Shabbat HaGadol and marking our own time

As I was thinking about our gathering today, I was acutely aware that this is the Shabbat prior to Pesach.  It is known as Shabbat Ha-Gadol.  It is also the 10^th day of the month of Nisan which actually is the date on which the very first commandment was given to the Israelites prior to their exodus from Egypt.

In Exodus chapter 12:1-2 We read:  “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the Land of Egypt:  This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.”  This statement is significant because it is being said to a nation of slaves that has not been in charge of marking their own time.  The Egyptians have controlled the Israelites’ time.  Now that will be changing.

In Exodus chapter 12:3-6 we read:  “Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the 10^th of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household.  But if the household is too small for a lamb, let him share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby; in proportion to the number of persons; you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat.  Your lamb shall be without a blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.  You shall keep watch over it until the 14^th day of this month; and the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight.”

It is important to note that the lamb was considered to be a deity by the Egyptians.  The Israelites had lived amongst the Egyptians for hundreds of years and knew that this animal served as one of their ruler’s gods.  Yet, when G-d commanded them to set aside a lamb in anticipation of sacrificing it, they courageously fulfilled this mitzvah.  According to Rabba Yaffa Epstein, this was not a matter of rebelling against the Egyptians, it was a matter of choosing an identity that was distinctively their own. 

According to the author of the “Tur”, (an halachic guide) Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher, who lived between 1269 and 1343 in Germany and Spain, the Israelites fulfilled this mitzvah in plain sight of the Egyptians, demonstrating their complete trust and faith in G-d.  That action was abominable to the Egyptians, but they were unable to stop it and watched helplessly as their god was being prepared for slaughter.  His interpretation led him to say that it was a nes gadol/ a great miracle, which gave this Shabbat its name.

Here we had a slave nation, not yet free, taking a lamb, holding it for a period of 4 days, and then slaughtering it.  One might ask what the significance of waiting was.  Although not physically free, our ancestors learned during this time frame that they could be mentally free.  They could control what happened between taking a lamb and slaughtering it four days later.  Within the narrow straits of slavery, in Mitzrayim, they were being taught that controlling one’s time is part of being spiritually and mentally free.

The sacrificed lamb was eaten by the families prior to the redemption and their exodus from Egypt.  The blood of the lamb was placed on the doorposts and lintels as it states in Exodus 12:7

They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintels of the houses in which they are to eat it.

The lintels and doorposts have two sides. One side faces inwards, and is seen by the residents of the home. The other side faces outwards and is seen by people outside the home. Our verse is ambiguous about which side of the doorframe the Israelites were to paint with blood.
Do you think God was asking them to paint blood on the inside or the outside?
Why does it matter whether they paint blood on the inside or the outside?

Who was it a sign for?  Was it for themselves, G-d, or the Egyptians? 

(sign of identity, sign of allegiance to G-d, sign to the Egyptians

Rashi:  And the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and I will see the blood and I will pass over you, and there will be no plague against you to destroy you, when I strike in the land of Mitzrayim.”   (marking themselves as oppressed and marking themselves as free)…..

The blood on the doorposts can be a metaphor of showing readiness and commitment. When we're about to take on a challenge or embark on a journey, who needs to see signs of readiness and commitment? God? Us? Our adversaries?

The 10^th day of Nisan, today is the preparation for embarking on our retelling of our redemption from Egypt.  It’s a day when we are to begin thinking about our readiness to share our history with our children, and our commitment to our heritage and the perfection of the world.  That’s why on this day, the haftorah from the prophet Malachi speaks about Elijah’s return.  His job:  to reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, ushering in an era of ultimate peace.  May our preparations for Passover remind us that even when we are not feeling physically free, or when we are feeling as if we are in narrow straits of our own,  we too can be mentally and spiritually free.