Shabbos Hagodol in Thought

Our Calender runs on a twin system, solar years and lunar months . . .
Our weeks are the cycle of the sun; Sun rise, sun set (cue the music), sun rise, sun set . . . seven times the cycle is a week.
Our months, the phases of the moon . . .

Our Holidays are celebrated based on their date in the month -Purim on the 14th of Adar, Pesach the 15th of Nisan . . . Save one.
Shabbos Hagodol, which commemorates the rebellion of the Egyptian firstborn on the tenth of Nisan, a precursor to the exodus that would take place five days later, is celebrated on the day of the week in which it first occurred -on a Shabbos.

The sun represents nature, the cycle of life, the status quo . . . The days of the week, therefore, are the cycle of life, the flow of energy in our world, in its natural way.
The month, is existence above nature. Chodesh the Hebrew word for month comes from the word chidush -something new. The month is the breaking of the norm, the change that comes from the unseen . . . the new moon, born of not . . .

Our Holidays commemorate and allow us to relive and draw from miracles in out past. The Exodus was an unprecedented miracle, even Purim breaks beyond the bounds of the norm. These days, then, are celebrated in the monthly cycle. Shabbos Hagodol, however, was by all means a very natural occurrence -the firstborn, after seeing the havoc that the previous plagues had wrought on Egypt, were by very normal means compelled to fight the government in an effort to free the Jews and prevent the tenth plague . . . We therefore commemorate it in the weekly scheme of time, being that it is by all means, if such a name is possible, a mundane miracle.

Yet we call this Shabbos, "Shabbos Hagodol" -the Great Shabbos . . . Why? Because when is G-d's greatness and unity felt? When even the very fabric of nature can be used out to serve G-d. A 'normal' miracle is the breaking of nature, a spiritual jolt sent to wake us from our slumber, yet it must break the bounds of creation to be felt . . . a miracle such as 'Shabbos Hagodol' works within the fabric of reality . . .