WELCOMING SHABBAT

Shabbat is more than a day of refraining from worldly activity.

When experienced to its spiritual fullest, its holiness enlightens all other days of the week.

We invite you to enhance your Shabbat with these words of Torah.

 

The number 8 in red and orange, with light focused on it, surrounded by flowers

Parshat Nasso 5773 – The Number 8

Parshat Nasso 5773 – The Number 8

Liebenberg, Rabbi Mordechai
June 10, 2022

What is the significance of the number 8?

 

Our sages tell us that 7 is the number of this physical world. God created the world in 7 days.

 

And 7 represents all of the different directions: up, down, north, east, south, and west… and then that single point that bonds them all together.

 

This world is bound by 7…

 

[The number] 8 is on a higher level… [It] represents something that is… beyond this world… And this is the Torah. The Torah comes into this world, manifests in this world and it’s something we keep, observe and learn in this world, but it comes from a higher place.

The brit mila of a baby boy takes place on the 8th day… From the point of view of the physical world, that boy is perfect, there is nothing that needs to be fixed,… [but we need to perfect this physical world according to the rules of the spiritual world, which is symbolized by the number 8].