Beyond the Exodus from Egypt
Apr 15, 2016 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah
Most of us, at one time or another, have asked the question about the Passover seder that the Haggadah attributes to the “wicked son”: What is the point of all this? At such moments of skepticism, we probably understand why an annual family gathering is worthwhile, we perhaps remember fondly the seders of our youth, and we may even confess to being moved by the rituals reenacted at the seder table year after year: reciting the four questions, dripping wine from cup to plate at the recital of the ten plagues, singing Had Gadya. But really, we ask: Why is the event of Israelite slaves leaving Egypt over 3,000 years ago (if it ever happened in the first place) so important that an entire holiday is devoted to it (not to mention countless daily prayers)?
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Elijah at the Seder Table
Apr 7, 2001 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Tzav
The Shabbat just prior to Passover is known as the Great Sabbath, Shabbat ha-Gadol.
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Let All Who Are Hungry Come and Eat
Apr 16, 2011 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study | Aharei Mot | Shabbat Hagadol
One of my favorite customs for Shabbat Hagadol is to read the Maggid section of the Passover Haggadah in advance of the first seder.
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Judaism’s Two New Years
Mar 23, 2002 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah
In the Middle Ages, when rabbis were largely specialists in and adjudicators of Jewish law, they preached in the synagogue but twice a year, on Shabbat Hagadol prior to Passover and on Shabbat Shuvah prior to Yom Kippur. The ritual intricacies of each festival called for some public instruction. The custom highlighted the affinity between these two seasons which each in its own way initiated the start of a new year.
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Reconciling the Generations
Mar 26, 1994 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Tzav | Pesah
My father died in 1982, some five weeks before Passover. Till then I had never conducted a seder, except for the two years I spent as an army chaplain at Fort Dix, New Jersey and Taigu, South Korea. The custom in the Schorsch family since time immemorial had been to celebrate the seders in the home of my parents. Each Passover my older sister and I, with spouses and children, would happily converge on that sacred space to hear our father sing, read, and talk his way through the Haggadah and to savor our mother’s delicious Passover menu. My mother died the following year and my sister and I, awash in memories, are now the older generation. Ten years later our families are larger and more widely dispersed and the rendezvous changes, but the tradition of an inclusive family seder has not unraveled. I have assumed my father’s mantle.
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Elijah the Prophet
Apr 23, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol
The Shabbat just prior to Passover is known as the Great Sabbath, Shabbat ha–Gadol. It is not one of the four special Sabbaths that span the month of Adar to herald the coming of Passover (Shekalim, Zakhor, Parah and ha–Hodesh).
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The Question That Matters
Apr 12, 2003 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Shabbat Hagadol | Pesah
I have always been puzzled by the questions of the four children at the seder. Often, we gloss over them to get to the famed Hillel sandwich, pausing only to recognize the pedagogic missteps in providing answers to the four inquisitors; however, this year I am particularly struck by the question of the wicked child who asks, What is this service to you? This seemingly brazen question smacks with spite and makes me think back to younger days in shul when I just did not have the perseverance to sit still through the rabbi’s sermon, and I would lash out at my parents questioning the very relevance of the service.
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Pesah: The Great Redemption
Apr 23, 2005 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Aharei Mot | Shabbat Hagadol
The Shabbat just prior to Passover is known as the Great Sabbath, Shabbat HaGadol.
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