Shabbos HaGadol
1. The words of the Shelah1 are well known: the parshiyos of the Torah are connected with the matters of the time of year in which they are read. Accordingly, in our case as well — Parshas Tzav, which in many years2 is read on Shabbos HaGadol — there is a connection and relationship between the two.
This will be understood by first quoting the words of the Alter Rebbe in his Shulchan Aruch,3 where he explains the reason the Shabbos before Pesach is called Shabbos HaGadol. These are his words:
"The Shabbos before Pesach is called Shabbos HaGadol ("the Great Shabbos") because a great miracle was performed on it. For the Pesach offering in Egypt was taken on the tenth of the month . . . and that day was Shabbos . . . When the Jews took their Pesach offerings on that Shabbos, the firstborn of Egypt gathered around the Jews and asked them why they were doing this. They answered them: 'It is a Pesach offering to G‑d, Who will slay the firstborn of Egypt.' Their firstborn went to their fathers and to Pharaoh to ask them to send the Jews out, and they refused. So the firstborn waged war against them and killed many of them. This is the meaning of the verse,4 'למכה מצרים בבכוריהם' ('Who struck Egypt through their firstborn'). They established this miracle as a remembrance for all generations on Shabbos, and called it Shabbos HaGadol. Why did they not establish it on the tenth of the month, whether it fell on Shabbos or on a weekday, the way all the festivals were established? Because on the tenth of Nissan Miriam died, and they established a fast on it when it falls on a weekday, as written in Section 580; see there."
We need to understand:
a) The Alter Rebbe states precisely that "a great miracle"5 was performed on it — meaning that this makes it better understood why it is called "Shabbos HaGadol."6 But this itself requires explanation: what is the greatness of the miracle? Moreover, the benefit that the Jews derived from this miracle involved no "greatness" at all. For even after the firstborn "killed many of them," it was still not possible for the Jews (in the natural order) to leave Egypt, and they still needed the miracle of the Plague of the Firstborn, etc. That is, not only did the miracle bring no great benefit to the Jews; seemingly, it brought them, in this,7 no benefit whatsoever!8
b) That the fast established on the day of Miriam's passing has the power to displace the fixing of the remembrance of the miracle onto Shabbos [that is, even if we say that the day of remembrance was originally fixed, as with the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt,8* on the date on which the miracle occurred, so that at first it was fixed on the tenth of Nissan,9 and later (after Miriam's passing and the establishment of the fast) it was moved to Shabbos] — this is understandable. We find that the fasts mentioned in Megillas Taanis are powerful enough to override even the prohibition of fasting on Rosh Chodesh,10 on which it is forbidden to fast by law,11 and all the more so in our case (the remembrance of the miracle of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn"), which is only a "custom."12 [Especially since one can say (at least in a strained manner) that, for whatever reason, the remembrance of the miracle was fixed only after Miriam's passing and the establishment of the fast, and consequently it was fixed on Shabbos from the outset.]13
But it still requires explanation (in the inner dimension of the matters): since the remembrance of the miracle in itself (were it not for the matter of Miriam's passing) ought to be fixed on the tenth of the month, "the way all the festivals were established," how is it possible to change13* the manner in which this remembrance is fixed from the way all the festivals are fixed — to move the remembrance entirely away from that day and fix it on another day because of a peripheral matter (especially since Miriam's passing occurred thirty-nine years after the miracle)?
2. The explanation of all this:
Many miracles were performed for the Jewish people throughout the generations, in which and through which they were saved from the hands of their enemies, as the Haggadah puts it: "שבכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותינו והקב״ה מצילנו מידם" ("In every generation they rise against us to destroy us, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand"). Among them are quite a few in which many of their enemies were killed (such as the miracle of the Splitting of the Sea, Purim, Chanukah, etc.).
However, the greatness of the miracle of "Shabbos HaGadol" lay in the fact that their killing was carried out by the firstborn of Egypt, as the verse emphasizes, "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn." This — that during the Egyptian exile,14 while Pharaoh was at the height of his power, to the point that even Moshe Rabbeinu, at a time when he was burning with anger at him, accorded him royal honor,15 and Pharaoh and Egypt refused (with all their might16) to send out the Jews — at that very time the firstborn of Egypt (the might17 of Egypt) demanded "that they send out the Jews," and they made this demand of their fathers and of Pharaoh with such force that they "waged war against them and killed many of them" — is a "great miracle" whose like did not occur in any other miracle.18 The salvation of the Jews from the hands of their enemies in the miracles of the Splitting of the Sea, Purim, etc., came about in such a way that the enemies of the Jews drowned in the Sea of Reeds, were killed, or that the Jews ruled over them. In contrast, the miracle of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn" came about in such a way that the firstborn of Egypt themselves, while in their full strength (and in the full strength of the kelipah of Egypt19), fought "that they send out the Jews" — (a form of) "אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא" ("darkness transformed into light").
3. To explain further (why this miracle is called a "great miracle"):
The essence of a miracle is a change in nature. From this it is understood that when the change is not only in the "nature" of the way the world is conducted, but in something that is "natural" according to the conduct of the Torah (and this "nature" is stronger) — this is an even greater miracle.
In our case — the miracle of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn": the order that was implanted and established through the Torah in the service of refinement (birurim) is that the sparks within the three completely impure kelipos cannot be refined; rather, they must be rejected, etc.20 Accordingly, the request of the firstborn of Egypt that the Jews be sent out, and their war against the Egyptians for this purpose (even though there was room for this in nature in the plain sense — they feared for their own lives, etc.), is a change in the "nature" of holiness, and therefore it is a "great miracle."21
4. In light of the above, one can say that the two events that occurred on the tenth of Nissan — the miracle of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn" and the passing of Miriam — are related to each other in their inner content:
It is stated in Iggeres HaKodesh,22 in explaining the saying of our Sages,23 "למה נסמכה מיתת מרים לפרשת פרה אדומה לומר לך מה פרה מכפרת אף מיתתן של צדיקים מכפרת" ("Why was the death of Miriam placed next to the section of the Red Heifer? To tell you: just as the Red Heifer atones, so too the death of tzaddikim atones"), that just as the function of the waters of purification is to purify from the impurity of the dead, "even though it is the ultimate source of impurity, etc., and far below, lower than nogah," so too the passing of tzaddikim "brings about salvations in the midst of the earth, to atone for the sin of the generation, even for the willful sins that are below nogah."
Now, according to what was explained above (Section 2), the matter of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn" is that the might of the kelipah of Egypt requested, and forcefully, (that the Jews be sent out — that is,) that G‑d's command be carried out. This is akin to the passing of Miriam — "the death of tzaddikim" — whose effect is "darkness transformed into light," "to atone even for the willful sins that stem from the three impure kelipos."
5. In light of the above, we can also explain (in an inner way) the reason that the remembrance of the miracle of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn" was not fixed on the tenth of Nissan — because of Miriam's passing:
It is explained24 regarding a Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbos, when the shofar is not blown throughout the country because of the decree of Rabbah, lest one carry it (the shofar) four cubits in the public domain25 — that seemingly, "Why did the Sages see fit to uproot the positive commandment of shofar, etc., because of a mere decree of Rabbah? The concern is only regarding simple and light-headed people; how could they withhold the mitzvah entirely from many great and good tzaddikim?" The explanation of this (in the inner dimension of the matters) is that not blowing the shofar on a Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbos is not a displacement of the (force of the) mitzvah of blowing the shofar; rather, at that time there is no (great) need for blowing the shofar, because the influences that are drawn down through blowing the shofar are drawn down on Shabbos by itself, without blowing the shofar.
The same applies to the remembrance of the miracle of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn" and the passing of Miriam: on the day of Miriam's passing there is no (great) need for the remembrance of the miracle. For the effect brought about by remembering (through the customs of Shabbos HaGadol) the miracle of darkness transformed into light of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn" is brought about (in a general way26) by remembering (through the fast) the darkness transformed into light that comes through the passing of Miriam.
