Shabbat HaGadol translates to great sabbath. It is considered great because it marks the day the Egyptian first born were slain by g-d to free the Jewish people. Interestingly enough, it is not necessarily the first born who make the holiday so special.

At the same time the Jews were told to sacrifice the lamb. The reason was that the lamb at the time was one of the foremost Egyptian gods. It was similar to the time when Abraham was told to smash the idols and sacrifice his son (which ended up being another poor lamb instead.)

Why do we say poor lamb in this instance? Because it was not the slaughter we were supposed to enjoy. We did not celebrate the drinking of the blood or anything violent like this. Rather it was sympathy for the lamb we were to celebrate. After seeing the lamb slaughtered for our sins, we were supposed to be thankful to g-d and remorseful for the creature we had to kill to save ourselves.



This parralells directly to two major incidents in the news today. The slaughter of Sheik Yassin, and the Pasion of Christ are two instances when the lamb was sacrificed.

Yassin, a quadrapalegic, was physically a lamb. Spiritually he was a godhead to the wrong Palestinian cause. He preeched hatred of the Jews and slaughter of innocent children- even of his own first born. Like Pharoah, he didn't wish to let the Jews go about their lives in peace and freedom. He lauded their destruction. It was his ideology that gave the world a reason to mistrust the Palestinian state. Because of him, a cause that may have been legitimate was converted from peaceful protest to a vile violent struggle.

Much as Jews may wish to rejoice in his death and decapitation of his aweful hate filled mouth, that is not what this killing should represent. Rather, Yassin should be seen as idolatrous. His slaughter should be seen as a sacrifice for the Jews and the Palestinians to come closer to god. Without men like Yassin, the Palestinians are returned to human interest, a people, not a terrorist threat. The sacriligious leader who advocated not the love of god but pure murder was bad for Jews and muslims who preech peace alike.

In all truth, wihen leaders like Yassin abuse god with racism and hatred- and to be honest although Sharon is rather secular the same might be said for things he has done, the whole of the people suffer, and there can be little or no outside sympathy from the masses.

When that voice is silenced, and the voice of love and reason emerges as in the Palestinians call for restraint after his death, Jews have no choice but to recognise that with the bad gone, the balance of good of the Palestinians must be recognised and protected.

The images of Palestinian children in bomb vests brought about an amazing reaction from the Jewish people. Instead of calling for their execution, the Jews called for an end to using children, signifying that they (as a public not a government) had great sympathy for the death or use of any child in war. With this image in mind, perhaps the collateral innocent victims of this war will be recognised and perhaps someday they will be protected out of love for the children, who embody life in all religions.

The same goes for the Mel Gibson movie. Although historians are quick to point out that "Jews," did not kill Jesus, he is a sacrifice made by the Jewish leader of the time. For Jews it is a time to reflect, that a man was hung on a cross to save his people from a Roman attack. Similarly, we should have sympathy, despite not accepting culpability, for the sacrifce of a life. It was not Christ's dying for sins we should rejoice for. Rather, it was the sympathy with the suffering of Christ we should remeber and honor. Seeing his suffering should urge people not to sin, to end an eturnal suffering by being kind and loving to one another. Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike must learn love of their fellow religion above all. Out of this compassion for death springs compassion for the living. Since giving to others is the ultimate compassionate act, the sacrifices should teach us to give, build, and help, rather than slaughter that may make us feel guilty for the one sacrificed.

With the death of Yassin, as with the death of Christ, nothing changed immediately. The parralell ends there. Christ was a lover, Yassin a hater, they could not be further apart. But in their mutual sacrifice, they may bring symapthy to the less fortunate and highlight the need for peace and brotherhood among all peoples. In two very different ways, their deaths have the same meaning, to bring hope..

Palestinians should see his death as a martyrdom of their hatred. Giving up bigoted statements like his may be what is needed to bring about trust and peace with their neighbors. The stronger Hamas' military wing grows, the less people have love for Palestinians. On the other hand, if Hamas chose a new path of reconcilliation, Israel would have no option but to play nice. Once the terroism is over, trade, tourism, jobs, and life come back, not only to Israel, but above all to Palestine.

In this way, I could almost thank Yassin for being a symbol of the death of the bad side in Palestine. With trepadation, I say there must be a balance. It is imperative that Gaza be handed over to the Palestinians by this time next year, so the the sacrifice of their hate can be rewarded with love, and newly returned functioning land, and the best building you can buy for free, donated by Jews to their newly peaceful Palestinian neighbors.