Parashat Tzav is often read on the Shabbat before Passover. Many commentators have found an allusion to the idea of Passover in the teaching of the sages on the opening of the Torah portion:
“‘Command Aaron’ – ‘tzav’ implies urging, immediately and for future generations. Rabbi Shimon said: ‘Scripture especially needs to urge in a case that involves financial loss’” (Rashi on Leviticus 6:2).
This teaches us that just as, in the time of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), it was necessary to encourage the people of Israel to contribute financially to communal offerings, so, too, before Passover, there is a need to inspire and motivate the people to observe the mitzvot of the festival properly, even though they sometimes involve considerable expense and preparation.
The Shabbat before Passover has a special name – Shabbat Hagadol (“the Great Shabbat”). The origin of this name is explained in the words of our sages, who describe a miracle that took place on that Shabbat, when the Israelites were still in Egypt:
“In that year, the 10th of the month fell on a Shabbat, and each person took a lamb for his Passover offering and tied it to the leg of his bed. The Egyptians asked them, ‘What is this for?’ and they answered, ‘To slaughter it as a Passover offering, as God has commanded us.’ Yet the Egyptians were not permitted to say anything to them. Because of that miracle, it is called Shabbat Hagadol” (Tur, Orah Hayim 430).
The Israelites in Egypt tied in their homes the lamb designated for the Passover offering – an animal considered sacred by the Egyptians. Despite the open provocation, the Egyptians did not harm them. This was regarded as a great miracle; hence the name “the Great Shabbat.”
This explanation raises a question. The miracle occurred on the 10th of Nisan, due to the requirement to inspect the offering four days before its sacrifice to ensure it had no blemish. That year, this date happened to fall on a Shabbat. If so, it would seem more appropriate to commemorate the date – the 10th of Nisan – rather than specifically the Shabbat before Passover.
As a result of this question, additional explanations were offered for the name Shabbat Hagadol. One of them expresses a profound spiritual idea, as written by the Rebbe of Husiatyn in the name of the author of Me’or Einayim of Chernobyl:
“There is another reason it is called Shabbat Hagadol: because Israel, in the exile of Egypt, were in a state of constricted awareness and could not draw close to God. He granted them expanded consciousness, and this began already on Shabbat Hagadol; therefore it is called Shabbat Hagadol. Through this, they had the courage to stand against the Egyptians. And every year, when this time arrives, it is a favorable moment, and Israel can, with God’s help, move from constriction to expansiveness” (Ohalei Yaakov, parashat “Tzav”).
In the Exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel underwent a sharp and rapid transformation from a state of slaves subjugated to their masters, whose personal awareness was constrained and unable to be expressed, to a state of intellectual freedom and a new future that opened up before them.
According to this idea, the Shabbat before Passover symbolizes an inner transition from constricted consciousness to expanded consciousness – that is, a transformation in one’s way of thinking.
Lives spent in the minor details
MANY PEOPLE live their lives immersed in the small details of daily existence: minor worries, fleeting concerns, and routine pressures. When a person is occupied only with these, it is difficult to rise above and see the broader picture of life. Such a state is called “exile of the mind” – a condition in which a person is bound by limited thinking.
Passover is the Festival of Freedom. But to truly feel free, an inner liberation of thought is required. Freedom begins with the ability to broaden one’s perspective, to think big, and to understand that life is not merely a sequence of small details but part of a wider and more meaningful picture.
When people begin to view life from a broader perspective – with goals, values, and direction – they cease to be led solely by circumstances. Instead, they begin to lead their own lives.
Our sages expressed this idea in a brief teaching:
“Who is wise? One who sees what is yet to be born” (Pirkei Avot 2:9).
A wise person does not live only in the moment but looks ahead and perceives the broader meaning of his actions.
This idea is also reflected in a well-known story about former prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky. When he was sentenced to be sent to Siberia during the Soviet era, he turned to the judge and said:
“You, Your Honor, think that you are free. But know that between the two of us, I am the truly free man. My body may be enslaved, but my spirit will remain free because I know I have not submitted to your decrees and have remained faithful to my beliefs. But you, the judge, were told in advance what to say. Your body may be free, but you are not free to decide according to your beliefs. Your spirit is enslaved – and that is far worse.”
Indeed, some say that the harshest prison is when one’s thoughts are confined. One whose mind is free and confident in its path, who knows where he is going and what his values are, can feel free even in confinement. By contrast, one whose thinking is constrained, who is dragged along by passing trends and shifting social pressures, may feel bound and limited even in vast open spaces.
Shabbat Hagadol is a time of inner preparation for the Festival of Freedom. On this Shabbat, we begin to think and act from a broader perspective – to free ourselves somewhat from the smallness of routine and rise to greater thoughts.
Shabbat, considered a day when a person experiences a taste of the spiritual world – “a semblance of the World to Come” – allows a person to rise above daily concerns. When one practices this on Shabbat Hagadol, one arrives at the Seder night able to experience the meaning of freedom more deeply. One thinks in a broader way, striving to liberate the mind, to feel inner freedom, and to radiate this elevated sense to the members of one’s household.■
The writer is the rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites.