The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Shemini

The Rebbe says:

1. The previous Torah portion (Parshas Tzav) told us about how the Jewish people inaugurated the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) for seven days. This weeks Torah portion starts off with telling us that “On the eighth day” Aaron the Kohen Gadol (the High Priest) and his sons the Kohanim (the Priests) were anointed to their positions (Leviticus, Chapter 9, Verse 1).

2. The Rebbe now asks a question which is asked by one of the commentaries called the “Kli Yakar”(Rabbi Shlomo Efraim of Luntchitz):

Question: The seven days of inaugurating the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) are one thing and the day of anointing Aaron and his sons is another, so why does the Torah call the day of their anointing the eighth day??

3. The Rebbe now quotes the answer which the “Kli Yakar” gives:

Answer: The Kli Yakar says that when the Torah calls the day of anointing Aaron and his sons “the eighth day” it is answering a question which one may have when he reads 3 verses later:

In the 4th Verse of this week’s Parshah the Torah tells us that Hashem was going to appear to the Jewish people on this day (of anointing). When one reads this he may ask “What specialty did the day of anointing have (over the seven days of inaugurating the Tabernacle)? Why did Hashem chose to appear to the Jewish people on specifically that day?”.

Therefore the Torah tells us that the day of anointing Aaron and his sons was the eighth day. The special quality of the number eight was the reason for Hashem’s revelation.

Q: What is so special about the number eight?

A: The Kli Yakar continues and says “The number seven is mundane and the number eight is Holy”. The Rebbe explains that the Kli Yakar could not have meant that the number seven is totally mundane, because Shabbos is on the seventh day of the week. The Kli Yakar must have meant that compared to the number eight the number seven is mundane.

(A proof to the Rebbe’s reasoning that the number seven on its own may in fact be Holy but when compared to eight it is mundane: The Talmud tells us that the harp which was played in the Holy Temple had seven strings but the harp which will be played when Moshiach comes will have eight strings (Tractate Arachin, Page 13, Side 2). So we see clearly that the number seven is Holy because the Holy Temple had a harp of seven strings, but at the same time we also see that when Moshiach comes and the revelation of Hashem will be at an infinitely greater degree we will have a harp of (specifically) eight strings).

The Rebbe explains the difference between the number 7 and 8: One will notice that there are seven days in a week and we do not continue counting (8th day, 9th day…), after the seventh day of the week we start counting a new week. So we see clearly that the number seven represents the limits and constrictions of this physical world (time and space).

Then there is the number eight which is a step above nature, eight is higher then the limits of the seven day unit in this world.

The bottom line is that the Kli Yakar answers his question (as to why the Torah calls the day of anointing Aaron and his sons “the eighth day”) by explaining that the Torah is answering to us what was so special about the day of anointing- because it was the eight day.

4. The Rebbe now challenges the answer of the Kli Yakar:

The Kli Yakar stressed that the number eight is infinitely greater then the number seven because the number seven represents limits and boundaries and the number eight represents a level with no constrictions. But doesn’t this (alleged answer) make his own question stronger!? The Kli Yakar asked “how could the Torah call the day of anointing “the eighth day” if it is different then the 7 days of inaugurating?” and then he goes to explain how the number eight is totally separate from the number seven! Not only did he not answer his question (by explaining the greatness of the number eight), he gave more strength to his question!?

5. The Rebbe now answers his question on the Kli Yakar and explains everything:

From the fact that the Torah says that the day of anointing Aaron and his sons is “the eight day” from the beginning of the Tabernacle’s inauguration we know that there must be a connection between the first 7 days of inauguration and the 8th day of anointing.

We will understand the connection easier if we first explain something else:

With regards to the revelation of the times of Moshiach, the Talmud tells us is that there will be a harp with 8 strings in the Beis Hmikdash (the Holy Temple) instead of a harp with 7 strings (Tractate Arachin, Page 13, Side 2). And as we said earlier the number 8 represents a level with has no boundaries or limits, no concealments or curtains over Hashem’s light. 8 is a level which creations cannot reach with their own work. Never-the-less we are told that all the revelations of Hashem in Moshiach times are dependant on our work today in exile. How does this make sense? If everything is dependant on our work now, how is it that we can bring about the revelation of 8 which is higher then where our work reaches??

The explanation is as follows: It is true that our work now can bring down certain levels of G-dliness into the world which is a prerequisite for the coming of Moshiach. And it is also true that the level of Moshiach times (the level of 8) cannot be reached by us.

How does this fit? If we do our part during exile and bring down all the G-dliness into this world that we possibly can, this makes us the world a proper vessel to be able to receive Hashem’s gift of revelation when Moshiach comes.

[Translators addition: For example- A person needs a cup/vessel in order to drink water, and on the other hand even if a person has a cup it does not necessarily mean he will get water. It is the same here: We need to make the world a proper vessel for Hashem to be able to pour his Blessings into it during the times of Moshiach (like the person who has the cup for the water), and only then can Hashem give us the gift of His great revelation of Moshiach].

Now we can understand why the Torah tells us that the day of anointment was the eighth day:

The Torah is telling us that even though the level of “8” is higher then what our own efforts can achieve, we should know that through our work in bringing down all the G-dliness that we can into this world (the level of “7”), Hashem will give us the level of “8” with Moshiach NOW!!!

Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos Chelek Yud Beis.