Days on the Jewish Calendar: Nissan
Shabbat Hagadol: Part 1
Surveys the classic reasons given for calling the Shabbos before Pesach 'Shabbos Hagadol', from it being the first Shabbos of mitzvot to the Tur's account of the Egyptians' helpless fury as the Yidden tied up their korban Pesach lambs in plain sight, and the version in Tosafos where Pharaoh's own firstborn rebelled against him. Draws out the difference between the two: the Tur's version stresses that a Yid intent on doing Hashem's mitzvah cannot be stopped, while Tosafos frames the day as the true beginning of the geulah process. Shows how each reason corresponds to one of the two dimensions of Shabbos itself, zecher l'maaseh bereishis and zecher l'Yetzias Mitzrayim, explaining why the miracle is marked by a day of the week rather than a date on the calendar.
Pesach: Part 1
On the parallel between chametz and avodah zarah -- both assur b'mashehu, both forbidden even to own -- traced to what chametz represents: a dough that puffs itself up, just as gaavah puffs up a person into believing in a power other than Hashem, and why that danger is sharpest specifically at the moment Klal Yisrael was born as a nation.
Shabbat Hagadol: Part 2
Revisits the Tosafos account of Shabbos Hagadol, where Pharaoh's firstborn rebelled and fought their own people to free the Bnei Yisrael, and asks why this counts as a nes gadol when every step of it followed naturally from the plagues already inflicted, and brought Bnei Yisrael no immediate benefit. Answers through the concept of a nes hamelubash bateva, a miracle dressed in nature, the same idea that makes the Purim story greater than Chanukah's open miracles, arguing that when nature itself, without any suspension of its laws, works for the sake of kedushah, that reveals Hashem's control to be even more total than an open miracle would. Explains on this basis why the event is marked by a day of the week rather than a date on the calendar, since the days of the week represent creation and nature itself, while months represent what transcends nature.
Pesach: Part 2
Working through why the Chachamim's gezeirah against carrying on Shabbos silences the shofar on Rosh Hashanah and the lulav on Sukkos, yet leaves the Pesach seder fully intact, arriving at an answer rooted in why milah and the mitzvos of the leil haseder reach a madregah that Shabbos itself cannot substitute.
Acharon shel Pesach
Working out the puzzle of communities who avoid mixing matzah with water all Pesach long, yet go out of their way to eat gebrokts on Acharon Shel Pesach. The explanation runs through the contrast between chametz's total prohibition on Pesach and its requirement on Shavuot, chametz as a symbol of gaavah that only a purified Yid can safely channel toward kedusha, and a halachic proof that real chametz can in fact be eaten before Acharon Shel Pesach's day is fully over.
The Ten Makkot – Plagues
Beyond their role in punishing Egypt and fulfilling the promise made at the Bris Bein HaBesarim, the ten makkot are read as a systematic dismantling of Mitzrayim's avodah zarah, the Nile, whose annual flooding without rainfall made it Egypt's worshipped source of livelihood. A look at whether the first three plagues also struck the Jews, debated between the Ibn Ezra, the Radbaz, and the Rambam, resolves into the teaching that Hashem needed the plagues unlimited to leave Pharaoh no excuse, tying blood's warmth against water's coldness to the ongoing threat of Amalek-like indifference to Hashem. Makkat bechorot stands apart, its exact midnight timing and requirement of blood on the doorposts revealing a level of Divine love lemaalah mehishtalshelus that protects every Jew regardless of his deeds, with bris milah and korban pesach serving as the vessels that made the Jews fit to receive it.
Laws and Customs for Passover
Opens by explaining what sets chametz apart from every other kashrus prohibition: the punishment of karet, the extra issur of bal yeraeh u'val yimatzei against merely owning it, and the fact that even a drop of it is never batel b'shishim. Works through the two methods of kashering, hagalah with boiling water and libun with fire, and the halachic levels of kli rishon, kli sheni, and the pouring in between, applying them to real kitchen items from pots and ovens to sinks, counters, and glass-top stoves. Includes the well-known story of the Alter Rebbe kashering his own Pesach cup against the Rema's ruling, and closes with the practical minhagim around gebrochts, keeping matzah away from water, and long-standing customs like avoiding garlic or dairy on Pesach.
Pesach Halachos
Opens with the halachic basis for treating chametz more strictly than any other prohibition, from the punishment of karet to the fact that it is never batel b'shishim, then works through the practical mechanics of bedikas chametz, bitul, and mechiras chametz, including the extra complications that arise this year because Erev Pesach falls on Shabbos. Surveys long-standing food customs such as avoiding garlic, dairy, and sugar, and not eating in other people's homes on Pesach, along with the stories behind them. Details how to kasher pots, ovens (including self-cleaning and glass-top stoves), sinks, and countertops using hagalah and libun, with the Alter Rebbe's famous kashered-glass story at the Mezritcher Maggid's seder, and closes with a full walkthrough of the Chabad seder itself, from setting the kearah through Hallel.
Passover
Walks through why chametz is treated more severely than any other forbidden food: it can't be owned at all, and unlike other mixtures it is never nullified even by a drop, which explains customs like a dedicated peeling knife, a separate egg pot, and the added stringency of not eating gebrokts. Covers the practical halachot of kashering for Pesach material by material, which vessels can never be kashered (earthenware, glass, plastic), the difference between hagalah and libun, and how to kasher a sink, countertop, stove, and oven, before turning to non-food chametz like medication, cosmetics, and jewelry. Closes with the kabbalistic reading of chametz as representing ga'avah, and connects matzah, called 'bread of faith' in the Zohar, to internalizing emunah rather than merely holding onto it intellectually.
Shabbat Hagadol
An analysis of the two reasons given by the Tur and Tosafos for the special status of Shabbos Hagadol, the Shabbos before Pesach, and why its commemoration was fixed to a day of the week rather than a date on the Jewish calendar, unlike every other Yom Tov. Drawing a parallel to the hidden miracle of Purim, the shiur explores how the bechorei Mitzrayim's rebellion against their own nation reveals that nature itself, not only open miracles, is entirely under Hashem's control.