Partzuf The Number Eight
Wonders | April 24, 2025
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Partzuf The Number Eight

Wonders | December 10, 2025

Our parashah this week, Shemini, begins with a very distinctive idiom, “the eighth day” (יום השמיני), “On the eighth day, Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.”

Perhaps you already know that the number 8 stands above the commonplace, beyond the natural. Seven represents the consummate wholeness of nature, most strongly captured by the seventh day, Shabbat, with which the Almighty brought Creation to its conclusion. But if we do not stop at seven and continue to eight, we are in a sense penetrating the realm that lies above nature. The number 8 transcends the mundane and therefore represents eternity. One of the most intriguing facts related to this quality of the number 8 is that it was chosen to represent “infinity” (∞). Technically, this figure is known as a lemniscate and why it was chosen is shrouded in mystery, however, it is worth noting that the symbol used in ancient Hebrew script to represent the letter chet (ח), the eighth letter in the Hebrew alephbet, whose value is 8, looks like a number 8: .

The eternity associated with the number eight is most strongly identified with circumcision which is also performed on the eighth day of life. When we circumcise on the eighth day it is as if we are saying, nature is not enough and the beauty and meaning of life can transcend nature. In other words, even the perfection of nature in this world can never be enough. The eighth day, which is so essential to Jewish life, sends us the message that we can never say we are content with what we have achieved (in spirit). The essence of being Jewish is to be able to feel that everything I have done so far is relatively nothing. Rebbe Zusha used to say, “Until today, I have done nothing.” Like Zusha, we too must begin the whole story of being Jewish today, and every day.

Now, the opening phrase of our parashah, "the eighth day" appears 13 times in the Torah, in 8 different contexts. The connection between 8 and 13 is known in Kabbalah. In the Ashuri script used when writing a Torah scroll, tefillin, and mezuzot, the letter chet (ח), whose value is 8, is written—according to the Arizal—as a vav and a zayin (ח) connected; the sum of these two letters is 13. The golden ratio of 13 is also 8 and 5.

Often, the number 13 is divided into 8 and 5. For instance, with regard to circumcision, the sages state that, “Great is circumcision as 13 covenants were made on it.” The act of circumcision, which takes place on the 8th day, represents these 13 covenants. What we are adding now may be the most amazing thing about this relationship between 8 and 13 is that the 13 instances of the phrase “the eighth day” in the Torah clearly appear in 8 different contexts, with 5 of these contexts including two appearances of the phrase.

This is truly a beautiful division of 8 and 5. There is another connection between “the eighth day,” the name of our parashah and the number 8. There are years when we read Shemini eight times, a phenomenon described as “eight Shemini—fat [i.e., opulent]” (הנמישינמה שמנ), indicating that when this occurs, the year itself will be opulent, filled with blessings both physically and spiritually.

The instance of “the eighth day” in our parashah is not its first appearance in the Torah. “Everything follows the inception” and the first time it appears is in Parashat Mishpatim. It is the first time and also the only time in the Book of Exodus, and there is no appearance of this phrase in the book of Genesis. The verse in Exodus is: “You shall do the same to your ox, to your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me” (ןכּינימּש םהויּבוםאיה עיהיםימת יעבּשךאנֹצּלךרֹׁשךעשּתילֹנותּת). This verse refers to an animal that can be brought as a sacrifice and states that it can only be offered once it is 8 days old. Even though it sounds like an obligatory statement—when the animal reaches 8 days, you must bring it as a sacrifice—in fact, it is voluntary and only revealing that you must wait until the animal’s eighth day of life.

Reflecting only on the final words in this verse, the words that contain the phrase “the eighth day”—“on the eighth day you shall give it to Me”—we notice that they end with “to Me” (יל), about which the sages say, “Wherever it says ‘to me,’ it means that once done it will not move, neither in this world nor in the world to come.” So, when you offer the animal on the eighth day there is a special quality to the giving as it lasts forever.

This is the deeper meaning of “On the eighth day you shall give it to Me.” The giving of the animal on the eighth day is akin to the circumcision of the child on the eighth day—both actions exhibit the characteristic eternity/transcendence of the eighth.

The value of the phrase “On the eighth day you shall give it to Me” (ֹנותּי תּינימּש םהויּב) 1369 (יל, or 37 squared, where 37 is the value of yechidah (הידחְי, the singular one, the highest level of the soul). This number first appears in the Torah in the second verse, in the words, “And the spirit of God was hovering over the waters,” (יםהֹלֱ אַחּרוְוםיָּמַי ההֵנְּל פַת עֶפֶחַרְמ), which the sages explain refers to the spirit of the Mashiach, which is also identified with the soul’s highest level.

When we consider this commandment from Mishpatim in terms of Divine service, we note that the verse begins with, “thus shall you do for your ox and for your sheep,” referring to every individual’s animal soul. Some animal souls are likened to an ox, others to a sheep, but what they all require is that the spark of Mashiach within each individual repeatedly subdue the animal soul and make it subservient. God wants us to continuously strive to serve Him even with our animal soul, which is rooted above the root of the Divine soul.

How does a person submit and sacrifice the animal soul? It is written in Tanya that by giving more charity, again and again, he sacrifices the animal soul.

THE 7 ADDITIONAL INSTANCES OF “THE EIGHTH DAY”

The second time "the eighth day" is mentioned is in this week’s parashah, Shemini. Here the eighth day refers to the eighth day of the inauguration of the Tabernacle. Though the Tabernacle was impermanent—it was dismantled and reconstructed each time the Israelites moved in the wilderness—its most important feature, the permanence of the Divine indwelling—“And I will dwell among them”—began on the eighth day. Thus, the Tabernacle is the second eighth day.

The third instance appears in next week’s parashah, Tazria, in reference to Brit Milah (circumcision), “And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.”

The next four instances appear in parashat Metzora, twice in the purification of the metzora (the so-called leper) and twice in the purification of the zav (a man experiencing genital discharge) and of the zavah (a woman experiencing menstruation) both of which conclude on the eighth day of their purification process. We see then that the words “on the eighth day” are a segulah (remedy) for purification.

The next time this phrase appears is regarding Shemini Atzeret, an independent festival that is known as the eighth day of Sukkot. “Seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to Havayah; on the eighth day, you shall observe a holy occasion and bring a [separate] offering by fire to Havayah... .”

The next instance of “on the eighth day” is found in the laws of the Nazirite whose consecrated hair was defiled, “On the eighth day he shall bring to turtledoves or to pigeons....” Here we have another rectification of a state of impurity that happens on the eighth day.

The eighth context in which “the eighth day” appears is the inauguration offerings brought by the kings of the twelve tribes to the Tabernacle. Each of the kings, following the order of their encampment round the Tabernacle, brought an identical offering, and “On the eighth day, it was the king of the children of Manasseh, Gamliel son of Pedahtzur” (הּׁשַנְי מנֵבִיא לִׂשָי נִינִמְּשַם הויַּב רּהצוָּדְּן פֶּל בֵּיאִלְמַּג). This is the final appearance of the “eighth day” in the Pentateuch. Notice that the entire verse has 8 words. Its value is 1872, which is the product of 72 and 26, where 72 is the value of “loving-kindness” (דֶסֶח) and 26 is the value of God’s essential Name, Havayah (1872 .י-הוה is also a multiple of 8. This also connects with the fact that the tribe of Menasheh corresponds to the eighth month of the year, Cheshvan.

PARTZUF OF “THE EIGHTH DAY”

Since we have found that all the instances of “the eighth day” belong to 8 distinct issues, let us conceptualize and order them as a partzuf, a Kabbalistic model. In this case, even though we have eight elements to correspond to a Kabbalistic model, we will use the sefirot. In the crown, we will place the Nazirite. The word “nazir” in Hebrew literally means crown.

So-called leprosy is associated in Kabbalah with a burst of revelation from the sefirah of wisdom, and so we will place the purification of the metzora in wisdom.

We correspond the eighth day of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret with the sefirah of understanding because it is considered the day of reception, the day on which all the spiritual effluence from Sukkot is received into the womb of the Mother Principle (Imma Ila’ah), which represents the sefirah of understanding. In fact, understanding is the eighth sefirah (from below to above, starting with kingdom) and is therefore referred to as “the eighth firmament.”

