Will the real Shabbat HaGadol please stand up?

In this weird and unusual year 5785 — when parshat Teruma is parshat Shekalim (last time was 31 years ago, next time is 20 years from now), when Purim is on a Friday, when there is Purim meshulash (three day celebration) in Jerusalem, and Erev Pesach is on Shabbat (which won’t happen again for 20 years) — no one is sure when Shabbat HaGadol is.

Traditionally, it is the Shabbat right before the onset of Pesach, so that would make this Shabbat, April 12, Nisan 14, Erev Pesach, Shabbat HaGadol.

Yet in fact, everyone is so busy on that day preparing for Pesach, getting rid of their chametz while being careful not to eat matzo, that it almost takes a backseat. Most Rabbis have given their major Shabbat HaGadol drasha (one of the reasons it is called Shabbat HaGadol) the week before (this year, April 5).

In addition most shuls will read the special haftara for Shabbat HaGadol from sefer Malachi even when it falls on Erev Pesach, but the Gra (Vilna Gaon, 1720-1797) would not. He would only read this if Erev Pesach did not fall out on Shabbat. Conversely, Chabad and others would only read that haftara from Malachi when Erev Pesach did fall on Shabbat, and others would never read it at all. (I will not go into the reasons for the differences. While fascinating, they are beyond the scope of this column, having to do with reminders to bring maser (tithes) and preparation for Pesach).

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So if some rabbis are giving their Shabbat HaGadol drasha the week before, some shuls are reading their special Shabbat HaGadol haftara on Erev Pesach and some are not, this further complicates the issue. Will the real Shabbat HaGadol please stand up?

While appropriately we might have to wait for Eliyahu Hanavi to arrive to give us the answer to this thorny issue, we may examine the two best candidates in question — the Shabbat the week before Pesach and Shabbat Erev Pesach and their respective haftarot.

The week before, parshat Vayikra, has its haftara from the Yeshayahu (43:21–44:23), while the following week, Shabbat Erev Pesach, has its haftara from the Malachi (3:4-24). Two different prophets living hundreds of years apart.

•Yeshayahu (Isaiah), living in the eighth century BCE 100-150 years before the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, considered perhaps the greatest prophet after Moses.

•Malachi living in the fifth century BCE, while listed among the so-called 12 “minor profits,” there was nothing minor about him. Living long after the destruction of the first Temple at the time of the return to Jerusalem under Nechemiah, he is the last prophet listed in our Holy canon, the Tanach.

Yeshayahu is of course better known, but not for the haftara of parshat Vayikra but for his Chazon Yeshayahu, said on the Shabbat before Tisha b’Av, and his comforting words of nechama: “Nachamu, Nachumu Ami (Be comforted, be comforted My people,” read on the Shabbat after Tisha b’Av.

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But Vayikra’s haftara is no less powerful in its rebuke of Israel and Hashem’s words of comfort.  Several verses stand out:

“But you did not call to Me, O Jacob,for you grew weary of Me, O Israel(43:22).

“I, only I, am the One who wipes away your wilful sins for My sake, and I shall not recall your sins” (43:25).

“So says Hashem Who made you. … He will help you; fear not (44:2).

“Remember this, O Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant. … O Israel do not forget Me! (44:21). “Break out, O mountains in glad song … for Hashem will have redeemed Jacob, and He will glorify Himself in Israel”(44:23).

Malachi’s message is similar, equally poignant and poetic:

“For I, Hashem, have not changed; and you, O Children of Jacob, have not ceased to be. From the days of your forefathers you’ve strayed from My decrees and did not observe them — return to Me and I will return to you (3:6–7).

“Then those who fear Hashem. …They shall remain Mine as a treasure … and I shall have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son”(3:16-17).

“Remember the Torah of Moshe, My servant, which I commanded him at Horeb [Sinai], for all Israel, decrees and ordinances” (3:22).

“Behold I send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and awesome day of Hashem” (3:23).

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Both haftaroth speak of Israel’s sins, the call to repentance, and Israel’s ultimate redemption. And like all of navi, they speak a message contemporaneous with the events of the day in the prophet’s lifetime, but also have a resounding message for all future generations. This is why they are called prophecy.

Furthermore, both are appropriate for this month of Nisan, for as the Talmud in Rosh Hashanah (10b) says “in Nisan they were redeemed, and in Nisan they are destined to be redeemed.”

That is why Yeshayahu speaks of “ki ga’al Hashem Yaakov (for Hashem will have redeemed Jacob,” in past tense, and “u’biysrael yitpaer (He will glorify Himself in Israel), in the future. (44:23). He speaks of redemption having taken place and future glory, over a century before the destruction of the first Temple.

Likewise Malachi, speaking at the time of the rebuilding of the new walls around Jerusalem and the future second Temple, declares Hashem announces that ”I send you Eliyahu Hanavi” in present tense, following with, in the future tense, “before the great and awesome day of Hashem”(3:24).

Both neviim speak to their generation and to us in ours.

Both haftaroth could qualify as appropriate for Shabbat HaGadol. But since Malachi mentions Eliyahu, who visits every Passover Seder, and also refers openly to the “Great and Awesome day of Hashem” (HaGadol), it traditionally is the chosen haftara for Shabbat HaGadol.

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Yet when, as in this year, one week before Pesach, Vayikra is the parsha, I would suggest the haftara from Yeshayahu is an appropriate substitute.

A further proof of the suitability for this is the presence of Eliyahu himself. On two occasions in Jewish life, Eliyahu makes an appearance — the Seder and the Brit Milah. And on both those occasions we loudly proclaim the verse from Ezekiel (16:6):

“B’damayich chayi” (in your blood, Live!),” with each event recalling either the blood of the Korban Pesach or the blood of the  rit Milah.

Both the Korban Pesach and Brit Milah are time constrained; the former must be eaten on the night of the 15th of Nisan and the latter always on the 8th day after birth. Except when they can’t. 

If one is impure at the time of Pesach, then he gets a “second chance” one month later in Iyar (Pesach sheni).

And likewise Brit Milah. If the child is ill, the Brit can be delayed until he is well. And yet , even if delayed, both mitzvot, Pesach and Milah have been fulfilled in their entirety.

So too with Shabbat HaGadol. Though certainly not a mitzvah, we can fulfill it on another day if the calendar makes it difficult otherwise, like this year. And to advance the message of teshuva, rachamim and geula, we have the words of two great neviim to accompany us on either date, with the herald of the coming of Moshiach, Eliyahu Hanavi, always close nearby.

May Moshiach come now!

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Kasher v’Sameach!

Dr. Alan A. Mazurek is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem and Florida. He is a former chairman of the ZOA.

Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com