of them managed to respond, and not one harmed or even touched a Jew. That was an enormous miracle. Then there is another Midrash, cited in works of halachah: the story we mentioned earlier, that the Egyptian firstborn went to Pharaoh and told him they wanted the Jewish people to leave Egypt as quickly as possible, because they did not want to die. Pharaoh told them, “Absolutely not”—“Hashem hardened Pharaoh’s heart”—and then an internal war broke out among the Egyptians, and many of them were killed. Because of all these miracles, this Shabbos was designated Shabbos Hagadol. Now, as stated in halachah, one reason it was fixed on Shabbos rather than always on 10 Nissan, as holidays are usually observed on a particular date of the month, is that forty years later, Miriam the prophetess passed away on 10 Nissan. That date thus became associated with her passing. They did not want to combine the two, so they fixed it on Shabbos. That is what the works of halachah say. And here is the surprising thing. The difficult question the Rebbe raised at that farbrengen was this: the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch is a work of halachah that also gives the reasons behind the rulings. It is a Shulchan Aruch that presents the various opinions and their reasons. Yet

11:20 it does not address the first explanation at all—the whole story we just told, about the Egyptians asking why the Jews were doing this, the Jews answering that it was for the mitzvah, and the Egyptians becoming angry but being unable to respond or do anything. It is not mentioned at all. The only reason the Alter Rebbe gives in the halachah is the other one: the Egyptian firstborn went to Pharaoh and asked him to release the Jewish people; when that did not happen, the Egyptians killed one another. That, he says, was the great miracle. This raises a very simple question, seemingly. First, why give only one reason instead of all the reasons? We call it Shabbos Hagadol—a name that speaks of something great. Surely two miracles are better than one. So why mention only one miracle? Especially when the Alter Rebbe generally does give details where needed. Here, instead, he leaves out the earlier reason and gives only one. The second question is this: when we look at it closely, it would seem that if he wanted to choose just one of the reasons, it should have been the other one. The miracle involving the Pesach offering itself—the Egyptians’ inability to take revenge on the Jews for fulfilling the mitzvah—is connected to the mitzvah of the Pesach offering and to the command they received that day. On 10 Nissan, “on the tenth of the month,” we received the Divine command to acquire the Pesach offering. The Egyptians should have taken revenge, fought, and harmed the Jews, who were under their control as slaves, but in practice they could do nothing. That is the greatest miracle connected with the mitzvah of the Pesach offering. The second miracle, by contrast, seemingly had no

13:26 benefit or purpose in connection with the mitzvah of the Pesach offering. In fact, if we think about it, it did not benefit the Jewish people in any way. Nothing changed in practice: Pharaoh did not agree to let the Jewish people leave Egypt, and the Jewish people gained nothing from the Egyptians fighting among themselves. So it served no purpose—not before, not afterward, and not in between. We gained nothing from it. The Exodus ultimately happened after the plague of the firstborn, through the whole sequence of events, just as it did. So this miracle, in which the Egyptian firstborn fought among themselves and killed one another, seemingly served no purpose for us. Yet that is precisely the reason the Alter Rebbe chose to write in his Shulchan Aruch. That was the question the Rebbe discussed at that farbrengen. The Rebbe then gave a wonderful explanation with special meaning for our lives today and, of course, very real implications for our service of Hashem, for everyday life in general, and for these great days when we are all preparing for the great festival of Pesach. The Rebbe said: If we consider the difference between the two reasons we have mentioned, we see the following. The first explanation concerns a Jew’s ability to fulfill a mitzvah: no one can prevent a Jew from fulfilling one. A Jew lives in this physical world. We are surrounded by a vast world, by nature and the realities of the world, by the nations of the world, and by all sorts of obstacles—things that might interfere with a Jew’s observance of mitzvos. So we are told: when a Jew decides to fulfill a mitzvah, nothing can stop him. The world does not prevent a Jew from fulfilling mitzvos, even though it sometimes appears to. When a Jew is undaunted, does not lose heart, and stands firm,