What this also means is that this entire partzuf that we are now constructing is related to the Mother Principle (Imma Ila’ah).

The phrase “the eighth day” which appears in context of the Tabernacle corresponds to the sefirah of knowledge (da'at). The Tabernacle, and the Temple in Jerusalem after it, represent the spread of knowledge of God everywhere as in the verse, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Havayah, just as waters cover the sea,” and King Solomon’s prayer, “Hear in Your heavenly abode and grant all that the foreigner asks You for; thus, all the people of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will know that Your name is attached to this House that I have built.” The ultimate purpose of the Divine Presence in Israel is to fill the world with the knowledge of God. Similarly, in parashat Shemini, the Divine Presence came down to the mundane realm on the eighth day of the inauguration, which was the first day of Nissan and it was on that day that the death of Nadav and Avihu occurred.

Next, we have the man and woman purifying from a genital discharge and menstruation, respectively. These we will place in victory and acknowledgment (netzach and hod), following the Zohar’s statement that “He is in netzach, she is in hod.” Impurity and purity are connected to “understanding [binah] extends to acknowledgment [hod]” which includes victory [netzach]; in principle, we could identify both purifications with acknowledgment as well, since victory and acknowledgment are considered “two halves of the same body.”

It is easy to see that circumcision corresponds to foundation.

Finally, we have the first instance of “the eighth day” regarding the animal offering. We place it in kingdom (malchut). One of the most well-known numerical allusions is that the two fillings of God’s essential Name, Havayah, that equal 45 (יוד הא ואו הא) and 52 (יוד הה וו הה), which correspond to the sefirot beauty and kingdom, also equal “man” and “animal” respectively. Thus, kingdom is related to the animal, specifically to the animal soul in man, which is rectified by offering it on the altar. Everything begins with elevating and rectifying kingdom, subduing the animal soul by offering either a sacrifice or, as we saw earlier, by giving, giving again, and giving without end.

We still need to identify the categories that correspond to loving-kindness, might, and beauty. We are left with “the eighth day” regarding the kings of the tribes, particularly the king of the tribe of Menasheh. The the letters of Menasheh (הּׁשַנְמ) permute to spell “neshamah,” or soul (הָמָׁשְנ) as well as “fat” (הָנֵמְׁש). The 12 tribes are all branches of the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who correspond to loving-kindness, might, and beauty; this is one of the reasons that they encamped in groups of three around the Tabernacle. Menasheh thus represents all the souls of the tribes.

Recall that the kings of the Tribes began bringing their offerings for the inauguration of the Tabernacle on the first day of Nissan, which the Torah describes as “the eighth day.” Menasheh was thus the eighth [to bring his offering] after the eighth [day, when the kings began bringing their offerings]. So, we might say that he draws, intensifies, and amplifies the first of Nissan—“the eighth day”—drawing down knowledge from the Tabernacle to all those seeking the knowledge of God. This is another way to understand how he specifically includes all three axes on which lie loving-kindness, might, and beauty, i.e., all the souls and all the kings.

In short, we have identified the eighth day appearing in the Tabernacle inauguration with the three emotional sefirot—loving-kindness [chessed], might [gevurah], and beauty [tiferet]—and particularly with beauty on the middle axis, which rises to knowledge to bring down knowledge of God to all the souls of Israel.

Our final partzuf is thus,

  • crown-keter רֶתֶּכ Nazirite ירִזָנ
  • wisdom-chochmah הָמְכָח purification of leprosy עָרֹצְּמַת הַרֲהַט
  • understanding-binah הָינִּב Eighth Day of Sukkot תֶרֶצֲי עִינִמְׁש
  • knowledge-da’at תַעָּד Eighth Day of Inauguration of Tabernacle ןָכְּׁשִּמַּים בִאּוּלִמְי לִינִמְׁש
  • loving-kindness-chessed דֶסֶח
  • might-gevurah הָרּבוּּג
  • beauty-tiferet תֶרֶאְפִּת Offering of the King of Menasheh הֶּׁשַנְיא מִׂשְן נַּבְרָק
  • victory-netzach חַצֶנ purification from masculine ejection בָּזַת הַרֳהָט
  • splendor-hod דֹהו purification from menstruation תַרֳהָט הָבָּזַה
  • foundation-yesod דֹסוְי Circumcision הָילִית מִרְּב
  • kingdom-malchut תּכוְלַמ Animal offering הָמֵהְּת בַבָּרְקַה

