Chasidut do Wyjścia 12:6
וְהָיָ֤ה לָכֶם֙ לְמִשְׁמֶ֔רֶת עַ֣ד אַרְבָּעָ֥ה עָשָׂ֛ר י֖וֹם לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֑ה וְשָׁחֲט֣וּ אֹת֗וֹ כֹּ֛ל קְהַ֥ל עֲדַֽת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בֵּ֥ין הָעַרְבָּֽיִם׃
I będziecie je chowali do czternastego dnia tego miesiąca, a wtedy zarznie je cała rzesza zboru Israelskiego, nad wieczorem.
Kedushat Levi
When David in psalms 118,11, part of the hallel hamitzri, repeats the words סבוני גם סבבוני בשם ה' “they beset me, they surround me; by the name of Hashem I will surely cut them down;” the word: גם, “also,” seems problematic. According to what we have just explained, David’s wording is quite easily understood. When David (verse 10) first spoke about all the nations surrounding him being his mortal enemies, he dismissed this threat more or less, as it was only an external threat; his own personality not having succumbed to fear. At that point he had been certain that G’d would take care of him as he had considered himself a loyal servant of the Lord. This is why he had added the words: בשם ה', “by the name of the Lord;” he had considered himself as having served the Lord with a mature intellect. Upon reflecting further, he had realized that he had not always served the Lord on such a lofty level, but from time to time had had a relapse to a lower intellectual level, that of מוחין דקטנות. On such occasions he had experienced “real” fear. This is what he had in mind when he repeated the words סבוני גם סבבוני, i.e. he had really filled encircled, not knowing how to escape the fate that appeared to threaten him. If, as we see from the lines following this, G’d had miraculously extricated him from all the dangers threatening him, he realised that he had every reason to be especially grateful for an escape that he may not have merited due to his own accumulated merits.
The considerations just described may have provided the background to a custom mentioned in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 430 that the Sabbath preceding the Passover festival is called שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath,” in commemoration of the great miracle that occurred during the four days between when the Israelites set aside the paschal lamb in preparation of slaughtering it on the 14th of the month, as per the Torah’s instructions in Exodus 12,6. They had been instructed to keep watch over each person’s lamb to be sure that it was not physically blemished, but even more so to demonstrate their faith in G’d that although slaughtering a lamb which was a deity for the Egyptians and therefore a provocation of their “masters,” they were not deterred by the physical danger they were exposing themselves to by doing this. Each Jewish household tied their respective lamb to their beds, daring the Egyptians to do something about this after they had told the Egyptians who enquired about the meaning of this that this lamb would be slaughtered at the command of the Jewish G’d on the evening of the 14th of the month. In the event the Egyptians gnashed their teeth but did not dare to take any countermeasures.
The considerations just described may have provided the background to a custom mentioned in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 430 that the Sabbath preceding the Passover festival is called שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath,” in commemoration of the great miracle that occurred during the four days between when the Israelites set aside the paschal lamb in preparation of slaughtering it on the 14th of the month, as per the Torah’s instructions in Exodus 12,6. They had been instructed to keep watch over each person’s lamb to be sure that it was not physically blemished, but even more so to demonstrate their faith in G’d that although slaughtering a lamb which was a deity for the Egyptians and therefore a provocation of their “masters,” they were not deterred by the physical danger they were exposing themselves to by doing this. Each Jewish household tied their respective lamb to their beds, daring the Egyptians to do something about this after they had told the Egyptians who enquired about the meaning of this that this lamb would be slaughtered at the command of the Jewish G’d on the evening of the 14th of the month. In the event the Egyptians gnashed their teeth but did not dare to take any countermeasures.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy