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Synagogue Sermon

March 28, 1953

Every Sabbath Is a Great Sabbath (1953)

Tzav Shabbat Hagadol
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A Miracle of Greatness - Cong. Oheb Zedek - editor's title (1966)

I am pleased and honored to be able to occupy this morning the pulpit of my distinguished colleague, Rabbi Theodore Adams, one of the most eminent rabbinic leaders in our city. I also regard it as a distinct privilege to be able to participate in services in a synagogue with such a proud history. I am sure you join me in hoping and praying for the complete and speedy recovery of my honored colleague and your beloved rabbi. Perhaps the most appropriate prayer is a verse from the Psalms which we recite every Wednesday: "im amarti matah ragli, basdekha hashem yisadeni׳," "when I said that my foot has slipped, then Your kindness, 0 Lord, supports me.״ May the kindness of the Lord be the only crutch your rabbi will need and the only support he will receive for many many years to come. This Sabbath is known as Shabbat Ha-gadol, "the great Sabbath." Many reasons have been offered in our tradition for this distinctive name. Permit me to mention to you one which I regard as possessing special insight. Rabbi Jacob, author of the Turim, maintains that it is called by this name le'f^ she'naaseh bo nes gadol, because a great miracle, nes gadol, was performed on this day; the Hebrews who were yet slaves in Egypt dared to slaughter the lamb (regarded as the deity of the Egyptians) in defiance of their taskmasters, ve1lo hayu rash1in lo-mar la-hem davar — and the Egyptians were not able to protest or rebuke them. Shabbat Ha-gadol, in other words, celebrates the remarkable courage and the heroic conviction of the Children of Israel who reached new heights of fearlessness in their dedication to the Almighty. The nes gadol was not only a "great miracle" but also a "miracle of greatness" — Jews, heretofore diffident slaves, were able to take such risks for their beliefs, for their God!Perhaps it is best to see this act of bravery and dedication in a larger context. All of the Bible, and all of Judaism, is the story of the dialogue between God and man. This dialogue can be approached f…
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A Passover Insight into Sabbath HaGadol (1962)

R. Meir Simchah of Dvinsk, the renowned author of the Or Sameach and one of the most profound halakhic scholars of all time, makes a profound comment in his Meshekh Chokmah which is most appropriate to the day we now celebrate, Shabbat Ha-gadol, the special Sabbath which heralds the celebration of our festival of freedom, Passover. There are two types of mitzvot: those that bind a Jew to his G-d, and those that bind him closer to his fellow-Jew. Thus, observances like tzillit, tefillin, and mezuzah bring the Jew directly into communion with G-d, whereas mitzvot such as charity, love of fellow-man, and terumah bring him into closer community with other Jews.
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The Sabbath of Greatness (1962)

Many reasons have been offered as to why this Sabbath before the holiday of Passover is known by the name Shabbat Ha-gadol. Allow me to commend to your attention one such reason which I find particularly significant. The author of the Tur, one of the greatest legal codes of Judaism, maintains that our Sabbath is known as Shabbat Ha-gadol, lefi she’naaseh bo nes gadol – because a great miracle was performed on this day. It was on this day of the year the Jews were liberated from Egypt, that they summoned up the courage to take the lambs that were tied to their doorposts and slaughter them as sacrifices to Almighty G-d. This act outraged the Egyptians, for whom the lamb was a divinity. They were stunned by the effrontery of these miserable Hebrew slaves who dared, in the presence of their masters, to exert their own religious independence. And yet, ve’lo hayu rashain lo’mar la-hem davar – the Egyptians could not and did not say a word in an attempt to stop the Israelites. Because of this nes gadol, this great miracle, the Sabbath was called Shabbat Ha-gadol, or the great Sabbath.This is, indeed, a beautiful explanation. But there is something troubling about it. Granted that the silence of the Egyptians, their sudden paralysis, was a true miracle. But what makes this a “great” miracle? Why gadol? This was an era which saw the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt, the ten plagues, and the splitting of the Red Sea. Were these miracles not at least equally great? How does one measure the size or significance of miracles? I believe the answer can be most instructive. For nes gadol refers not to the silence of the Egyptians, but to the miracle of Jewish character. What we celebrate is not a great miracle, but the miracle of greatness. And I refer not only to the courageous defiance exercised by the Jews in Egypt, but to an even more significant fact. The other miracles of which we read and which we celebrate, allowed the Israelites to escape and survive, but in the process t…
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