Shabbos HaGadol
There are two forms of holiness when Shabbos falls just before Pesach and its called Shabbos HaGadol.
On the 10th of Nissan was the day that the Jewish people took a lamb for the Pesach offering. When they took the lamb that Shabbos, the first- born gentiles of Mitzrayim gathered by the Jewish people, and asked an explanation what they were doing. They told the gentiles that the lamb is a offering to HaShem, as He will kill all first- born Egyptians.
Upon hearing this the first- borns went to their fathers and to the Pharaoh and request to let the Jewish people go. Pharaoh answered them that he will not let the Jewish people go. The first- borns declared war with Pharaoh and killed many Egyptians.
"And Mitzrayim was stricken by their first- born "
This miracle is to remembered for all generstions on Shabbos HaGadol, and it was the beginning of the redemption and all miracles.
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The Seder is a traditional Pesach meal, drinking 4 cups of wine, eating bitter herps, singing and reading the Haggadah.
The Haggadah walks through the 15-step Seder experience, providing instructions, as well as texts to read.
Ma Nishtana, are four questions asked by the youngest child present at the Pesach meal. The four questions are recorded in the Mishnah and its a mitzvah to tell our children about the Exodus on erev Pesach.
Pesach and the Home.
It is no coincidance that this, the oldest of Jewish rituals take place, as it did in Egypt, in the home. Judaism Attaches immense significance to the family. The book of Bereshis is entirely devoted to familes: Adam and Chava, Noach and his family, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivka, Yaakov, Rachel and Leah and their children.
The family is the birthplace of a free society. It is where we learn the reciprocity on which moral life depends. It is where, sharing vulnerabilities, we discover strength. Through the bonds it creates, we learn Chesed, the duty which flows from love. Above all is where we learn who we are, where we came from, and what our story is.
From the Haggadah,
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Z"L