In addition to Rabbi Wein's regular devar Torah on the parashah (here), we reproduce a piece by Rabbi Wein on the significance of Shabbat HaGadol. Enjoy!
The Shabbat that precedes the holiday of Passover has been named by Jewish
tradition as Shabbat Hagadol—the Great Shabbat. Over the ages there have been many
explanations as to why this Shabbat is set apart from all others. Rabbinic
literature records that it marks the anniversary of the Jewish people’s
preparation of the sacrificial lamb for the Passover offering while they were
yet in Egypt, awaiting their imminent deliverance. Other reasons for the name
have been advanced, all of which have been treasured in Jewish life over the
centuries.
Allow me to introduce another idea that I feel has relevance
and importance. Passover represents freedom from bondage, a release from
slavery and the creation of myriad possibilities for self-growth and
accomplishment. However, human history testifies to the fact that freedom
carries with it many responsibilities and dangers. Indeed, there has never been
consensus as to what the true definition of freedom is or should be.
Humans vacillate between uninhibited hedonism and unbridled
licentiousness on one hand and tyranny of thought, action and social conformity
on the other. Everyone claims to speak in the name of freedom, but we are aware
that all ideas of freedom are subject to interpretation and circumstance. For
many people freedom of speech only applies to speech that gains their approval.
And this is true for all freedoms to which we pay lip service. We find it
hard to stomach ideas that do not match our own.
It is obvious that misapplication of freedom has led to
untold tragedies for millions of people throughout the history of
mankind. The responsibilities of freedom are great. They are also
demanding, requiring perspective and inner discipline. These items are the
gifts of the Shabbat to the Jewish people, for they shape the ideas and goals
of freedom for all who partake of the holy nature of that day. Without
education and training, freedom itself may become an unbearable burden and a
liability instead of an asset.
Perhaps this Shabbat becomes the Great Shabbat because it
teaches us how to be free and protects us from the lethal dangers of misapplied
freedom. Freedom is not measured only by outside forces, governments and
societal pressures. It is also measured by the internal emotions and mindset of
the individual. One can live in the freest of societies and yet feel that one
is a captive and a slave.
A scene in a book by one of the Russian Jewish dissidents describes
how he shared a cell with a clergyman of another faith, a monotheistic believer
and a person who was moral to his very core. In one of the many discussions
that this Jewish dissident had with his cellmate, they both concluded that only
in this dungeon did they both feel completely free. And though they both desired
to be released from the prison, they agreed that they probably would never
again feel themselves to be as free as they did at that moment in the darkness
of the jail.
All the rules and ideas that are expressed in the Torah are
meant to imbue in us this concept of freedom. Freedom is the connection of
ourselves to our inner soul and to the Creator that has fashioned us all.
