In the liturgical cycle, special Shabbatot surrounding the holidays are typically named after the unique passages read on them. Even Shabbatot that have no special Torah reading, but do have a unique haftarah, take their name from the first line of that haftarah. This is the case with Shabbat Chazon, which immediately precedes Tisha Be’av; Shabbat Nachamu, which follows it; and Shabbat Shuva, which comes before Yom Kippur.

Why then do we call this Shabbat “Hagadol”? The word “Hagadol,” meaning “the great,” does not appear in the opening of the haftarah, whose first verse is: וְעָרְבָה לָה מִנְחַת יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם כִּימֵי עוֹלָם וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיֹּת – “Then the offering of Yehuda and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and years past” (Malachi 3:4).

Commentaries have offered different answers to this question. The Tosafot (Shabbat 87b, s.v. ואותו יום) explains that in fact, the appellation “Hagadol” has........

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