15:49 Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes sure that no one can interfere. That is what happened in the first miracle. The Jewish people received their first commands—these really were the first commands they received as a nation: “This month shall be for you the head of months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.” And immediately afterward comes, “Draw forth and take sheep for yourselves.” In other words, Moshe Rabbeinu gathered the Jewish people on Rosh Chodesh Nissan and conveyed the Divine command for the days ahead. This was the beginning of the Jewish people. Here the Jewish people were born as a nation and received their first mitzvos from among the 613 mitzvos. One of those first mitzvos was “Draw forth and take sheep for yourselves”—to take the Pesach offering. And the Jewish people decided to fulfill the mitzvah without being intimidated or afraid. Yes, they were surrounded by enemies—and not just any enemies: to them, the Pesach offering was the worst possible offense. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu had said to do it, so they did. And then the great miracle happened: they saw that the Egyptians truly could not interfere. The Egyptians saw what they were doing, though they did not know why. No one hid; they walked openly, with their heads held high and in peace. And it went unchallenged. That is one point: the world does not prevent a Jew from fulfilling mitzvos. But what do we see in the second story? Not only did the Egyptians not interfere with the Jews; we see something else: the Egyptians fought on behalf of the Jewish people. The Egyptian firstborn went and waged war against their own people, the Egyptians, to help the Jewish people. Here you see a much deeper message. Not only does the world not prevent a Jew from fulfilling his mitzvos; on the contrary, the world even helps. The world itself fights against those within it who want to interfere. The world wants a Jew to be able to fulfill mitzvos. Here we see a much deeper expression of how much the world changes

18:03 its nature. The Egyptians, who were the Jewish people’s greatest enemies at that time, changed their nature. Not only did they not interfere; they actually fought so that the Jewish people could leave exile. That is an entirely different kind of miracle, and that is what the Rebbe said. The first miracle, if you think about it, is not really the greatest miracle. Why? Because the world was created for the Jewish people. If you look at the first Rashi, on the first verse of the Torah, “In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth,” Rashi tells us: “In the beginning”—for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel. The world was created so that a Jew could study Torah and observe mitzvos, so of course the world should not prevent a Jew from doing so. If we know that “in the beginning” means for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel, then the entire reality of the world was made, was created, so that a Jew could study Torah and observe mitzvos. Surely it cannot interfere. Here they saw that openly: the Egyptians did not interfere. But that still does not make Shabbos Hagadol the occasion of this great miracle. Of course, we do not always see this, and when we do, it is a joy. It is moving. It is wonderful to see the world not getting in the way, not putting obstacles before a Jew, so that a Jew can study Torah and observe mitzvos. That is truly wonderful, but it is still not a reason to celebrate. Then comes the second miracle, and that is the great miracle: not only does the world not interfere with a Jew, but something happens that departs from the rules of nature in the most striking way. Those same Egyptians, whose whole life had been devoted to obstructing, opposing, hating, confusing, fighting and breaking the Jewish people—they themselves fought on behalf of the Jewish people. That is already completely beyond the natural order. That is

20:14 what makes it the great miracle. And this great miracle is connected to the great miracles of the days of Moshiach. The word “great,” the Rebbe says, belongs to the great miracles of “He alone performs great wonders”—the great miracles we all look forward to and await with the coming of Moshiach. If we look at the Prophets and the Midrashim, at the kinds of miracles and wonders described in the verses about the future, this is precisely what we find. The miracles and wonders of the days of Moshiach will not merely mean that the world does not interfere with a Jew’s proper conduct. The world itself will become a different place. The well-known verse, “Then I will transform the peoples,” says the prophet Tzefaniah, “to serve Him with one accord.” In other words, the reality of the days of Moshiach is not just that the world will not interfere; the world will be transformed into a place that helps, assists and does everything it can. The world, by its very nature, will fulfill its role of helping a Jew study Torah and observe mitzvos. That is also what it means when it says that when Moshiach comes, “the wolf will dwell with the lamb.” It does not mean there will be no wolves. The wolf is a symbol, yes? Predatory animals symbolize all the evil in the world. So it is not merely that there will be no wolf, no lion, no bear, no non-kosher animals. Rather, they will change, they will become good. They will be there, but they will not cause harm. Not only will they not cause harm; more than that, they will work hand in hand. That will be the wondrous power of the days of Moshiach. Shabbos Hagadol is named for the great miracle. On Shabbos Hagadol, there is a glimmer of the light of the days of Moshiach, of the revelation of the days of Moshiach. And here the Rebbe added something wonderful to help us understand the depth, the greatness, the importance of this Shabbos, Shabbos Hagadol. He said that, according to this, in a certain respect Shabbos Hagadol has something even greater than Pesach itself, because

