Tzav/Shabbos HaGadol: Incredibly Inconvenient

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual drasha. This week we have the incredible privilege of parshas Tetzaveh and continue along the beautiful journey of carbonos and sacrificial law. But this Shabbos is also unique because it is Shabbos Hagadol. Shabbos Hagadol, the Shabbos before Pesach, where does it get that name? So amazingly enough, in the Seder Olam and in the Tur, both quote the same midrash. The midrash writes that on the year that we left Egypt, Pesach Mitzrayim, so we left Egypt on the 15th of Nissan, and the 15th was in fact a Thursday. Now, one of the interesting differences between Pesach Mitzrayim and the first Pesach and Pesach Doros, future future observances of the end of a Pesach, was that in that first Pesach, the din was mikho ba'asor. You had to get your lamb, your Pascal lamb, on the 10th of Nissan. And therefore, amazingly enough, so if we do the math, something very interesting happens, which is, if we left Egypt on the 15th of Nissan, which was a Thursday, that means in the year that we left Egypt, the 10th of Nissan, the day in which we had to take the Pascal lamb, was in fact a Shabbos. Shabbos and the midrash called Tur and the same Well, they both quote the same midrash. The midrash says, "Imagine this scene. The Jews took the sheep on the 10th of Nissan on Shabbos. The Egyptians said to them, 'Ma zeh lachem? What are you guys doing?'" And the Jews responded, "Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded us to take the sheep, to slaughter it as an offering." And the midrash relates that the Egyptians were beyond angry. They They were outraged at this because this was a theological affront. They worshiped One of their deities was the sheep. But yet, the midrash writes that with all of this, "Velo hayu rashaim lomar lahem davar." The Egyptians were powerless to say anything to the Jews. They They They couldn't say anything. They were powerless. And ultimately, again, the midrash says, "Va'ashem osah nis." Because of this incredible miracle, "Karahu oso Shabbos Hagadol." This Shabbos is called Shabbos Hagadol. So incredible. So on the most basic level, this was the Shabbos when we asserted theological superiority over the Egyptians. Right? We took the god One of the gods of Egypt and we just straight out said, "We're going to be slaughtering this as service to our God." So therefore, the tormented slave nation, the Jewish people, asserted theological superiority over their Egyptian tormentors. So that was basically the name of the Shabbat. Shabbat Gadol, right? Shabbat Gadol doesn't mean the great Shabbat, but rather it means again the Shabbat of the great one. Who is the great one? It's us. It's Klal Yisrael. The Shabbat in which the nation that was cut on that was small was made great. How? By asserting theological superiority. We showed the Egyptians that we are the nations of God and we are the nation of God and and when Hakadosh Baruch Hu asks us to do something, we do it without fear, we do it without reservation, and we do it without we do it. Hakadosh Baruch Hu asked us to do and so we do. That's the power of Klal Yisrael and unadulterated and complete commitment to the Ribono shel Olam. The Shabbat in which the cut, like we say at a bris, what do we say to the baby? Zeh katan gadol yihyeh. This baby who's now so little now, b'ezrat Hashem one day will become great. It's not a reference to his physical size. It's a reference to his spiritual quality. So this is Shabbat Hagadol. The Shabbat in which the nation who was small became great by asserting theological superiority over our Egyptian tormentors. Overwhelmingly incredible and beautiful. Reb Melech Biderman in his in his Haggadah shel Pesach Hayom advances another beautiful idea. He quotes in the name of tzaddikei kamoi, earlier tzaddikim, and he says something so beautiful. He he posits that there's another reason why this Shabbat is called Shabbat Hagadol. And he says something amazing. He says, "K'mi derech olam she'ein sodin b'Shabbat zu asu d'Shabbat kodesh makom sh'ragil l'eichol sham midei Shabbat b'Shabbat." He says it's very common that on this Shabbat people don't often eat in their same regular place. I guess what he's referring to is, you know, you the dining room is already cleaned for Pesach. It's already Pesach dik, right? It's already chametz free. So sometimes people will not have their Pesach seudah their Shabbat seudah, excuse me. Their Shabbat in that dining room. They'll they'll eat somewhere else. You relocate to another location. Cuz after all again, the space is already cleaned for Pesach. We already removed all the chametz out. And therefore again, and therefore we're in a new location. And the truth is, it's not just about where you eat on Shabbos. It's it's I would venture to say, I guess unless a person is going away for Pesach, but generally if you're at home for Pesach, there's generally going to be something different on this Pesach. So whether again, whether it's that you're a little eating eating in the dining room eating in the kitchen, or perhaps again, you normally use China or glass or flatware. This year, you know, al ila zeh, you know, kulo plastic, you know, everything is just going to be plastic and disposable. Whatever, but I would venture to say that in most homes in most homes for people who are making Pesach, there's something generally different, more dramatic, less dramatic, about this Shabbos. And the Bear Chaim says something so