What is Shabbat Hagaddol? The Tur and other mefarshim say it commemorates the Ness gadol (big miracle) that happened on the Shabbat before we got out of Egypt. We left Mitzrayim on a Wednesday night, the 14th of Nissan. The tenth day of Nissan was Shabbat, which was when G-d told them to tie an unblemished sheep to the bedpost, that would be slaughtered on the 14th, Shabbat morning, for korban Pesach.
The Egyptians found out about it and the great miracle was that the Egyptians found out that sheep were going to be slaughtered and yet they didn’t kill the Jews because of this. So what happened?
We say every Shabbat a pasuk in tehilim:
למכה מצרים בכוריהם
G-d hit the Egyptians with their bechors.
What does this mean?
Tosafot says that the Egyptian bechors (firstborns) were the most upset by this plan to slaughter the sheep. When word got out that the Jews were slaughtering the sheep the bechors told Pharoah to let them go. He refused and civil war broke out.
But why did the Egyptian first borns care so much? One reason is that they were more religious, kind of like the priests, but the Maharsha explains differently. He says the horoscopes you see in the newspapers are actually based in Judaism. The reason they all start in mid-month is that they are based on Rosh Hodesh. Every Jewish month/horoscope has a mazal or symbol, which you see in the newspaper. The head of all horoscope months is Nissan Hodesh Aviv - which means spring, but can also mean father of 12 months. The symbol of Nissan, or Aries, as it’s called by the goyim, is the sheep, so the Mitzrim worshipped the sheep because it represents the head of all months.
(furthermore, Rambam says we know we are judged in Tishre because it’s sign is a scale- for judgement. And there’s a reason that the symbol of Sivan, when the Torah was given is twins. Adar/ Purim is pisces-fish. They’re all real with real reasons.)
The mazal of Nissan is a sheep. Because the first of the months is the strongest, the Mitzrim chose that symbol- the sheep, as their god. And because the sheep represents the “ first”, it’s connected with the firstborn in shamayim.
We said were above the Mazal and were going to slaughter their gods.
The Maharsha says that everything down here is connected to something up in shamayim.
(It’s a little silly but it reminds me of a show I watched as a child, called Gilligans Island. There was an episode with voodoo dolls, and when they poked the doll’s leg with a needle, a real person’s leg got hurt)
The point is, what happens down here effects up there and vice versa. If the sheep, which represents the strongest or the first, is slaughtered down here, it’s going to effect a force in the heavens, that of the firstborns in shamayim. As a result, the bechors down here are going to get hit.
The Egyptian bechorim understood this and that’s why they protested so much to Pharoah, and that’s why it’s such a Ness that no one was harmed because of it.
Instead of killing the Jews, they killed each other. That’s the miracle of Shabbat Hagaddol.
We learn two lesson from this. The first is a Bitachon lesson- The Jews tied a sheep and to their beds and didn’t worry about the consequences.
The second lesson is that we have to realize the effects of our mitzvot. With every mitzva that we do, the marror, the matzah, the seder, we are building castles in shamayim. We have to appreciate the mitzvot and do them properly. When we believe in them, they’re more powerful. Learn the halachot and do them right.
The Egyptians had Emunah. Back then they were more spiritual, even though they worshipped avodah Zara. They had spiritually and understood this.
Beh we will do the mitzvot, we will be protected and beH G-d’s bounty will come upon us.
As the Chida says, Shabbat Hagaddol Shalom