There are many reasons why Shabbat HaGadol is called by that title.
Today we will discuss a Hiddush of the Sl’ach, in his derush לה :
He says that everyday, we say
Alenu Leshabeach L’Adon Hakol.
It is incumbent upon us to praise the Boss.
Latet Gedulah L’Yotzer Bereshit
To give greatness to the One who is the Creator of the Bereshit/the world.
We see from here that Hashem is referred to as the One who is the Yotzer/Creator,
which means that we are thanking the Creator for the world. The term Gadol refers to Creation. God is a Gadol in creation.
So the term Gadol refers to the Creator.
Yetziat Mitzrayim is the biggest sign that God is the Creator.
The ancient people of the world believed that the world was on auto-pilot, and that everything that was would just continue as is.
They believed in something called Mazal, which is a constant.
Then God came down and, so to say, broke the rules. They believed that a slave could never get out of Egypt, but God broke all the rules and showed that He is above everything. The Mazal of Nissan is the sheep, which was the Mazal of the Egyptians. We tied the sheep to the bed and slaughtered it on the 15th day, when the moon was at the fullest and strongest, to show that God is above Mazal.
And we chose Shabbat as the day to tie up the sheep because Shabbat also gives us the message of creation.
That is why Shabbat was chosen as the day to show the proper respect and recognition to the Gadol. So Shabbat Hagadol is the Shabbat of God.
God is referred to as a Gadol because the term Gadol refers to the Creator. Latet Gedulah L’Yotzer Bereshit.
Why does the term Gadol refer to God as the Creator?
Every day in our Amidah, we say that God is Gadol, Gibbor V’Norah
These words refer to the three Avot Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov- each one corresponds to each of these words
Norah is Yaakov Avinu, because that term is used - Ma Norah HaMakom
Gibbor is Yitzhak Avinu - because his trait was Giborah/strength,
And Avraham Avinu is Gadol, because as Rav Yerucham Levovitz says, a Gadol is someone who gives to a katan
The sun is called Meor HaGadol, and the moon is called Meor Katan, because the sun is the source of the light, and he gives it to the Katan who is the recipient. That’s what a Gadol is.
So the ultimate Gadol is God, because God gives to ketanim.
The problem of the idol worshipers was that they didn’t believe in the Gedulah of God. They didn’t believe that God could deal with the ketanim. They thought that messengers and intermediaries and mazalot were necessary. They didn’t believe that God was involved in the world, that He changed teva/nature and the world. So their lack of understanding of the middah of Gadol/ God’s Hesed led to them not believing in God’s involvement in the world.
Therefore, we Jewish people have our Avaraham Avinu lessons. It is no coincidence that he was a great maamin/believer, and also a great Baal Hessed, because he emulated God. He saw that God is a great Baal Hesed. And Avraham Avinu’s understanding of hesed caused him to be a believer.
If you don’t believe in the power of hesed you can’t believe in God.
God is such a Baal Hesed, that it doesn’t make sense to what length, and if you can’t believe that, it will cause you to believe in all sorts of intermediaries. If you don’t believe in the power of God’s kindness, you might think someone is doing it, or getting involved. But that is wrong. There is no somebody else. God’s kindness is so great. He is the ultimate great One. And that’s why we call it Shabbat HaGadol- the Shabbat of the Gadol/the Great One. Who is the great one? God is the great One. Because He is involved in us, and we are the ketanim. We are the recipients. And the more you give to others, the more of a Gadol you are.
This is where Ahavat Yisrael comes in.
The great Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky once said, “I used to think that my pride was my writings of Chiddushei Torah. But at the end of my life, I see that my pride is the writing of my accountings of how much money I gave out to widows and orphans and people in need.
This is another push for Lev Chana. Baruch HaShem, over 200 families were recipients of large sums of money. Now we need to cover it (We give out first and cover it later).
So if you haven’t done so please, send your donation today.
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