“Behold, [says God], I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the great and awesome day of God.[1]”

Eliyahu Hanavi, Eliyahu Hatishbi, Elyahu Hagiladi, Bimherah Yavo Elenu Im Mashiach Ben David.

Elijah the Prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah the Giladite, May he soon come to us, with Messiah, the son of David.

Tonight is Shabbat haGadol, the Shabbat before Passover. We prepare ourselves for the seder and remind ourselves that God took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. God redeemed us from slavery and led us to freedom.

And so Today, thousands of years later, we recount these awesome miracles that God performed for our ancestors and we see ourselves as having been slaves in Egypt. We tell the Story no matter how wise we are because we must always remember that we were slaves in Egypt. Avadim Hayyinu, atah b’nai chorin. We were slaves, and now we are free.

After the Exodus from Egypt God engaged us in a brit, in covenant. We are not only free, dayeinu, freedom would have been enough. God gave us the Torah, and we committed to partner with God to celebrate our freedom through the commandments and to bring freedom to others.

If only God had taken us out of Egypt, Dayeinu, but God, you continued to provide. You gave us Shabbat, Dayienu, you gave us the Torah, Dayeinu, you gave us manna from heaven, Dayeinu, you brought us to the promised land, Dayeinu, you gave us the Temple, Dayeinu, generation after generation, you have helped redeem us from the hands of multiple Pharoahs and we are still here. Dayeinu.

But you have not brought us salvation. For that, we wait. Just like we will wait for Elijah the prophet to announce that the Messiah has arrived, which will surely be a great and awesome day. While we wait we sing Eliyahu and trick our children into thinking He visited our homes, stealing a sip of wine. Yet few of us harbor any expectation that Elijah will actually show up at our doors next and announce that the messianic age has arrived – true salvation promising an end to hunger, war, oppression, bigotry, and economic and ecological catastrophes.

Your prophet sings: “Behold, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the great and awesome day.[2]”

Today is could be that day. Today is a great and awesome day, Shabbat haGadol, but where is Elijah? Why isn’t he here, announcing our salvation?

Our answer is the same as it has been for generations, answered by the prophet Malachi, traditionally read on this Great Shabbat, Shabbat haGadol:

[In the time to come, the messianic age] the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of yore and in the years of old. But [first],

I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me: Who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger…

For I am the God—I have not changed; and you are the children of Jacob—you have not ceased to be. From the very days of your [ancestors] you have turned away from My laws and have not observed them. Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you—said the God. But you ask, “How shall we turn back?”[3]”

Generations later, we continue to turn away from you, and thus we wait for that great and awesome day. We have turned away from you and we, in 2023 have no fear of you, we swear falsely – claiming we can’t afford to stop burning fossil fuels – we cheat labors of their hire – we do not pay wages fairly by race and gender – we subvert the cause of the widow – refusing to care for the most vulnerable – the orphan – continuing to value guns over children and allowing children to go to bed hungry  – and the stranger – we refuse to redeem those seeking a better life by letting them into our country. We continue to transgress just like the days of our ancestors. Our technology might be different, our world might look different, yet we live our lives just the same. And so we wait.

In the traditional Hagadah there are 15 verses of Dayeinu, followed by a summary paragraph. It reads:

“How much more so is the good that is doubled and quadrupled that the [God] bestowed upon us [enough for us]; since God took us out of Egypt, and made judgments with them, and made [them] with their gods, and killed their firstborn, and gave us their money, and split the Sea for us, and brought us through it on dry land, and pushed down our enemies in [the Sea], and supplied our needs in the wilderness for forty years, and fed us the manna, and gave us the Shabbat, and brought us close to Mount Sinai, and gave us the Torah, and brought us into the land of Israel and built us [the Temple] to atone upon all of our sins.”

A Temple that was destroyed 2000 years ago. According to our sages it was destroyed because of sinat chinam, baseless hatred between factions in the Jewish kingdom. Factions that ultimately weakened the monarchy and led to a Roman invasion. We witness these factions today in Israel, and yet we do not have a Temple where we can atone for our sins. To atone today, we must acknowledge our missteps and do better. That is how we make atonement today.

On this Shabbat haGadol let us commit to turning back. Let us turn back by removing AR-15 rifles from the streets, let us turn back by insulating our homes and reducing our energy use, let us turn back by treating others with dignity, kindness and equity, let us see people of all genders and sexualities as created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. Let us turn back by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and loving the strangers who desperately knock on our doors. Let us turn back to You, and we know that you will return to us.

We know that redemption is possible, because we are proof of that redemption – from the hands of Pharoah we were redeemed, from the Crusaders we were redeemed not once but twice! From the monarchs of Spain, we were redeemed, from the oppression of the Tzar and the genocidal vision of Hitler, we were redeemed. We are still here, we have been redeemed. We were slaves and now we are free, free to turn back and bring about perfection in our world. We will not wait for a miracle, we will not wait for Elijah.

We will be the miracle.

Not just you, or you, or me, or Cantor, or Mishkan Israel, but all of us, together, we can be the miracle the brings redemption to all and salvation to our world. On that day you will sing to us:  

“Behold, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the great and awesome day of God.[4]”

Next year in Jerusalem, next year may we all be free.

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[1] Malachi 3:23 (Haftara for Shabbat haGadol)

[2] Malachi 3:23 (Haftara for Shabbat haGadol)

[3] Malachi 3:3-9

[4] Malachi 3:23 (Haftara for Shabbat haGadol)