TZAV – SHABBAT HAGADOL – TAL
In this week’s Parasha, Tzav, Moshe is told, “Command (Tzav) Aharon and his sons regarding the law of a Burnt-Offering." The Kohanim were not to eat of this offering, it was to be burnt whole on the Mizbe’ach all night long until it was ashes. There are also many stories about how the ashes were cleaned from the Mizbe’ach but we will leave that for another time.
This is the Shabbat before Pesach, called the Great Sabbath, or Shabbat HaGadol! We chant a special Haftarah from the book of Malachi, from which most people think is derived the name of the Shabbat itself. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great (HaGadol) and awesome day of the Lord.” The parallels to Pesach are quite clear: just as the world was created in the month of Nissan; and the people of Israel were freed of Egyptian slavery in the same month, Nissan; so, too, will they be redeemed of their sins in time to come, in the month of Nissan. As Elijah is the one to announce the coming of our redemption, so Passover tradition calls upon us to open the door for Elijah the prophet to enter and join our Seder. Pesach, representing the redemption of our people from Egypt serves as the great redemption in the time of the Messiah to come.
A curious yet very beautiful prayer is recited once a year, on the first morning of Pesach, at the beginning of the Amidah repetition for Mussaf. It is called TAL, or DEW, a prayer for dew, not in our land but in Eretz Yisrael. Pesach heralds the end of the rainy season in Eretz Yisrael. The coming months are long and very hot and yet, plants grow during this season due to the breezes that bring moisture from the Mediterranean Sea which appear as dew each morning. Without this blessing, all of Israel would be mostly arid. Dew is a symbol of reivival. And so, this prayer speaks of our hope for a rebuilt renewed Jerusalem and Land of Israel; a prayer that has actually been answered after thousands of years.
The musical motifs of Tal bring an almost mystical solemnity to the otherwise celebratory prayers of Pesach. It is traditional for the hazzan or shiliach tzibbur to don a white robe as they would do on the High Holy Days. Dew is no small matter and the prayer for it is taken seriously (as is the prayer “GESHEM’ for rain chanted on Shmini Atzeret in the Fall). We have often had the choir join me for the beautiful setting of Tal by Yossele Rosenblatt. This year, we will be davening in the Malkov Chapel and I will be chanting a special solo setting by my revered teacher, Moshe Ganchoff a”h. I hope to see you in the synagogue during the entire holiday, but I personally invite you to join us for the beautiful and elevating prayer, TAL –
May dew fall upon the blessed land. Fill us with heaven’s finest blessings. May a light come out of the darkness to draw Israel to You as a root finds water from….DEW!
TAL, TAL, TAL TEIN…LIRTZOT ARTZACH. SHITEYNU BRACHAH, BRACHAH B’DITZACH……………..TAL……TAL……BO T’VAREICH MAZON……B’MASHMANEINU, AL YEHI RAZON
More to come on the first morning of Pesach, Tuesday, March 26 at 9:30 a.m.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi
