Parshas Tzav (Shabbos HaGadol) - Chag HaPesach 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
ושבתם וראיתם ... בין עובד אלקים לאשר לא עבדו ... (הפטרה לשבת הגדול)
Chazal tell us (Chagigah 9b) that the two people in the above posuk were learning Torah. One reviewed his learning 101 times, and is called an עובד אלקים, while the other reviewed his 100 times, and is referred to as a לא עבדו - not having served Him! It is seemingly extreme. What’s pshat?
The Tur quotes Chazal who say that this Shabbos is called שבת הגדול because in Egypt Hashem commanded us to take the קרבן פסח on the tenth of Nisan, which fell on Shabbos that year. Although the sheep was the idol of Egypt, they didn’t protest or attack the Yidden. That was a tremendous nes, warranting this special Shabbos to be called שבת הגדול.
It would seem that as a prerequisite for יציאת מצרים we had to exhibit mesiras nefesh on our part. The true test of being worthy to be called an עבד ה' is when the going is rough.
I recently read a story that took place during the Holocaust. A family was hidden by a non-Jewish farmer underneath a trough on his property. The father would climb out each night to see the moon and make his calculation when יום טוב would be. They were there for 29 straight months and would survive on bread crusts and scraps of vegetables.
The week of Pesach brought a new challenge, and the father told their gentile “host” not to drop them any chometz. This was mesiras nefesh of the highest order. After Pesach, the father had a dream. His father appeared to him and said, “My son, this year was a leap year, and your calculations are off by a month.” The family then counted three weeks, and with great pride and fortitude, celebrated Pesach once again. But why did the father only come to them after Pesach? He could’ve saved them that ordeal. Perhaps, the only reason he was allowed to descend to this world and relay the message was due to his children’s original Mesiras Nefesh.
Learning that extra 101st time, as the Gemara says, symbolizes mesiras nefesh, thereby earning that Talmid Chacham the added title of עבד ה'. As Pesach begins, let’s try to show our appreciation for the gift of יציאת מצרים through becoming true עבדי ה', as we say in Hallel "עבדי ה' הללו"!
שבכל הלילות אין אנו מטבילין ... הלילה הזה שתי פעמים (הגש"פ)
The Ben Ish Chai, among others, explain the reason we dip twice by the Seder. As we know, the events leading up to גלות מצרים began with מכירת יוסף. The שבטים dipped the כתונת of Yosef into blood to fool their father. This dipping symbolized שנאת חינם discord, causing golus. This was rectified with the Korban Pesach, as the posuk says, "ולקחתם אגודת אזוב וטבלתם בדם". This dipping was done with an אגודת אזוב a bundle of hyssop leaves bound together, symbolizing achdus.
In fact, the entire Korban Pesach enforces this idea of togetherness, as we must eat it in a chabura setting. R’ Elchanan Wasserman zt”l carefully posits that the concept of blood libels from which Klal Yisroel suffered through the millennia, came about because of מכירת יוסף. The falsehood and pretenses used then caused us to be punished with a different type of sheker; that of the diabolical blood libels.
R’ Matisyahu Salomon zt”l says, it’s not for naught that the timing of these libels revolved around using the blood for matzos, because Pesach is a time that the aveiros of שנאת חינם permeate and need rectification. He takes this concept a bit further based on the minhag to eat an egg at the Seder. The poskim explain that the egg symbolizes aveilus because the first night of Pesach will always be the same day of the week as the next תשעה באב. Based on this he says, there is a clear correlation between the churban habayis and Pesach; the aveira of שנאת חינם and its ultimate rectification through unity.
Perhaps we can add that the very first mitzvah we were given was "החודש הזה", the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh, the monthly rebirth of the moon. And in order to establish it, beis din needed two עדים not one individual. This, too, strengthens the concept of achdus.
May it be the will of Hashem that as we resolve to become more united, ending all שנאת חינם, He too will resolve to bring Moshiach, which will undoubtedly bring all of us together in an unprecedented way. ונזכה לאכול שם מן הזבחים ומן הפסחים בקרוב.