Shabbat Hagadol 2021
Isaac’s Parsha Corner · 2021
The crowning glory of the “series” of special Shabbatot is this weekend The Great Sabbath . Each of the preceding four special Parshiyot is designed to introduce an important element needed to experience fully Pesach as the time of our freedom “Zman Cheiruteinu”.
Shkalim – On the surface this Shabbat commemorates a specific technical component of Temple times. The half shekel was collected annually in order to provide funding for communal sacrifices. The time frame was prior to Pesach so that fits nicely. The more challenging question is how to fit Shkalim into the season of redemption which this period symbolizes. “Zman Cheiruteinu” How is or was freedom achieved or enhanced by collecting “Temple Dues”? The Midrash famously reported Moshe’s difficulty with the half Shekel. In the Midrash G-d showed Moshe a fiery coin thereby resolving the difficulty. The obvious challenge is to understand Moshe’s problem and how it resolved. The answer lies in the reading of the day. “When you elevate the heads of The Children of Israel to their purpose, each man shall give the redemption of his soul to G-d when they are counted. And there shall be no plague when they are counted. This shall they give all who participate in the census a half shekel in the holy shekel, twenty gera per shekel an uplifting gift to G-d.” The Midrash Pesiktah; “When Moshe heard the words “redemption of the soul” he became afraid. He said, quoting Satan, “skin for skin all that a man has he must give for his soul (from Job Ch 2 v 4)!” G-d responded, “He need not give his entire soul rather a half shekel shall he give.” The Midrash understood the half shekel as atonement for the sin of the golden calf. The sacrifices brought daily in the Mishkan atoned for that one event. The half shekel was to pay for those sacrifices and thereby achieve the redemption of the soul. “They have strayed quickly from the path that I have commanded them. They made for themselves a molten metal Calf! And they bowed to it and sacrificed to it and they said,” these are your gods Israel who have brought you out of the land of Mitzrayim.” This misconstruing of events seems so preposterous on its surface it is a wonder how it could have happened! What madness must have possessed these people? Yet it is what happened! The very first step in celebrating the events of the Exodus from Egypt is the reversing of that claim. The Mishkan and the Tamid, in that way, atoned for the soul of the Jewish nation. G-d informed Moshe that the Mishkan (symbolized by the fiery coin)would be forever a vehicle of atonement for this nation. Even today where there is no longer a holy temple the Midrash requires the half shekel to be used for charity to the poor.
Zachor – Amalek
Amalek stood and still stands against Jewish sovereignty. As long as the Jewish nation was enslaved in Egypt Amalek remained quiet. With freedom and the beginnings of nationhood Amalek attacked.
Parah – The red cow.
Pure in appearance and unburdened with the usual labors (plowing, threshing etc) such is the life of luxury of the famed red cow. The cow is burned and its ashes are sprinkled on the defiled. A free life is thereby defined not as one of luxurious lounging, but rather as the constant moving forward carrying the many burdens of life.
Chodesh – A new month
It’s also a new year in the lunar calendar. This second “new year” comes exactly six months after the more famous Rosh Hashanah back in Tishrei. Another opportunity to forge new beginnings, to embark on new projects, and to embrace all that the spring season provides.
Shabbat Hagadol – The Great Sabbath
The Midrash tells us that were we to keep two consecutive Sabbaths the Messiah would most certainly arrive. The true freedom comes only when hard work has as its goal the rest on the Sabbath. The Midrash says that we are partners with G-d in the creation of the universe when we rest on the Sabbath. When G-d rested on the seventh day He actually completed the world by resting. We rest for He rested and thereby assist in the completion of the universe.
May the understanding of the five special Sabbaths assist you in achieving a more personal and fulfilling Passover experience.
Dedicated to the memory of Joel Shulman AH