6. In light of all the above, the connection of Parshas Tzav to Shabbos HaGadol will also be understood:
Regarding the seven days of the inauguration (miluim) — which are described at length in our parsha — it is explained in Likkutei Torah27 that "the seven days of the inauguration are therefore called miluim, an expression of filling and completeness. For in the Time to Come, when there will be the ultimate completeness, it is written,28 'והי' אור הלבנה כאור החמה' ('The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun'), meaning that the deficiency of the moon will be filled . . . And something of this also took place when the Mishkan was erected, through which the elevation of Malchus was brought about."
Now, the meaning of "the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun" is explained in Chassidus:29 now the moon receives its light from the sun, but in the Time to Come "it will have its own light, like the light of the sun."30 That is, the moon, whose nature (now) is to be a "receiver," will be transformed and become light and revelation in its own right. Similarly in the supernal Sefiros: the Sefirah of Malchus, whose nature is that "it has nothing of its own," will be transformed and become light and revelation, and in such a way that it shines in its own right — darkness transformed into light.31
So too regarding the name of the entire parsha, "Tzav": our Sages said,32 "אין צו אלא ע״ז" ("'Command' refers only to idolatry"), together with the explanation that it denotes "זירוז מיד ולדורות ואף שיש בו חסרון כיס" ("urging, immediately and for all generations, even where there is monetary loss")33 — to fulfill G‑d's will; and its numerical value equals that of the Divine Names Kel and Ad-noy34 — darkness transformed into light.
The parallel of this in man's service is the service of teshuvah,35 through which the (darkness of the) willful sins themselves are transformed into merits (light).36
And this is also the common denominator between Parshas Tzav and Shabbos HaGadol: darkness transformed into light.
(From the sichos of Shabbos HaGadol 5727, 5729, and 5731)
Notes
1) Beginning of Parshas Vayeshev. See also Zohar II, 206b.
2) See Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, sec. 428, par. 4: "In an ordinary [non-leap] year, Tzav Es Aharon is always read before Pesach."
3) Orach Chaim, beginning of sec. 430.
4) Tehillim 136:10. See Midrash Tehillim there; Rashi and Metzudas David there.
5) This is also the wording in Tosafos (s.v. "Ve'oso" — Shabbos 87b) and in the Tur, beginning of sec. 430 (except that he explains the content of the miracle differently — see note 7)*; whereas in the Shulchan Aruch there it says, "because of the miracle (without qualification) that was performed on it." One can say: in the Shulchan Aruch of the Mechaber — since it is not his way to explain the reasons for the laws — in our case too, although he explains why the Shabbos before Pesach is called Shabbos HaGadol, he suffices with a general explanation, "because of the miracle that was performed on it"; whereas the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe make it their way to write the laws together with their reasons (see the introduction of "the sons of the gaon, the author" to the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch). But note that the Beis Yosef (there), when citing the words of Tosafos, quotes the wording as "because a miracle (without qualification) was performed on it." Perhaps he had a different version of Tosafos. This requires investigation in the earlier printings of Tosafos and the Tur. — See the following note.
*) Note also that regarding Chanukah, people say, as the reason for the custom that the letters nun, gimmel, hei, shin are engraved on the dreidel, that they are the acronym of the miracle: "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham" ("A great miracle happened there").
6) For even if it were merely a miracle without qualification, this Shabbos would have an advantage over an ordinary Shabbos. See Likkutei Amarim of the Maggid (Kehot edition; section number OCR unclear) and Or Torah, discourse beginning "Mishchu U'Kechu." See also Avodas HaLevi (by the tzaddik, etc., Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Starosselye), discourse beginning "Lehavin Inyan Shabbos HaGadol."
7) In the miracle of "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn." In contrast, according to the opinion of the Tur, that the miracle was that "they took . . . a lamb . . . to slaughter it for the Pesach offering . . . and their teeth were set on edge because their god was being slaughtered, yet they were not permitted to say anything to them (to the Jews)" — in that there was a benefit to the Jews. As for why the Alter Rebbe was not satisfied with the Tur's reason (and chose the reason of Tosafos) — one can say that this is because of the questions raised by the Beis Yosef and the Bach there.
