Shabbos HaGadol: inner root of redemption

בענין שבת הגדול.

Regarding the matter of Shabbos HaGadol (the Great Shabbos).

The Sefas Emes turns to the special Shabbos before Pesach and why it is called "the Great Shabbos."

דאיתא למכה מצרים בבכוריהם שמצרים בעצמם הכו זה את זה בשבת הגדול בעשור לחודש כו'.

For it is taught: "To Him who struck Egypt through their firstborn" (Tehillim 136:10) — that the Egyptians themselves struck one another on Shabbos HaGadol, on the tenth of the month, and so on.

On that Shabbos the firstborn of Mitzrayim, hearing of the coming plague, fought and killed their own people — Egypt collapsed by its own hand.

ורמז הענין דשורש הגאולה בנפשות בנ"י התחיל בעשור משכו ידיכם מע"ז וקחו צאן של מצוה וזה הי' הכנה בנפשות בנ"י אל הגאולה.

And the hint of the matter is that the root of the geulah within the souls of Bnei Yisrael began on the tenth: "Draw forth your hands from avodah zarah and take a lamb for the mitzvah" — and this was a preparation within the souls of Bnei Yisrael toward the geulah.

On the tenth of Nissan the Jews took the Pesach lamb, withdrawing from Egyptian idolatry. That inner act of choosing the mitzvah planted the spiritual root of the redemption inside their souls.

וכמו כן מפלת המצריים הי' בעצמותם ביום הזה כשזה קם זה נופל:

And likewise the downfall of the Egyptians occurred through their own selves on this very day — "when this one rises, that one falls."

As Bnei Yisrael rose spiritually on the tenth by embracing the mitzvah, Mitzrayim correspondingly fell by its own internal collapse — the two are mirror images, one ascending as the other descends.

Summary: Shabbos HaGadol marks the tenth of Nissan, when Bnei Yisrael took the Pesach lamb and drew away from avodah zarah, planting the inner root of the geulah in their souls. As they rose, Egypt fell by its own hand — the two movements are one reality: "when this one rises, that one falls."