RABBI NACHMAN (NEIL) WINKLER PROBING BY Faculty, OU Israel Center THE PROPHETS l
“
Shabbat HaGadol”, Shabbat”. Or is it?
“The
GREAT
There is no mention of the Shabbat before Pesach being called “HaGadol” anywhere in the Mishna or the G’mara. Additionally, there is no special Maftir, i.e. no specific Torah portion that we are required to read, as we have on the previous four special Shabbatot-which is why we cannot look for a connection between the Maftir and our special haftarah this week. Along with the uniqueness of this Shabbat-that is, that it is not so unique, its very name causes puzzlement and disagreement. This most common translation, “The Great Shabbat” conflicts with simple Hebrew grammar. Were it to be understood as the great Shabbat, the adjective “great” would be in the feminine form, “gedolAH”, as Shabbat is a feminine noun (yes, I know that it is treated as a masculine noun at times, as in “v’yanuchu VO Yisrael”, but this is not the place to discuss the exception). The “Mateh Moshe” suggests that, much like Shabbat Chazon, Shabbat Nachamu and Shabbat Shuva, the name is taken from the special haftarah that is chanted on this day. There, we find the final words of Malachi to include the phrase “lifnei bo yom Hashem HAGADOL v’hanorah”. The 24
TORAH TIDBITS / TZAV & PESACH 5780
word hagadol, therefore, is not an adjective modifying Shabbat but rather modifying “yom” that is called the great day because it will precede the final redemption. Furthermore, this approach explains the Rabbis reasoning, for it stresses the future redemption, a theme we highlight on Pesach, the “Chag HaGeulah”. The difficulty with that approach is simply that these other haftarot are identified by the first word of the haftarah while this haftarah is identified by one of the last words and, truthfully, a rather random word (why not call it “V’arva” or HaNorah”?) HaRav Yissachar Jacobson brings down a number of other possibilities suggested by different rabbinic scholars. A popular reason (shared by the Shibolei Leket) is that the Shabbat before Pesach was one of the two Shabbatot of the year when the Rabbi would deliver a major address to the community, an address that would last until midday, causing people to feel that it is a very LONG (“Gadol”) day. Tosafot comments (Shabbat 87b:) that, as the exodus took place on a Thursday, the tenth of the month, the day when B’nei Yisra’el were to slaughter the paschal lamb, was on Shabbat. And a GREAT (Gadol) miracle took place that day as the Egyptians saw their object of worship being slaughtered but did not attack the Israelites.
