28 Mar SHABBOS HAGADOL

The Tur (430)
writes, “The Shabbos
before Pesach is Shabbos HaGadol because a
nes gadol, a great miracle, happened on that
day. [On this final Shabbos in Mitzrayim],
everyone took a sheep for the korban Pesach
and tied it to their bedposts. The Mitzrim
asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’ The Yidden
replied that Hashem commanded them to
slaughter the sheep as a korban Pesach. The
Egyptians were distressed that the Yidden
planned to slaughter their G-ds, but they
didn’t have permission to say anything.
Therefore, in remembrance of this great
miracle, this Shabbos is called Shabbos
HaGadol.”
Tosfos (Shabbos 87:) states that there is
more to this story. The firstborns of Mitzrayim
asked the Yidden why they tied the sheep to
the bedposts. The Yidden replied that they are
for a korban Pesach to celebrate the deaths
of firstborn Egyptians. Because on the night
of Pesach, Hashem will smite all firstborn
Egyptians. The firstborn Egyptians rushed
to their parents and Pharaoh and demanded
that they free the Jewish nation to spare their
lives. Pharaoh and their parents didn’t heed
their shouts.
At that point, the firstborns declared war

on Mitzrayim. As it states (Tehillim 136:10),
בבכוריהם מצרים למכה “,To smite the Egyptians
by their firstborns.” Many Egyptians died
in that war. This is the miracle that we
celebrate on Shabbos HaGadol.1 Whichever
translation of Shabbos HaGadol you prefer,
Shabbos HaGadol is a day to praise Hashem
for the miracles He performed for us.
Therefore, this week
we will discuss the
important avodah
of praising Hashem.
We will study how to
praise Hashem, and
the great salvations
that come from it. We
should praise Hashem
for the miracles of
yetzias Mitzrayim and
the myriad of miracles
that He performs every
day.
Focus on the Good
To praise Hashem, you first have to
recognize all the goodness you enjoy in life.
If you do not focus on the good, you will
think you have no reason to praise Hashem.
Therefore, instead of thinking about how
much you lack, consider all the good you
possess. With this in mind, you will be able
to praise Hashem. Of course, this is easier

said than done because people tend to take all
the good they enjoy in life for granted. They
think that it couldn’t be otherwise and don’t
feel compelled to thank and praise Hashem
for all the good He bestows upon them. There
was a gadol in Yerushalayim who wanted to
help parents recognize the goodness in their
lives, so when someone came and told him,
“I get a mazal tov!
My wife just had
a baby,” he would
respond, “That’s
wonderful news.
How many fingers
does the baby
have?”
“Ten.”
“Ten? Baruch
Hashem! Mazal
tov! Mazal tov! You
should have much
nachas!”
He would mention the ten fingers to remind
the parent that he should thank Hashem for
that, as well. Once, a baby was just born, and
the parents watched in horror as the doctor
painstakingly examined each of the newborn
child’s fingers.
“Doctor, is something wrong?” they asked.
“Everything is fine,” the doctor replied.
“It is just that as a doctor, I must check
the child’s health and report it in writing.
Part of my job is to count and make sure
that the child has all ten fingers. So I
was looking at the fingers and counting
them.”
Yes, we must be thankful for that too, and
for the billions of other miracles Hashem
does for us each day. Reb Shlomo Brevda
zt’l was walking down the stairway from
his second-floor apartment and slipped.
He could have fallen all the way to the
street below, but with
Hashem’s help, he grabbed onto the
handrail. He considered this a miracle
and was sure that he would never be the
same person anymore. His Torah, his
tefillah, and everything he does would
be different. But soon enough, he forgot
about the salvation and went back to
serving Hashem as he had before. He went
to the Chazon Ish zt’l to ask him why this
occurred. The Chazon Ish replied, “Do
you think miracles happen only to you?
Everyone experiences miracles. That’s
why we say in [You praise We, ‘[ ניסיך על
עמנו יום שבכל Modim for the miracles You
perform for us each and every day.’ But
there is a yetzer hara that is appointed
specifically to cause people to forget.
That’s what happened to you. You
forgot the miracle. A person’s avodah
is to remember the good chasadim that
Hakadosh Baruch Hu does with him, all

the time.” I heard about an eighty-seven-
year-old man who was hospitalized

and was placed on
a respirator. Two
weeks later, when he
recovered, the hospital
personnel told him,
“Your condition
became critical,
and we were in an
emergency, so we put you on a respirator. But
now that you are well enough to be off the
machine, you will need to pay for it. It will
be ten thousand dollars…”
The old man began to cry. “O.K., we’ll give
you a deduction.” He cried some more. “You
know what, we’ll charge you half because we
see that it is so hard for you to pay for it.”
He replied, “I wasn’t crying over the cost.
I was crying because when I heard that to
breathe for two weeks the cost is ten thousand
dollars, I realized how thankful I should be
to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Who enables me
to breathe all the time. And Hashem gives
it to me for free and without any pain. How
thankful I should be to Hashem!”
This story reminds us of the following
Gemara (Bava Metzia 86.): On a sweltering
day, Reb Shimon ben Chalafta sat on the top
of a mountain and asked his daughter to wave
a fan for him. He told her that he would pay
her with a package of besamim. And then the
wind blew, and Reb Shimon ben Chalafta
was relieved. He said, “How many packages
of besamim do I owe to the Creator of these
winds!”
The Toras Chaim (Bava Kama 16.) writes,
“Hashem does kindness with every person
every day and every moment. Mankind does
not recognize the miracles that happen to
them.
They perceive the world and all that
occurs in it as a result of nature. They don’t
appreciate that their every step, movement,
and breath are from Hashem Yisbarach.
It would be proper for a person to praise
Hashem every moment, as Chazal ” say כל
Hashem praise should we, ה י תהלל הנשמה
for each breath. But it is impossible to do
so. Therefore, Anshei Kneses HaGedolah
instituted to recite Modim three times each
day. When we say this prayer of gratitude,
we should praise Hashem for everything.
When we say לך הפקודות נשמותנו על ,we thank
Hashem for each נשימה ,each breath. Chazal
instituted that one should bow during Modim,
in the manner that people bow to one another
when they express their gratitude. Chazal say
that if one doesn’t bow during Modim, his
spine will become a snake in his grave. This
is because he didn’t bow by Modim to praise
Hashem for His kindness, which means he
doesn’t believe in Hashem’s kindness. The
Midrash says that the snake (who came to
entice Chavah) stood upright ( קומה זקופה .)It
didn’t bow in gratitude to Hashem. When
one doesn’t bow by Modim, he resembles
the snake, who didn’t recognize Hashem’s
kindness.”