Three stages of the soul's redemption

ומה שייחסו השם לשבת שקודם פסח דמצינו סדר הפסח בג' זמנים.

As for why they attached the name [HaGadol, "the Great"] to the Shabbos before Pesach — we find the order of Pesach in three times.

The Sefas Emes asks why this Shabbos is called "HaGadol" and notes that the Pesach process unfolded in three distinct stages.

בר"ח הי' הציווי.

On Rosh Chodesh was the command.

The mitzvah of the korban Pesach was first commanded at the start of the month of Nisan.

ובעשור הלקיחה.

On the tenth was the taking [of the lamb].

On the tenth of Nisan Bnei Yisrael took the lamb in preparation — the event commemorated by Shabbos HaGadol.

ובי"ד עיקר השחיטה.

And on the fourteenth was the main act of the slaughtering.

The korban itself was offered on the fourteenth, the eve of the redemption.

כי הגאולה הוא מצד השי"ת הגואל ובר"ח נגמר הגאולה מצד השי"ת שהבטיחם כחצות אני יוצא כו'.

For the geulah comes from the side of Hashem, the Redeemer; and on Rosh Chodesh the geulah was completed from Hashem's side, for He promised them, "About midnight I will go out [into Egypt]" (Shemos 11:4).

From Hashem's side the redemption was already settled at Rosh Chodesh, when He pledged to strike Egypt and take His people out.

ומצד בנ"י הנגאלים הי' נגמר בעשור דכתיב משכו ידיכם מע"ז כו'.

And from the side of Bnei Yisrael, the ones being redeemed, it was completed on the tenth, as it is written: "Draw [out and take for yourselves a lamb]" — withdraw your hands from avodah zarah (idolatry).

The people's part in the redemption was accomplished on the tenth, when, by taking the lamb, they pulled themselves away from Egyptian idolatry.

וזה הי' עיקר הגאולה בנפשותם.

And this was the main redemption in their souls (nefashos).

Renouncing idolatry was the essential inner, spiritual liberation — the geulah of the soul.

ואח"כ בפסח נשלם הגאולה להוציאם מיד פרעה המשעבדם.

And afterward, on Pesach, the geulah was completed, to bring them out from the hand of Pharaoh who enslaved them.

The final, physical exodus from Pharaoh's bondage came on Pesach itself.

והרי התורה תלתה כל המצות ביציאת מצרים א"כ אינו במקרה והי' הגלות בנשמות למעלה ובנפש וגוף למטה.

And the Torah made all the mitzvos depend on Yetzias Mitzrayim, so it is not by chance — the galus was in the neshamos above, and in the nefesh and the guf (body) below.

Since the Torah roots all mitzvos in the Exodus, its stages are meaningful: the exile and redemption operated on multiple planes — the higher soul, the lower soul, and the body.

ובעשור הי' גאולת הנפשות ובפסח בגוף.

On the tenth was the redemption of the souls, and on Pesach the redemption of the body.

The tenth liberated the soul (through renouncing idolatry); Pesach liberated the body (through leaving Egypt).

ולכן יחסו הגדולה לשבת שהוא יומא דנשמתין ולאו דגופא.

Therefore they attached the "greatness" to Shabbos, which is the "day of souls (yoma d'nishmasin)" and not of the body.

Shabbos HaGadol marks the soul's redemption because Shabbos is a day belonging to the realm of the neshamah rather than the body.

אכן בשורש הנשמה שלמעלה הי' התחלה עוד בר"ח ניסן.

However, at the root of the soul above, the beginning was already on Rosh Chodesh Nisan.

At the very highest root of the soul, the redemptive process began even earlier, at Rosh Chodesh, corresponding to Hashem's side of the geulah.

וזה שדרשו חז"ל הגיע שבועה כו' ואתם ערום בלי מצוה ע"ש.

And this is what Chazal expounded: "the time of the oath had arrived… but you were naked, without mitzvos" (see Yechezkel 16); see there.

The Midrash describes Bnei Yisrael at the Exodus as "naked" — lacking the merit of mitzvos that would justify their redemption.

דקשה דכתיב ותבואו בעדי עדיים שדים נכונו א"כ למה כתיב ערום.

For there is a difficulty: it is written "and you came into the finest adornments… your breasts were firm" (Yechezkel 16:7) — if so, why is it written "naked"?

The Sefas Emes notes a tension: one verse describes them as adorned and developed, yet they are also called "naked."

רק דהמצות הם כלים כדמיון רמ"ח איברים לקבל הארת הנשמה.

Rather, the mitzvos are vessels, like the 248 limbs, to receive the illumination of the neshamah.

The 248 positive mitzvos correspond to the 248 limbs — they are the "garments" or vessels that hold the light of the soul.

ובנשמה הי' נגמר הגאולה.

And in the neshamah the geulah was already complete.

On the level of the soul itself, the redemption was finished — they were inwardly adorned and ready.

רק המלבוש שהוא הנפש ברמ"ח פקודין התחיל עתה הגאולה בעשור לחודש ודו"ק:

Only the garment, which is the nefesh, [clothed] in the 248 commandments — its redemption began now, on the tenth of the month; and understand this well.

The soul was already redeemed and "adorned," but its outer garment — the nefesh expressed through fulfilling mitzvos — was still "naked" and only began its redemption on the tenth, resolving why both descriptions apply.

Summary: The Pesach redemption unfolded in three stages — the command on Rosh Chodesh (Hashem's side), the taking of the lamb on the tenth (the soul's liberation from idolatry), and the slaughter on the fourteenth (the body's exodus). Shabbos HaGadol, a "day of souls," marks the soul's redemption on the tenth; while the neshamah was already redeemed and adorned, its outer garment — the nefesh clothed in mitzvos — was still "naked" and only then began its own geulah.