22:47 on Pesach, what happened in the end was that we fled Egypt. “For the people fled”—we left Egypt, we fled Egypt; it was a kind of escape. There we had not yet seen Egypt itself [unclear]. Of course, in practice they could say nothing, and they drove us out of Egypt, but that was more because of a higher power, because of the Plague of the Firstborn and everything that happened. Here, on Shabbos Hagadol, in the war of Egyptians against Egyptians—“Who struck Egypt through their firstborn”—the darkness itself was, in a certain sense, transformed into light. That is truly a glimmer of the days of Moshiach, not merely of the Exodus from Egypt. So in a certain respect, Shabbos Hagadol has something greater than Pesach. The Rebbe cited something wonderful written in one of the seforim by the great Torah sages. It gives another reason this Shabbos is called Shabbos Hagadol: Pesach, after all, is also called “Shabbos” in the Torah. There is a verse about counting the Omer: “You shall count for yourselves from the day after Shabbos.” The Gemara says that “the day after Shabbos” here does not mean Shabbos; it means Yom Tov, Pesach. Counting the Omer begins on the day after the first day of Pesach, and the Torah calls the first day of Pesach “Shabbos,” with all the familiar explanations for that. So the seforim ask: Why is the Shabbos before Pesach called Shabbos Hagadol? To tell us that the Pesach coming in the next few days is also called Shabbos in the Torah, but it is not quite so great. It is an ordinary Shabbos. A festival is on a lower level. The higher Shabbos is Shabbos Hagadol. That is Shabbos Hagadol. There is a lesser Shabbos—Pesach, which is called Shabbos—but it is not the Shabbos. The Shabbos is the one before Pesach, Shabbos Hagadol. That is why it is called Shabbos Hagadol. So here we have a deeper explanation of this point: Why is the Shabbos

24:52 before Pesach called Shabbos Hagadol, even in relation to Pesach? As we said, it is because on Shabbos Hagadol there was a revelation resembling what we all await in the days of Moshiach. When Moshiach comes, we will not flee the world; we will break through the existing reality. On the contrary, the great thing we are all preparing for—the very essence of the days of Moshiach—is that the physical world, the natural world, the reality of the world, the nations of the world, the whole world as it is, will turn toward honoring and helping the Jewish people, acting for their benefit. All will come together as one, “to serve Him with one accord,” to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Or as the prophet Yeshayahu says, “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh will see together that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.” Physical, natural flesh will look and see; it will be able to perceive the divine light. So what does Shabbos Hagadol teach us? Shabbos Hagadol teaches us that a Jew must know that we are already living in days when the light of Moshiach can be seen in the world. Not only can the world not prevent a Jew from studying Torah and observing mitzvos; the world helps a Jew do so. The world is on our side, not against us, and this is expressed in daily life. It is expressed in every detail, beginning with our personal lives. Because when we speak about the world, there is also the small world within us: the yetzer hara, the animal soul. One approach is to put it aside. You do not listen to it; you fight the yetzer and do not listen to it. There is a deeper approach: you enlist the yetzer. “With all your heart”—with both your inclinations. That is the divine strength we have been given in these days. A Jew can do more than flee Egypt; he can make use of the world, of nature, of reality, so that the world becomes a world that stands together with us. Because the world, too, is a place for the divine. That is what will be revealed in the future, and we

27:07 are already beginning to see it today in the great miracles we are witnessing in these days. We see “Who struck Egypt through their firstborn.” We are already seeing the great miracles of the days of Moshiach taking place before our eyes: nature itself helps a Jew serve Hashem. The world itself helps the Jewish people fulfill their task and their shlichus, to be a light unto the nations. And we truly pray that we merit, right now, in these days, to see fulfilled what the Gemara says: “In Nissan our ancestors were redeemed from Egypt; in Nissan they are destined to be redeemed.” May it truly happen in these days, and may we merit to eat of the offerings and the Pesach sacrifices in the holy city of Jerusalem, in the Third Beis Hamikdash, which will be built speedily in our days. Amen, may it be His will.