8) One cannot say that the intention of Tosafos and the Alter Rebbe in "their firstborn went, etc." is in the manner of "not only this, but even this" — that is: by nature they should have waged war against the Jews, and the miracle was that not only did they not wage war against the Jews, but on the contrary, they waged war against the Egyptians. For [besides this being strained — since if they believed the words of the Jews that G‑d would kill them because they were not sending out the Jews*, it is obvious that they would not fight to strike the Jews] the wording of the verse, "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn," does not imply this at all, and this matter is likewise not mentioned in the words of Tosafos and the Alter Rebbe there.
*) It is very strained to say that this itself was the miracle and the benefit — that they believed the words of the Jews that the Holy One, blessed be He, would kill them — for they had already seen signs and wonders, the nine plagues that the Holy One, blessed be He, had brought upon them.
8*) The same is also true of Purim and Chanukah.
9) For it is very strained to say that since the Holy One, blessed be He, completes the years of the righteous to the day (Rosh Hashanah 11a, and sources cited there), the Jews knew that Miriam's passing would be on the tenth of Nissan, and therefore they fixed the remembrance of the miracle on Shabbos specifically from the outset — on account of the future.
10) Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, beginning of sec. 580 — except that "it is good not to complete [the fast] on Rosh Chodesh" (Rema there). One can say that this is what the Alter Rebbe adds at the end of the paragraph, "(as written in sec. 580); see there." For seemingly, he already wrote here "that on the tenth of Nissan Miriam died and they established a fast on it," so what is added by "see there" (in sec. 580)? Rather, his intention is to point to the severity of these fasts, as in the text. In light of this, we can also better understand what the Alter Rebbe writes, "and they established a fast on it when it falls on a weekday," which implies that from the outset the fast was established only for when it falls on a weekday (and not that the fast is displaced on Shabbos). His intention here is to emphasize the severity of the fast: had it been established from the outset for the tenth of Nissan without qualification, it would not have been displaced by Shabbos — like Yom Kippur, on which one fasts even on Shabbos (see the Bach there), and like the Tenth of Teves, which, although it is not of Torah origin, overrides Shabbos (according to the Abudraham, cited in the Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim, sec. 550 — unlike Rashi, Megillah 5a, s.v. "Aval"). Compare also a fast over a dream, on which one fasts on Shabbos (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, sec. 288, par. 4; the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch there, par. 3). One can explain the severity of Miriam's passing compared with the passing of the others of the three shepherds (Taanis 9a), Moshe and Aharon, as being because it brought about their passing (in the desert), as stated explicitly in the verses (Chukas 20:1–12).
11) Tur and Shulchan Aruch, sec. 418. See also the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, sec. 429, par. 10.
12) As in the wording of the "heading" in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch to sec. 430 [which the Alter Rebbe presumably wrote himself, especially since in the Shulchan Aruch of the Mechaber there is no "heading" to this section]: "The custom of Shabbos HaGadol" (and not as in the Levush, "The law of Shabbos HaGadol").
13) In light of this, the wording of the Alter Rebbe, "They established this miracle as a remembrance for all generations on Shabbos," is better understood, for this wording implies that they established it on Shabbos from the outset.
13*) Compare the fast of Erev Shabbos Parshas Chukas, which was not fixed to a date of the month specifically because of a dream inquiry, etc. (Magen Avraham, end of sec. 580).
14) In contrast, at the time Pharaoh said, "קומו צאו מתוך עמי גו'" ("Arise, go out from among my people, etc.") (Bo 12:31), the nullification of the exile had already begun (although it was still before the "end" — see Rashi there, 12:41), to the point that it is said of this time (Re'eh 16:1; see Berachos 9a and Rashi on the Torah there), "הוציאך גו' ממצרים" ("[He] took you out . . . from Egypt").
15) Bo 11:8, and Rashi there.
16) To the point that even the fact that "the firstborn waged war against them and killed many of them" was of no avail.
17) See Targum Onkelos, Vayechi 49:3: "my strength and the first of my might."
