Shabbos Hagadol- Shabbos of Maturity
What’s so Great about this Shabbos?
There are many reasons given for the designation of the Shabbat that precedes Passover, as Shabbat Hagadol-the Great Sabbath. The primary reason given is that on the Sabbath immediately preceding the Exodus from Egypt the Egyptians were informed of the impending “tenth plague” in which all the Egyptian first born would die. Upon hearing this, many of the first-born demanded of the Egyptian leadership to let the Jews go. When they refused, a civil war ensued. Hence from that time onward, we mark this Shabbat as Shabbat Hagadol-the Great Shabbat because of the great miracle that occurred then One is entitled to ask, why is this miracle considered so great? It did not involve any supernatural occurrences, nor did it seem to have helped the Jews in any meaningful way.
More specifically, we must understand why the term gadol-great is used in connection with this Shabbat? It could have been called, “Shabbat haness-the Sabbath of the miracle,” or some other similar expression.
Cultivating Maturity
The Hebrew term gadol implies maturity and independence, as the Talmud states: “An adult child who is supported by his father is considered a minor, whereas, a minor who is independent is regarded as a gadol.” Hence the word ‘gadol’ is not intended to convey the idea that it was a great and spectacular miracle, but rather that it was a miracle that demonstrated a level of maturity.
The fact that the Egyptian elite fought against their own leaders on behalf of the Jewish people, was a sign of their independence and maturity.
This Sabbath is thus intended, among other things, to cultivate spiritual maturity in each and every one of us. This maturity can be applied to every aspect of life in general and to every aspect of Judaism in particular.
A Mature View of Judaism
For example: One can look at a Mitzvah simply as a good deed, or a beautiful Jewish tradition. Another more “mature” and sophisticated view of a mitzvah is to see it as our way of “connecting” with G-d. Moreover, a Mitzvah affects more than just the people involved in its performance; it has cosmic effects, for it is the medium that shapes and molds the entire universe to conform to the very purpose G-d had for its creation Similarly, one can view the Torah simply as a beautiful piece of literature that teaches us right from wrong. This is true and valid. Yet a more advanced and mature approach to the Torah is to view it as Divine wisdom that transcends all aspects of creation.
Two Views on Freedom
With respect to freedom, which we celebrate on Passover, there can also be two perspectives. The “immature” or minimal view of freedom is to see it as an end. The more mature view is to view it as an opportunity to rise to a higher spiritual level.
Alternatively, in its simple formulation, freedom is the removal of external constraints; while a more mature and advanced understanding of freedom sees it as removal of the internal forces that inhibit us as well In short, the less sophisticated level sees things in their most narrow sense, the view of the gadol, the mature view that is represented by this Sabbath, sees everything in its broader and deeper context.
Why before Passover?
One could raise the question, why is Shabbat hagadol—that gives us the ability to see things through the mature eyes of a gadol— situated right before Pesach? Why don’t we have a “Shabbat of Maturity” before Rosh Hashanah, or at some other time of the year?
Moreover, the Holiday of Passover seems to focus on the katan, the child: Children ask the “Four Questions;” we read about the “Four Sons,” and indeed, many of the customs of the Seder revolve around children. Passover is also seen by the Prophet Ezekiel as the birth and infancy of the Jewish people. How then is it that precisely before this child-oriented holiday, we have a Sabbath that highlights the level and role of the gadol-the fully mature individual?
The answer to this question lies in a better understanding of the relationship between childhood and adulthood. There are two ways of viewing this relationship: One way is to see the child as an adult at heart; just waiting until the adult way of thinking fully manifests itself and the mature intellect comes out of its cocoon. A child is an adult in potential. The little girl or boy will play house, acting out the adult roles of mother and father. A healthy child fantasizes about adulthood because that is really what a child is.
Alternatively, we can view the adult as a child at heart. No matter how much we age and mature we still retain the child within us. Adults have their toys and often express a certain naiveté and innocence that punctuates the identity of a child.
