Americans have become desensitized to the phenomenon of gun violence and explosives that can suddenly and indiscriminately mar and destroy innocent life. Somehow mass murder has come to seem normal, and our political class is quick to rehearse the same tired lines about thoughts and prayers for the victims, denunciation of the perpetrators, and claims that on a policy level, nothing substantial can be done. But when 17 children were murdered in the gun attack at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL last month, something finally seemed to shift.
It has not been the adults, but rather the students from Parkland and across the nation who have led this stirring of consciousness and activism. It is challenging but also appropriate that the March For Our Lives rallies in DC and 800 other locations will be this Saturday, Shabbat HaGadol. Many of our synagogues have made Shabbat arrangements to allow teens and families to participate in the rallies, as has USY, connecting the themes of this special Shabbat with the crisis of gun violence that plagues our nation.
There is no single explanation for the naming of this special sabbath as Shabbat HaGadol, but the consensus as expressed in the Shulhan Arukh (OH 430:1) is that it recalls a miracle that occurred on the tenth of Nisan, just before the Exodus. According to the rabbis, the Exodus on 15 Nisan fell on Thursday, so the tenth was Shabbat, and it was on that day that every family began to defy the regime of Pharaoh and prepare publicly to worship God. This combination of defiance and dedication preceded the liberation, and it is the same combination that many teens are demonstrating in demanding that the plague of gun violence be contained. It was the killing of children that characterized the depravity of Pharaoh, and it was only when his cruelty rebounded and struck his own home that he agreed to release the Israelites. We too are stricken by the loss of so many children and are duty-bound to support the teens who are marching for their lives, and for the soul of this nation. Continue reading