Shabbat Hagadol

Perhaps a bit of information can give us a bit of hope. This year, Pesach falls on Thursday, as it did in Egypt. We know this because the שה, the lamb, was taken on the tenth of Nissan. (In spoken Hebrew, the lamb is called, טלה.) A גדי, a baby goat known as “kid,” could also be used as קרבן פסח. The animal needed to be taken,had to be less than a year old. On the tenth of Nissan, a lamb was taken and tied to the bed posts. It was a great miracle that the Egyptians saw this and did not object, despite the fact that they worshipped these animals. In addition, we read in the Haftarah this Shabbat, from the Book of מלאכי. The Haftarah mentions, הנה היום הגדול בא, “Behold, a great day is coming.” This refers to the coming of Mashiach. For these two reasons of the taking of the lamb and the Haftarah, this coming Shabbat is called, שבת הגדול.