The Big Sleep
At Jewish Newport
April 3, 2020
aaron.ginsburg@gmail.com
Rabbi Marc Mandel of Newport’s Touro Synagogue sent a brief message to our readers:
“The Shabbat which precedes Passover is called Shabbat haGadol, the Great Sabbath, for many and varied reasons. In some Sephardic communities, it is customary, when greeting one another on this Shabbat, to add the title of the day: Shabbat haGadol Mevorach, a blessed Shabbat HaGadol. This year especially, this seems like an excellent custom for us to do. May we all have a blessed Shabbat Hagadol.”
But why is it called Shabbat haGadol (the great or the big Shabbat)? At our session today at 4:PM Rabbi Mandel quoted an article from Wikipedia but focused on the haftarah from the prophet Malachai which ends,
וְהֵשִׁ֤יב לֵב־אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים וְלֵ֥ב בָּנִ֖ים עַל־אֲבוֹתָ֑ם פֶּן־אָב֕וֹא וְהִכֵּיתִ֥י אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ חֵֽרֶם׃
[הנה אנכי שלח לכם את אליה הנביא לפני בוא יום יהוה הגדול והנורא]
“He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome[Gaddol], fearful day of the LORD.”
Passover brings children and parents together. We open our doors to see if Elijah is coming, since that would mean the Messiah was coming. Most commentators say this passage in Malachi is where the Shabbat Hagodol gets its name, but there are other possibilities, or more likely they are a but of sarcasm directed at the big ones in more recent times.
Wikipedia tells us that it is customary for the rabbi to give a long sermon during the afternoon of Shabbat Hagadol. Zedekiah ben Abraham Anav (1210 – c. 1280) who lived in Rome said it is called “Hagadol” because of the length of the sermon, which drags on and drags out the day along with it.
There is nothing new about falling asleep while the rabbi speaks. In the midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 58,3 we read,
רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא הָיָה יוֹשֵׁב וְדוֹרֵשׁ וְהַצִּבּוּר מִתְנַמְנֵם בִּקֵּשׁ לְעוֹרְרָן אָמַר מָה רָאֲתָה אֶסְתֵּר שֶׁתִּמְלֹךְ עַל שֶׁבַע וְעֶשְׂרִים וּמֵאָה מְדִינָה, אֶלָּא תָּבוֹא אֶסְתֵּר שֶׁהָיְתָה בַּת בִּתָּהּ שֶׁל שָׂרָה שֶׁחָיְתָה מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים וָשֶׁבַע וְתִמְלֹךְ עַל מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים וְשֶׁבַע מְדִינוֹת.
“Rabbi Akiva was once sitting and lecturing, and the community [his students] was falling asleep. To arouse them, he said: How could Esther rule over one hundred and twenty seven provinces? It should be that Esther, a descendant of Sarah who lived to one hundred and twenty seven, to rule over one hundred and twenty seven provinces.”
And what does that mean? If Esther ruled 127 provinces, she didn’t have time to waste a second. If we want to accomplish anything, we should not waste our limited time on this world.
Fortunately in Newport we don’t have to worry about falling asleep during a long speech from Rabbi Mandel. He speaks so briefly there is not enough time to catch even forty winks.
Shabbat haGadol Mevorach from Jewish Newport!
Monday, April 6 at 7:30pm
Newport Passover Memories
Tuesday, April 7th at 7:30pm
Virtual Search For Chametz With Rabbi Mandel
Wednesday, April 8th at 5:30pm
Virtual Model Seder With Rabbi Mandel
@tourosynagoguenewport
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