Egyptian Civil War
The former Soviet Union, since its collapse, has provided buildings and financial assistance to the Jewish community for the purpose of Jewish education! All this began Shabbos Hagadol, when the Egyptian first born fought to liberate the Jews from Egypt.
What was so Special about this Miracle?
Shabbos Hagadol, or the Great Sabbath, is the name of this week’s Sabbath. It is so named because of a miracle that occurred even before the Jewish nation was liberated from Egypt. When the first born Egyptians discovered that the next plague that was to be visited upon them was the plague of the first born, they demanded that Pharaoh let the Israelites go.
As a result, a civil war ensued, and Egyptians were literally fighting and giving their lives so that the others should let the Israelites go! This great miracle occurred on the Sabbath before the Jews left Egypt and has since been designated as “The Great Sabbath,” to highlight this preliminary miracle.
The question begs to be asked. In conjunction with the exodus from Egypt there were so many spectacular miracles. Among them, of course, were the Ten Plagues and the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. These were miracles that altered the very natural order of things. Water turned into blood. Hail descended upon them containing fire! An entire nation of millions of Jews cross a sea that had completely dried up! According to our sages, the sea split into 12 tunnels, one for each tribe! And these are only a small fraction of the incredible supernatural events that transpired in Egypt.
How can we compare these overt expressions of G-d’s power to alter nature with the rather natural phenomenon of a civil war? Why then is this miracle — of the first born fighting to urge the release of the Jews — characterized as the “great” miracle and not the others?
Two Kinds of Miracles
In truth, this miracle was indeed unique even as compared to the more dramatic miracles associated with the exodus.
There are two general types of miracles. The first is where G-d clearly overrides the natural order. The “advantage” of this category of miracle is that it impresses upon us that there is a G-d and that He is greater than everything — even the laws of nature.
There is a second type of miracle, where G-d orchestrates that nature itself supports the plan that G-d has for the world. The same world that was, heretofore, a hindrance to the realization of G-d’s plan, becomes its facilitator. (Hence the Hebrew word for “world” is “olam,” etymologically related to the word helam that means concealment.)
The pre-eminence of this miracle over the first category is that it creates a situation where the obstacles themselves become supporters to G-d’s plan. Rather than transcending nature to accommodate G-d’s will, thereby leaving nature to its original role of an obstructive force, G-d transforms the nature of nature itself.
Transforming the Enemy
This is what happened in Egypt before the actual exodus. The first born Egyptians were their elders and leaders; the essence of the natural order of Egypt. Now, these same natural forces that characterized the existence of Egypt were fighting and sacrificing their lives to allow the Jews to leave Egyptian bondage.
While this miracle is less spectacular and earth shattering, it is precisely this kind of a miracle that does more than the other to prepare the world for the true, complete and everlasting Redemption, where even “the darkness shall shine.”
Thus, from the Shabbos before Passover the Jewish nation was exposed to a new phenomenon. Even the enemy can be transformed and thereby demonstrates that there was really never a real adversary.
The prophet compares the future age of Redemption to the exodus from Egypt. “As in the days of your departure from Egypt, I will show him wonders.” Concerning the time of Redemption it is said that the “night shall shine like the day.” Not only will the light dispel the darkness, the darkness itself will become light.
Modern Day Miracles
During the last century, we were witness to the phenomenon of the natural forces that have pitted themselves against the Torah. One had to overcome and resist the pressures from without to remain faithful to the dictates of Judaism. Yet, in most recent years, we’ve seen a reversal of this phenomenon. Many of the world’s institutions — political, social, educational etc. — have been receptive to the needs of the Jew.
To cite one glaring example: The former Soviet Union, since its collapse, has provided buildings and financial assistance to the Jewish community for the purpose of Jewish education! All this began Shabbos Hagadol, when the Egyptian first born fought to liberate the Jews from Egypt.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Tzav by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