In truth, both statements and perspectives are true. A child is an adult in waiting, and an adult is a child at heart. Thus, while a person must go from the level of a newborn to the level of maturity, one step at a time, one must know, from the very outset, that there is a higher and more advanced level. Even one who is just beginning his/her development must be made aware of the goal and objective of one’s life.
Playing House
This Shabbat then can be viewed as our collective adult role playing; it represents the recognition that we are destined for greatness and that our experience of liberation will lead us inexorably to that goal.
Conversely, the fact that we follow the “Shabbat of Maturity” with an emphasis on the child during Passover itself conveys yet another profound message. No matter how sophisticated we are, we must always seek to find and reveal the child within all of us; because it is that childhood innocence and purity that is truly liberating and G-dly.
Hence the Passover season is a synthesis of maturity and childhood. We attempt to see things from a mature vantage point, even while we capture the untainted innocence of the child within.
The Messianic Age Paradox
We can now reconcile the two apparently contradictory statements about the state of the Messianic Age. One the one hand, the Messianic Age is when we will reach the peak of maturity and sophistication. Yet, the Talmud applies the word Moshiach to children. If the Messianic Age is characterized as one of one of maturity, why is title Moshiach applied to little children?
In light of the foregoing analysis of the juxtaposition of Shabbat Hagadol-the Shabbat of Maturity to Passover-a Holiday for the child in us, we can resolve this apparent contradiction. The future Messianic Age will indeed combine both qualities. On the one hand it will reveal within us total child-like innocence and purity, while we will simultaneously attain complete maturity.
Two Ways of Talking to Your Child
These two approaches towards the theme of Redemption—that of the child, the katan and the mature approach, that of a gadol—we find reflected in the words of Maimonides in his description of the way we must speak to our children during Passover:
“[A] father must teach the child according to his intelligence. How so? If he was a katan-a minor or tipesh-immature, he says to him ‘my son, we were all slaves, like this maidservant or this slave, in Egypt. And on this night the Holy One blessed is He redeemed us and took us out to be free.’ If the son was a gadol-an adult or mature and a chacham-wise, he informs him what happened to us in Egypt and the miracles that happened to us through Moshe Rabeinu.’
It all depends on the intelligence of the child.”
If we analyze the wording of the Maimonides, it is difficult to see what is the difference between the way we inform the katan and the way we inform the gadol. In both cases he describes how we should essentially tell the child what happened in Egypt and that we were liberated by G-d. Upon closer examination, we could see many differences:
First, to the katan Maimonides writes “he says to him.” To the gadol, he writes “he lets him know.”
Second, to the minor or immature child, he prefaces the endearing words “my son,” which is omitted when he speaks to the mature son.
Third, to the minor he emphasizes, “We were all slaves”, whereas to the gadol he generalizes and says “what occurred to us in Egypt,” not mentioning slavery at all.
Fourth, to the minor he mentions the fact that G-d liberated us, whereas for the gadol he stresses Moses’ role.
The key to explaining all these differences is to understand that a katan or a tipesh is incapable of understanding the deeper nuances of the exodus. To the katan or tipesh the father has to speak soft spoken and simple words (represented by the word “omer, which really means “he says softly.”)
The father must also preface the endearing words: “my son,” as a way of creating a “connection” between himself and his child In addition, by referring to his son as “my son” the father thereby creates a bridge between what happened to his generation of the Exodus, which was closer to the original experience and the son, for whom the experience is more remote.
Originally, when the Torah commanded the father to tell his son about the exodus, it was intended for the first generation that experienced the Exodus and bondage themselves. They were charged with the responsibility to tell the next generation about the exodus.
In order that the child who is either a katan or a tipesh will realize his/her connection to the Exodus, the father tells him about his own experience. By addressing his child as “my son,” he wishes to impress upon him that what happened to the father affected the son as well.
After connecting to the katan, and linking him to the events of the Exodus, the father must seek to provide him with a simple and straightforward message: We were slaves, but G-d redeemed us. The child must know that G-d is directly involved in our lives. This also explains why Maimonides directs the father to point to an actual slave to make the meaning of slavery and hardship real and meaningful, not just some abstract concept A katan and a tipesh has to be given illustrations to make the historical information real.