18) Even in the miracle of Purim, where "the very mouth that said, 'and the people, to do with it as you see fit,' that very mouth said, 'and you write concerning the Jews as you see fit,' which is the concept of darkness transformed into light" (Torah Or 94b) — this "transformation" concerned only Achashverosh's speech, while the action was left to Esther and Mordechai: "and you write . . . as you see fit." In contrast, in our case, the firstborn of Egypt struck the Egyptians and killed those who did not want to send out the Jews*. In addition: the request of the firstborn of Egypt, and "Who struck Egypt" through them, did not come at the request of the Jews (for we do not find that the Jews asked anything of them; they only told them "that He will slay the firstborn of Egypt"), but rather of their own accord.
*) In Torah Or there: "To subdue the sitra achra alone . . . Who struck Egypt through their firstborn . . . (in contrast) the miracle of Purim, etc." One can say that these are differing Midrashic interpretations, and Torah Or explains only according to the interpretation (see Mechilta, Bo, sec. 13; Ibn Ezra on Tehillim there) that "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn" refers to the Plague of the Firstborn, as stated explicitly there (94a).
19) For even after "Who struck Egypt through their firstborn," the firstborn of Egypt died in the Plague of the Firstborn.
20) See Tanya, chs. 7–8; Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6d; and elsewhere.
21) See similarly Likkutei Sichos vol. 6, p. 50ff., regarding the two interpretations in Rashi at the end of Parshas Va'eira on "ומטר לא נתך ארצה" ("and the rain did not reach the earth") — whether the rain remained in the air and only did not reach the earth, or whether its entire existence was nullified: since "what Heaven gives, it does not take back," the nullification of the rain, which is a change in the "nature" of "Heaven," is a greater miracle (and wonder) than if it had remained in existence in the air — even though in simple terms, the rain's remaining in the air is a greater wonder than its nullification.
22) Sec. 28.
23) Moed Katan 28a (cited in Rashi, Chukas 20:1).
24) Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah discourses, discourse beginning "Lehavin HaMishnah Yom Tov shel Rosh Hashanah" (56a); Siddur, Shaar HaTekios, at the beginning; and in several later discourses beginning "Yom Tov shel Rosh Hashanah." See also Likkutei Sichos vol. 7, in the sicha for the festival of Pesach.
25) Rosh Hashanah 29b.
26) But not exactly the same thing; therefore the remembrance of the miracle was at least fixed on Shabbos. Yet a custom suffices for it (and no law is needed — as with the fast for Miriam's passing) — similar to the reason explained in Chassidus (the end of the series of discourses of 5666, and in many places) as to why, even on a Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbos, the verses of Shofaros must be recited — which is rabbinic (but not the blowing of the shofar — which is Biblical).
27) Our parsha, 10d.
28) Yeshayahu 30:26.
29) Likkutei Torah there, a; Torah Chaim, Shemos 470b.
30) Likkutei Torah there.
31) See Torah Chaim there: the darkness of the night itself will shine like day, because the light of the moon will be exactly like the light of the sun. See also Shemos Rabbah (Bo 18:11 — cited in Likkutei Torah there, c): "In the Time to Come, the night will become day, as it says, 'The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun.'" See at length Likkutei Sichos vol. 6, p. 47; vol. 9, p. 64.
32) See Sanhedrin 56b; Zohar I, 27b; 35b.
33) Toras Kohanim (cited in Rashi) here.
34) See on all this Sefer HaMitzvos (of the Tzemach Tzedek), the mitzvah of shaving, at its end; Kuntres U'Mayan (reference OCR unclear), sec. 2.
35) See at length Likkutei Sichos vol. 9 there (p. 66). See also Likkutei Sichos vol. 7 there, that the offerings of the days of the inauguration came to atone for the sin of the Golden Calf, and in a manner in which willful sins become for him like merits; see there — similar to the passing of tzaddikim, which "brings about salvations in the midst of the earth, to atone for the sin of the generation" (as above, Section 4).
36) Yoma 86b. See at length Derech Mitzvosecha 191a.
Key Lesson
The greatest miracle is not merely the defeat of evil but its transformation: on Shabbos HaGadol the very might of Egypt fought to free the Jewish people. So too in our own service, through teshuvah the darkness itself becomes light, and even past failings are transformed into merits.