This week’s lesson is dedicated by Rabbi Leibel and Musie Kesselman
in loving memory of their daughter Chana Kesselman
in honor of her fourth Yartzeit, 29 Teves
A. The Egyptian Rebellion
In this week’s Torah portion, G-d commands the Jews to take a sheep and prepare it for slaughter (Source 1). This caused the miracle of Shabbat HaGadol, when the Egyptian firstborns realized they were in a bind and started a civil war (Source 2-3).
As the Rebbe explains, this was an exceptional miracle, because it came from within the Egyptians themselves (Source 4).
But, the Rebbe asks, why did the Jews deserve it? As explained in Source 5, miracles only happen when we earn it.
B. The Jewish Revolution
The answer is that we earned it by repudiating idolatry. The Jews were idol worshipers (Source 7), and it was at this moment that they cut themselves off from idol worship despite the danger (Source 8).
