שמיני Eight Eights
The number seven represents the natural reality. The world was created, and continues to be created anew each week, in a seven-day cycle. There are seven sefirot, divine attributes that define G-d’s relationship with our reality; these are reflected in the seven middot, the seven traits of the human heart.
Thus our sages explain the special significance of the number eight. If seven is the number of creation’s natural cycles, “eight” represents that which is higher than nature, the “circumference” that encompasses the circle of time and space. On that eighth day, the day that the divine presence came to dwell in the Mishkan, we were granted the potential to reach beyond the natural and the norm, to break free of the seven-dimensional cycle that defines and confines our existence.
Years that Pesach begins on Shabbos, in Chutz L’Eretz, Parsha Shemini is read eight times (Shabbos haGadol minchah, Yom Sheni, Yom Chamishi, Shabbos Pesach minchah, Shabbos Pesach last day minchan, Yom Sheni, Yom Chamishi, and Shabbos).
MATHTOID 64 (8 X 8) is the smallest number with 7 factors
A number which divides another number is called a factor (example: 6 divided by the factor of 2 equals 3). Each number can be divided evenly by a certain amount of factors. 64 (a square of 8) has only 7 factors, as in the chart below:
