"Shabbat Hagadol" A very special Shabbat!
"Five days before the Redemption, the people of Israel celebrated Shabbat Hagadol"
Israel He celebrated his first Shabbat Hagadol in Egypt, on the tenth day of the Month of Nisan, five days before his redemption.
On that Shabbat, the children of Israel received their first Mitzvah (Command)
This Mitzvah of preparing a lamb for the Passover sacrifice, four days before making the offering, was specified "only on that first Pesach in Egypt".
Great miracles had our ancestors On this first Shabbat HaGadol, on that day, each one of them took a lamb for his offering and tied it to the legs of his bed. When the Egyptians saw this they wondered: What is this lamb for? And the children of Israel answered: "It is for the Passover sacrifice, just as the Eternal ordered us"
The teeth of the Egyptians, for whom the lamb was a god, gnashing with rage, but they could not do no sound of protest.
The firstborn Egyptians saw the Jewish people preparing to offer the Passover sacrifice and heard that on the night of Pesach the Creator would kill them. When they demanded of their parents to send the Jewish people to save themselves from the plague and they refused, a war began between the first-born Egyptians, their parents and the rulers. About this war King David said in the Psalms: "that he struck Egypt with his firstborn, because his goodness is eternal."
We must understand the connection between that miracle and Shabbat, to the point that the miracle causes greatness on Shabbat and transforms it from a "common" Shabbat to "Shabbat HaGadol." Furthermore, considering that Shabbat is holy in itself, it is a sign between the Creator and the Jewish people, it belongs exclusively to the Jewish people, etc. How can a civil war between Egyptians add any greatness to Shabbat?
The answer is found in the previously mentioned verse from Psalms "that he struck Egypt with his firstborn", where the Creator is praised "because his goodness is eternal." In the same chapter of the Psalms there appear other things that, at their most superficial level, are actions of the Creator, blessed be He, such as "who does great wonders", "who does the great lights ... the sun ... the moon" . In each of these actions we can, in a certain way, find the goodness of the Creator, and that is why the Psalmist repeats, after each of these quotes, “because his goodness is eternal”. However, what does Hashem's "goodness" have to do with a civil war between Egyptians?
The idea is expressed here that not only the creation of the world and the miracles that transcend the barriers of nature are the action of G-d, but also two sides that fight a civil war among themselves in Egypt, the most impure place on earth, it is a Divine act.Since "there is nothing else but Him" , even these kinds of occurrences are planned and directed by Hashem!
The war unleashed between the first-born Egyptians and their parents was not a simple fight between two sides, but a "great miracle" of the Creator: everyone clearly saw that Hashem runs the world, and when the time comes when the people Jew has to leave Egypt to freedom, even the Egyptians themselves are affected in such a way that they fight among themselves in pursuit of Jewish redemption!
(It should be noted that the Precept to eat the lamb It is not valid in our days, this was a Mitzvah ordained only for those times, now we comply with the Precepts to eat Matza and relate the departure from Egypt on the night of Pesach)
We wish to all a Shabbat Shalom! And may our preparation for this Pesach have been very successful, may we have a Passover Kasher ve Sameach!