The Eighth Day

Weekly Torah Lesson

Parsha: Shemini – Eighth
Torah: Va Yikra (Leviticus) 9:1 – 11:47

1 And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moshe called Aharon and his sons, and the elders of Israel; 2  And he said to Aharon, Take you a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a Olah offering, without blemish, and offer them before Avinu. (V’Ikra 9:1)

1. On The Eighth Day
Our Sidra begins with the words, “And it came to pass on the eighth day. . . .” The Kli Yakar, in his commentary to the Torah, asks why this day, which followed the seven days of consecration of the Sanctuary, was called the “eighth day.” For this implies that it was a natural continuation of the previous days. But in fact the consecration was limited to seven days: “And you shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration be fulfilled; for He shall consecrate you seven days.” During that time the altar was dedicated. And the following day was quite separate: It was set aside for the induction of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood.

The answer which the Kli Yakar gives is that it is called the eighth day to emphasize its extraordinary character. For it is written shortly afterwards, “Today Avinu appears to you.” And to explain why it was then that Avinu appeared, and not during the actual days of consecration, the Torah tells us that it was because it was the eighth day. Seven is the number of the days of the week, the measure of earthly time, a symbol of the human dimension. Eight signifies the more-than-human; it is the symbol of holiness.

This is why a circumcision can be performed on Shabbat. For circumcision takes place on the eighth day from birth, and Shabbat is the seventh day. In other words, Shabbat belongs to human time, but circumcision belongs to the realm of the Holy, the supernatural. And the claims of the spiritual override those of the physical.

2. Degrees of Holiness
To say that seven is the span of the week does not mean that it is the symbol of the weekday world, the secular. Because Shabbat is itself one of those seven days, and it is a day of holiness. But nonetheless it is reckoned as one of the seven days of creation, and thus belongs to the created order. Whereas the number eight expresses the idea of being beyond the normal confines of time, and thus of being wholly united with Avinu as He is in Himself, rather than as He is related to the world.

The Kli Yakar cites an example of this significance of the number eight, namely that the harp which will be used in the Temple of the Messianic Era will have eight strings. The harp which was played in the Sanctuary had only seven. It was holy. But less so than the harp of Messianic times.

The Torah itself is holy. But compared to the way in which it will be learned and revealed in the Messianic Age, our own response to it is called, in the Midrash, “a vanity.”

There are, in other words, degrees of holiness. There is the holiness of this world, which is symbolized by the number seven, which is confined to the limits of human capabilities. And there is the holiness which goes beyond the world, beyond the idea that Avinu and the world are two distinct entities, which is expressed in the number eight.

3. Gifts and Reward
Curiously, the answer which the Kli Yakar gives to his own question does not appear to answer it. Instead it seems to make the question more forceful.

If the eighth day stands for the state of absolute unity with Avinu, then it signifies something supernatural. If so, then it surely has no connection with the previous seven days of consecration, which represented human activity, the sanctification of the natural order, and earthly time. Whereas the clear implication of the phrase “the eighth day” is that it was a continuation of the previous seven.

The answer is that supernatural revelation depends on our human efforts. The Messianic Age will be brought about by our acts of worship and of service of Avinu. Our efforts to consecrate the world during the seven days of human time are the gestures of faithfulness which will produce the Divine response of the eighth day-the day of the Messiah. So that although the Messianic Age will be of an altogether higher level of holiness than we can evoke with our Divine Service in the present, it will not be a sudden break in the history of human consciousness. It will be the outcome of what we do now. It will be the “eighth day” in the sense that it continues and completes the perfection after which we now strive, after we have done all of which we are capable.

To draw an analogy: Shabbat, which is the seventh day, has two aspects. Firstly it is one of the days of the week, holier than the other six, but still a part of human time. There is a significant phrase in the command: “And the children of Israel shall keep the Shabbat, to make (usually translated, ‘to observe’) the Shabbat throughout their generations.” Shabbat is something we make. It is a Sanctuary within the week which we construct by our own service. But secondly the Shabbat is “a semblance of the World to Come,” a glimpse of the Messianic Age.

This aspect of the Shabbat is not something we can achieve ourselves. It is something we receive as a gift from Avinu. It is this of which the Talmud says, “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe, I have a precious gift in My treasure house, and it is called the Shabbat.”

There is a difference between a gift and a reward: A reward is something which the recipient has earned, a gift is something he receives only through the grace of his benefactor. And this facet of Shabbat, this glimpse of the future revelation, belongs entirely to the grace of Avinu. It has a holiness which goes beyond human limitations.

Yet, even though it is a gift, we must work for it. The Rabbis say, “If the recipient had not given some pleasure (to the donor of the gift) he would not have given it to him.” That is, if we do not give pleasure to Avinu by our actions, we will not receive His gift. Whereas “he who labors on the eve of Shabbat will eat on Shabbat.” Because of our labors we are given a Divine gift which far outweighs the worth of our work.

The same is true about the revelation within the Sanctuary on the eighth day. Although it was not earned by the human activity of consecration on the previous seven days, it was only when this consecration was completed that the Divine response came. Avinu gives His gift to man only after man has done all within his power to consecrate himself to Avinu. This is why it is called the “eighth day”-the day of Divine grace which answers the seven days of man’s own initiative in drawing close to Avinu.