“Come on everyone, today's the big day!”

“But Daddy, are you sure? Are you really sure we'll be safe and nothing will happen to us? I'm still so scared that once the Egyptians see us tying their sheep – which they worship and revere – to our bedposts, they'll react so violently and they'll beat us like they’ve done for so many years!! They will instantly forget about all the plagues and come after us!” “Yes, my dear son, I understand and share your worries and fears, but we must be brave and strong! Moshe promised us in the name of G-d that no one will be able to harm us. Our time of redemption, for which we've been yearning so desperately all these years, has finally arrived!”

We can only imagine conversations like this taking place over and over again back in Egypt when Hashem (G-d) instructed the Jews to take a sheep, the Egyptian deity, tie it to their bedpost for four days, and then slaughter it as a Passover offering! Indeed, we can easily understand the Jews’ fears. And yet, despite their tremendous fear, they listened to Hashem and Moshe, and took their sheep, eventually bringing it as a Passover offering. A great miracle happened – not a single Jew was harmed in any way! Thus, this Shabbos is called Shabbos Hagadol – the Great Shabbos – to commemorate the tremendous miracle that occurred.

Although this is a common explanation for the term Shabbos Hagadol, there is another inspiring message that we can learn from this entire episode, which also gives us an additional insight into the name of this special Shabbos. Let us transport ourselves back to ancient Egypt, and imagine that we are slaves to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. We suffer physically, emotionally and psychologically at their hands. And now, we are being asked to do something suicidal! We are to do something almost totally incomprehensible – provoke the Egyptians with a sacrifice of their deity! Can we even begin to understand how truly scared the Jews must have been? How much strength and courage they needed to have? And yet they did it! With incredible strength of belief  and courage they followed and carried out the mitzvah of bringing the Passover offering. Through this process, they elevated themselves spiritually and made themselves great! After all, people are born with potential, but it Is up to each one of us to overcome our fears and challenges…and make ourselves great!

So this Shabbos, Shabbos Hagadol, when we recall the great miracle that took place back in Egypt, let us also remember the great spiritual level the Jews achieved by displaying tremendous steadfastness and courage in following Hashem’s will. In recalling this important episode in our history, let us also inspire ourselves to follow their lead by strengthening our resolve to address our own challenges, and in doing so, strive to become great.

Wishing you a great Great Shabbos!