Shabbos HaGadol
Why the Bechorei Mitzrayim's revolt against Pharaoh is a bigger miracle than the Exodus itself, an it'hapcha chashucha l'nehora where kelipah turns itself toward kedushah.
Part of Shabbat HaGadol
The nes of Shabbos Hagadol, the Bechorei Mitzrayim waging war on their own nation to force Pharaoh's hand, looks at first like a natural act of self-preservation with no real gain for the Yidden. The deeper point is that it's the one moment in Yetzias Mitzrayim where kelipah didn't just get eliminated but actively turned itself toward kedushah, an it'hapcha chashucha l'nehora that even surpasses the transformation seen at Purim. That pattern is the root of what Mashiach's coming will complete on a permanent scale, and a template for every person's own daily 讬爪讬讗转 诪爪专讬诐 against the yetzer hara.
Audio Transcript
A vort from the Rebbe for this Shabbos, Shabbos Hagadol. The Shabbos before Pesach is called Shabbos Hagadol, the big Shabbos. Why is it called the big Shabbos? Because 谞住 讙讚讜诇, there was a great miracle, a big miracle that happened on that Shabbos. What's the miracle? So the Alter Rebbe in Shulchan Aruch writes like this: That year, when the Yidden had to bring the 拽专讘谉 驻住讞 right before they went out of Mitzrayim, Hashem said they should take it, take the animal, prepare it on the tenth day of Nisan. And that year, the tenth day of Nisan happened to be Shabbos. So the Yidden took their animals, prepared it, so all the 讘讻讜专讬诐 诪爪专讬诐, the firstborn of the of the Egyptians, came to the Yidden, asked them why they're doing this. And they said this is a 拽专讘谉 驻住讞 to Hashem, because Hashem is going to kill the firstborn Mitzrayim. So the firstborn, the Bechorim, went to their parents, went to Paroh to ask them to let the Yidden go out. And they didn't want. So the Bechorim of Mitzrayim made a war, waged war against the other Mitzrayim, and killed many of the Mitzrayim. As the Pasuk says, 诇诪讻讛 诪爪专讬诐 讘讘讻讜专讬讛诐, that the Aibershter killed the 诪爪专讬诐 讘讘讻讜专讬讛诐, through their own Bechorim. And the Aibershter established that this nes that happened then should be always remembered every year on the Shabbos before Pesach, and that's called Shabbos Hagadol.
So the Rebbe asks: What's a big nes here? The fact that the Bechorim got scared and they waged war against their fathers, against the other Mitzrayim, is not a nes, it's natural. They already saw from experience, from what happened before that, whatever Moshe Rabbeinu said that's going to happen actually happened. So they understood that it's going to happen, they're going to die. So obviously they went to fight for their lives. So what's the big nes that they went to fight against the Mitzrayim? And also the Rebbe asks: What gain do we have from that? The Yidden gained nothing from it. The fact that they stopped working hard work, bichlal stopped the shibud, that started already from before, from Rosh Hashanah. So this didn't change that. This also didn't make it possible that Yidden should be able to leave Mitzrayim, they still couldn't leave. So what really happened here? What's the big deal that this happened? Why do we make such a big fuss about it?
And the Rebbe explains it like this: We know that Yetzias Mitzrayim, going out of the 讙诇讜转 诪爪专讬诐, is the root of all the geulot, including the geulah from this galut when Mashiach will come. Now what's going to happen when Mashiach will come, the real ultimate geulah, is 讗转 专讜讞 讛讟讜诪讗讛 讗注讘讬专 诪谉 讛讗专抓. As the pasuk says, Hashem says, \"I will take away the spirit of tumah, of impurity.\" There will be no more kelipot. The ra, the evil will be taken away from the world. But in truth, that's not the only thing that's going to happen, that the Aibershter will wipe out the evil. It'll be, as the pasuk says, 诇讬诇讛 讻讬讜诐 讬讗讬专, the night is going to shine like day, which means it'll be 讗转讛驻讻讗 讞砖讜讻讗 诇谞讛讜专讗, there'll be a transformation from darkness to light. Not only will the kelipah be taken away, but the kelipah itself will be transformed to kedushah. That's going to happen by the 讙讗讜诇讛 讛注转讬讚讛, which is taken from Yetzias Mitzrayim. So obviously by Yetzias Mitzrayim, we also have to find something like this, where there is 讗转讛驻讻讗 讞砖讜讻讗 诇谞讛讜专讗, not only that the kelipah was taken away, but it was transformed to good. Now 讘谞讜讙注 讬爪讬讗转 诪爪专讬诐 generally, we do not see the inyan that the kelipah of Mitzrayim was transformed to good. We find that the Aibershter wiped out the Mitzrayim, killed the Mitzrayim, and they couldn't do anything to the Yidden, the Aibershter punished the Mitzrayim, it's all getting rid of kelipah. Where do we see in Yetzias Mitzrayim really the Is'hapcha chashucha l'nehora, that the klipah of Mitzrayim itself was transformed into kedushah? And that we find by this nes of 诇诪讻讛 诪爪专讬诐 讘讘讻讜专讬讛诐 that took place on Shabbos Hagadol. Because we're talking here about the Mitzrayim, and the bechorim of Mitzrayim. The bechorim of Mitzrayim represent not only the firstborn, which is chashuv, but it represents the epitome of the highest level of Mitzrayim. And here they went to fight. When it comes to fight, you have to have extra kochos. So this shows here the extra kochos of Mitzrayim, of the bechorim of Mitzrayim. And not only did they not fight with the Yidden, because the Aibershter would not let that happen, they themselves, the Mitzrayim themselves, the bechorim of the Mitzrayim themselves, went to fight against 拽诇讬驻转 诪爪专讬诐. So this is an expression of this idea of Is'hapcha chashucha l'nehora, that the klipah itself is transformed into kedushah. And that's why this is called a 谞住 讙讚讜诇, a big nes, and that's why the Shabbos on the day that this happened is called the Shabbos Hagadol. Which to a certain degree, it's even greater than what happened on Pesach. Pesach the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, so overcame the klipah, but this represents the way klipah itself is transformed into kedushah, and that's why this is called Shabbos Hagadol. This is so something that we don't find by other nissim.
Even by the nes of Purim, where it says in Chassidus the nes of Purim represents Is'hapcha, changing klipah to good, because the same party that said to destroy the Yidden turned around and the same party changed and said that Yidden could defend themselves, but it's still not the same. And the Rebbe says why? Because there, first of all, it came because Esther asked party to do this. Number two, Achashverosh said this to Mordechai and Esther that you now do what you want, you could write to the Yidden that they should defend themselves. But here we find even more. It was done through the bechorim of Mitzrayim themselves. It wasn't that the Yidden asked the Mitzrayim to fight or Moshe asked the Mitzrayim to fight, like by Purim where Esther asked Achashverosh to do this. And also, they themselves did it, not like by Purim where we find that party gave permission to Mordechai and Esther to do this. So this is a nes that we don't find by any other nissim. That's why within nissim itself it's called nes gadol, and this is what we're going to find when Mashiach will come, but the root of this and the beginning of this happened in Mitzrayim by this nes gadol. And the lesson we take from here that a Yid has this ability, just like we say we have to go out of Mitzrayim every day, we have the ability to have 讬爪讬讗转 诪爪专讬诐 讘专讜讞谞讬讜转 against your yetzer hara, we even have the ability of it'hapcha chashucha l'nehora to transform the darkness, the evil into good, that anything bad we can transform and utilize it for the good, and this will be the 讛讻谞讛 to the coming of Mashiach, when we're going to have this it'hapcha chashucha l'nehora.