Thus, for the katan or tipesh, and the katan and tipesh within us, four things are imperative that we communicate to him or her:
First, our children must know and feel our love for them. Likewise, the child within us must feel the love and warmth of our Father in Heaven.
Second, we must make our child feel connected to us. This is not just the feeling of love, but that there is a sense of continuity between one generation and the next. The child should not experience a generation gap. Likewise, the child in us must feel that it is connected to our heavenly Father; that it has a personal relationship with Him.
Third, we must make the child feel that G-d is directly involved in his or her life.
Fourth, we must make the child—and the child within—realize that he or she can relate to G-d’s help in a concrete and tangible way.
These four elements in the way we deal with the child and the child within us is reflected in our plea for Moshiach that emanates from the heart of the child within us. This plea is essentially a plea to G-d to show us His love for us. We want G-d to connect with us and show us how He is involved in our lives, and make us feel that we are connected to Him. We will not be satisfied with just abstract ideas. We want to see the Redemption in a tangible way.
Addressing the Mature Son
Returning to the way Maimonides describes the father’s dialogue with his mature child as opposed to the immature one. When he speaks of the mature son, Maimonides, states: “he lets him know,” instead of “he tells him.” The mature son does not rely on the precise words of the father. The father uses a code of sorts that the mature child knows how to decipher and from which he “knows” what the father really wants him to know beyond the bare facts.
When the father speaks to the mature son he does not have to use the endearing words “my son,” that he uses for the immature son. The mature son does not always have to be reminded of his father’s love. Moreover, the love between father and son is so deeply felt within him that it cannot be expressed with words.
Third, to the mature son, the father generalizes and says “what occurred to us in Egypt,” not mentioning slavery at all as he does to the minor and immature son. The reason for this is that the mature sophisticated son knows that what happened in Egypt was far worse than just slavery. As terrible as the physical oppression was and is certainly not lost on the mature son, he is to be made aware of all that occurred in Egypt. The spiritual degradation, the descent into “forty-nine gates of impurity” their assimilating into the fabric of Egyptian pagan society etc. is part of the Egyptian experience that the mature son is made aware of and which moves him.
Moses’ Role
Fourth, the mature son is not told about G- d’s role. Rather it is Moses’ role in the liberation that Maimonides writes, is emphasized.
This is because for the minor, the emphasis on Moses role could detract from his recognition of G-d’s role in the exodus. For the mature son, by contrast, Moses’ role in the exodus went hand in hand with G-d’s role, for Moses was not an intermediary that separates between G-d and Israel. Moses’ transparency allowed him to reflect G-d’s light to all. Moses role thus actually enhanced the people’s appreciation for G-d’s role.
Without Moses, G-d’s light was obscured by the natural physical barriers to G-dly light. Only Moses’ transparency and his devotion to the Jewish nation facilitated their ability to appreciate G-d and connect to Him.
Although, initially, we have to cater to the needs of the immature son, the Torah wants us to mature to the level of a gadol thereby obviating the need to the point that it no longer becomes necessary to address the immature part of our souls. We are not talking about the purity and innocence of the child—that we should always retain. We are discussing the need to ultimately abandon our childish perceptions of G-d and the Torah and our approach to life in general.
This mature level of understanding will characterize the Messianic Age, the “Age of Maturity.” And while, as stated, the positive elements of the child such as its innocence will always remain, the Age of Maturity will elevate all of us to the highest levels of knowledge—an age concerning which the prophet Isaiah wrote: And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.”
Because we will have attained this degree of spiritual maturity, this age will lack the rivalry, hatred, pettiness, war and all the other ills of society, as Maimonides writes in the very end of his magnum opus.
Our way of preparing for this age begins at the seder. This is an opportunity to nurture the innocence of the child within us even as we reach an advanced and mature level of understanding of the dynamics of G-d, Moses and Redemption.
From the book Light from the Future: Haggadah Shel Pesach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
