3,337 YEARS AGO...

13 Nisan 5785
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Tzav - Shabbat Hagadol (Erev Pesach)

Excerpted from The Book of Our Heritage by Eliyahu Kitov (Vol 2, p. 496)...   

In Sefer ha-Pardes, which is ascribed to Rashi, we find:

People are accustomed to calling the Shabbos before Pesach Shabbos ha-Gadol, but they do not know what makes this Shabbos greater than any other.  The Children of Israel went out of Egypt on a Thursday, as is recorded in the Seder Olam.  They prepared the lamb for the Pesach sacrifice on the previous Shabbos, on the tenth of Nisan.  When they were instructed to do so, they wondered:  "If we sacrifice an animal which the Egyptians hold sacred, before their very eyes, they will surely stone us."  But the Holy One, blessed is He, told them:  "Now you will see the wondrous things which I will do for you."  The Children of Israel thereupon each took a lamb and kept it for four days.  When the Egyptians saw this, they wanted to rise up and take revenge, but they were stricken with all kinds of horrible afflictions and could do no harm to the Children of Israel.  Because of the miracles which God performed on that day, the Shabbos before Pesach, it became known as Shabbos ha-Gadol.

From the Haftarah for Shabbat Hagadol (Malachi 3.14 - 18)...

You have said, "It is futile to serve God, and what profit do we get for keeping His charge and for going about in anxious worry because of the Lord of Hosts?" 

And now we praise the bold transgressors. Yea, those who work wickedness are built up. Yea, they tempt God, and they have, nevertheless, escaped. 

Then the God-fearing men spoke to one another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared the Lord and for those who valued His name highly. And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of Hosts, for that day when I make a treasure. And I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. And you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who has not served Him.

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
 and
~ Chag Kasher v'Sameach ~