beautiful. He says, "Nimsa, she be Shabbos zoo, me vachrin. The yotzim min a makom makavo." The Bear Chaim says that this Shabbos is a Shabbos of vachranus. Now what does it mean to be mevatir? To be mevatir means to yield. To yield. Tove l'hiyos vachran. It's good to be mevatir. A mevatir is a person who is willing to yield. Who is willing to say that although something magi'ali, although something, you know, I may be entitled to something, I'm willing to give up that right. I'm willing to give up that entitlement because yielding ultimately again creates some greater good. Yielding creates some greater good. So the Bear Chaim writes something amazing. He says, "Normally, I like my Shabbos to look a certain way. I like to eat in the dining room. I like to use China. I like to use glassware. I like to use flatware. All these different things. Or or I like to have 15 challahs. You know, what whatever it might be. And I like to have every single chametz dish possibly imaginable. okay? This Shabbos I'm going to yield. Not not because I have to, not because I have to, but because I recognize that there's a greater good that is being served by yielding. And the reason why Rebbe Nachman writes about the midah of vatranus, about yielding, is because when a person proves to him or herself that you can be a vater, that you can yield, what that really instills within me is the knowledge that I can change. See, the midah of vatranus says that even though I am entitled to things to be a certain way, I'm entitled for things to occur a certain way, I'm willing to yield that right, which shows myself ultimately I can change. I can pivot. I can adapt. So, the moment that I have the ability to be a vater now, and this is very important because often we think about the midah of vatranus of yielding in terms of a powerful interpersonal tool, which it absolutely unequivocally is. Because you cannot forge relationships unless, of course, you're willing to be a vater. You know, people who always stand their ground, people who always need things to be the way they want it to be, people like that generally have very few meaningful relationships, if any at all. And even the ones that they have are so tense, are so tense. Because when a person always stands their ground, it's stifling, it's suffocating. There's the beautiful Kotzker. The Kotzker says that one of the miracles in the Beis Hamikdash was when we would be standing in the Beis Hamikdash, Rabbeinu Yonah says that this is talking about the regalim, right by the Yom Tov, and so on and so forth, we would be standing ultimately shoulder to shoulder, but then when we would prostrate ourselves, there was plenty of room for everyone. And the Kotzker says so beautifully, it's a metaphor for life. Omdim, if a person always stands his or her ground, sufufim, it's suffocating for everyone else. But mishtachavim, if you yield, if you yield, if you're a vater, then revachim, there's plenty of room for everyone. So, we often think about being a mavater, being a yielding individual is such an important middah when it comes to relationships. You can't create normal relationships if you always stand your ground. If you always have to be the one who's right, if everything always has to be your way. People may fake being nice to you. They may externally, right, be friends with you, right, be in love with you, be happy with you, but they're not. Because to be in a relationship with someone who's always standing there, who's always right, is absolutely unequivocally stifling and suffocating. But, the Bear Chaim is teaching us an additional idea. Not only is being a mavater, not only is being a yielding individual helpful for all of your life relationships, but it's helpful for your relationship with yourself. Because, dear friends, more often than not, we think that we cannot change, right? We talk a lot about change. I talk a lot about change, right? And we discuss change a lot, probably in some way every single week. But, I think for many of us, deep down, there's a piece of us that says, you know, that's such a beautiful idea. Change is so great, but it's not really for me. It's not really for me. I've cemented an identity over decades. I've cultivated a personality over prolonged amount of years. I know change is technically possible, and it's a beautiful idea for everyone, but me, this is this is what it is. This is who it is, right? I've cemented this identity. What possibility do I have to change, especially in certain sensitive areas of my life where I've cemented and I've and I've concretized and I've ingrained behavior over and over and over. Can I really change? And then it says the Bear Chaim is saying something amazing. I mean, it comes Shabbos Hagadol. And it's not just Shabbos Hagadol, it's even all the days leading up to Pesach. If there's one thing, if there's one thing that this time of year cements within us, it's the ability to change, right? Whether it's that you come over me like, "What What is there to eat? What exactly is there to eat?" And you'd be surprised like how creative you can become with a hodgepodge of chametz items, right? Between like croutons, crackers, half a pretzel, and like tuna. You know, it's you can really it's amazing what what what one could create. I could change. I could adapt. Or maybe it's again after a long day I like to come and have dinner. I like to sit down. And these days it might be it might be standing outside on the patio or sitting by the kitchen counter, you know, not much like like like like like I'm like I'm hiding hiding some contraband or something. We I say it in a joking way. But in these days we have to adapt, right? What counter can I use? What can't counter can't I use? I I But I know maybe some of the Pesach program chevra has no idea what I'm talking about. Okay, but you'll talk to someone who perhaps makes Pesach you'll find out. You know, I want to make I want to make a cup of coffee. I want to make a cup of coffee. You know, how is it so the cup of coffee which is generally is not a complicated experience. But in the days leading up to Pesach again it's a lot of machshava. Where's the coffee maker? Milk, milk, sugar, creamer, this that. And again every everything is about adapting. Everything is about changing. Everything is about yielding. And maybe I want to do things a certain way. But baruch Hashem, my wife is hard at work literally moving universes to make to make a beautiful and a wonderful Pesach for a whole army of people. So again, but but I but I wanted it this way. No, we're going to yield. We're going to yield. There's so much koach in these days leading up to Pesach because behaviorally behaviorally I have to change everything. I have to change everything. There is no rhythm of home life that is the same now in the days leading up to Pesach. Everything is disrupted. Maybe maybe you're a last minute person so you haven't started yet. Okay, but I would venture to say by Sunday by Sunday everything is disrupted. And when everything is disrupted there's an incredible opportunity to realize, you know what? If I could change all of these behaviors and again granted these are not major things, but if I could change all of these behaviors, that means the power of change is accessible and possible. And if the power of change is accessible to me, that means I don't just have to change where I eat my Shabbos sukkah, I could change whatever I want in my life. You're right, there are certain circumstances that are external to me that maybe I can't change, but the stuff that's internal, the stuff that makes me me, the qualities, the middos, the life, I can change that. If I can change how I make a cup of coffee, and if I could change where I eat my Shabbos sukkahs, and if I could change all the rhythms of my daily life because I am preparing for Pesach, then I could change anything. And I could change anything. If I could yield to the other people in my life because they're working really hard to make Pesach, then that means I could be a vater, I could yield to other people in general, and I don't always have to draw the line, and I don't always always have to be right, and not everything has to go my way. And if I could change the rhythms of my daily life in preparation for Pesach, then there's no telling what else I could change in my life as well. Whoever thought that the disruptive nature of pre-Pesach could be so ridiculously inspiring? But it can. Because of all of this change that's happening all around us, with all the change that I have to do, it reminds me that I am capable of change. I can be an agent, a personalistic agent of change. I can be me vater. I can yield. I can adapt. I can pivot. I can change. And it ever says, the Berachain, that's why this is called Shabbos Hagadol. Because on this Shabbos, manishtana hashabbos hazah mikol hashabbosos, this Shabbos is different. If you're making Shabbos at home, you're making Pesach at home, the Shabbos is well, by definition, be different in some way. And it reminds me of this Shabbos could be different. And if I could adapt to this Shabbos, then I could change. Then I could adapt in other ways. Then I could be mavater. I could yield. And the moment you recognize, the moment I recognize that I can be mavater, I can yield, I can adapt, I can change, that's the moment where I have a real shot of actualizing my personal greatness. And as such, as such says the Ben Ish Chai. This is called Shabbos Hagadol. This is the Shabbos where I really begin to recognize, that I really begin to appreciate, that I really begin to discover all the power I truly possess. We should be zocheh b'meheira b'yameinu on this Shabbos to tap into that godliness. We should never look at these days as days of inconvenience or days of difficulty. We should never look at the pre-Pesach rush as, "Ugh, such a krecht. It's just so so difficult." It's beautiful. Because as we upend the activities of daily living and the routine of daily living, we are reminded that change is possible. Change is accessible. And that I could go ahead and make myself into the godol, into the great person I am truly capable of becoming. And you couple all of this with the fact that the dates align just like Yitziat Mitzrayim. This Shabbos is the 10th of Nissan. First day of Pesach is Thursday, the 15th of Nissan, just like it was thousands of years ago. The I don't know what the calendrical odds of that are, but it's pretty amazing. And couple that with the fact that once again we're going into a Pesach where we need a geulah. Am Yisrael b'tzara, Eretz Yisrael b'tzara. It means something is in the air. Something is in the air. Geulah's in the air. Opportunity's in the air. Possibility's in the air. And if we just tap into that koach that is surging in the universe of godliness, of greatness, of change, then there is no telling what we can accomplish. Wishing everyone a good ner of Shabbos Hagadol. A beautiful Shabbos Hagadol. And b'meheira b'yameinu, a Nissan filled with nissanis and niflaos.