Notes:

  1. Leviticus 9:1.
  2. Before the Torah was given, Hebrew used the common letters of what is known as Phoenician script, but which the rabbis call r o’e t z or d o’e t z (see Torah Shleimah vol. 29 for a complete discussion). The Hebrew letters in this writing are: . Note that the letters are written from right to left, beginning with alef; the chet is the eighth letter from the right.
  3. Mishnah Nedarim 3:11. This refers to the 13 times that the word “covenant” (יתִרְּב) in various forms appears in God’s commandment to Abraham to circumcise himself, his male offspring, and the males in his household (Genesis 17:1-21).
  4. Exodus 22:28.
  5. See Rashi on this verse for the explanation of how we learn that it is not obligatory.
  6. Va y i k r a R a b b a h 2:2.
  7. Leviticus 9:1.
  8. Exodus 25:8.
  9. Leviticus 12:3.
  10. Ibid. 14:10 and 14:23.
  11. Ibid. 15:14.
  12. Ibid. 15:29.
  13. Ibid. 23:36.
  14. Numbers 6:10.
  15. Ibid. 7:54.
  16. See Zohar 1:162b and Mikdash Melech there. See also Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 3:1, that the eighth firmament is where the stars (as opposed to the planets) are situated. As the eighth firmament, understanding is like the womb of the souls of the Jewish people, from where all the souls issue forth and the souls are related to the many stars in the eighth firmament. In that sense, all Jews are kin.
  17. Isaiah 11:9.
  18. 1 Kings 8:23.
  19. Note also that the eighth day of Nissan, the day on which Menasheh brought their offering, is the middle day between Rosh Chodesh Nissan (the eighth day of the inauguration and the day of the establishment of the Tabernacle, etc.) and the first day of the Passover holiday, the time of our freedom.

Our parashah this week, Shemini, begins with a very distinctive idiom, “the eighth day” (יום השמיני), “On the eighth day, Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.”

Perhaps you already know that the number 8 stands above the commonplace, beyond the natural. Seven represents the consummate wholeness of nature, most strongly captured by the seventh day, Shabbat, with which the Almighty brought Creation to its conclusion. But if we do not stop at seven and continue to eight, we are in a sense penetrating the realm that lies above nature. The number 8 transcends the mundane and therefore represents eternity. One of the most intriguing facts related to this quality of the number 8 is that it was chosen to represent “infinity” (∞). Technically, this figure is known as a lemniscate and why it was chosen is shrouded in mystery, however, it is worth noting that the symbol used in ancient Hebrew script to represent the letter chet (ח), the eighth letter in the Hebrew alephbet, whose value is 8, looks like a number 8: .

The eternity associated with the number eight is most strongly identified with circumcision which is also performed on the eighth day of life. When we circumcise on the eighth day it is as if we are saying, nature is not enough and the beauty and meaning of life can transcend nature. In other words, even the perfection of nature in this world can never be enough. The eighth day, which is so essential to Jewish life, sends us the message that we can never say we are content with what we have achieved (in spirit). The essence of being Jewish is to be able to feel that everything I have done so far is relatively nothing. Rebbe Zusha used to say, “Until today, I have done nothing.” Like Zusha, we too must begin the whole story of being Jewish today, and every day.

Now, the opening phrase of our parashah, "the eighth day" appears 13 times in the Torah, in 8 different contexts. The connection between 8 and 13 is known in Kabbalah. In the Ashuri script used when writing a Torah scroll, tefillin, and mezuzot, the letter chet (ח), whose value is 8, is written—according to the Arizal—as a vav and a zayin (ח) connected; the sum of these two letters is 13. The golden ratio of 13 is also 8 and 5.

Often, the number 13 is divided into 8 and 5. For instance, with regard to circumcision, the sages state that, “Great is circumcision as 13 covenants were made on it.” The act of circumcision, which takes place on the 8th day, represents these 13 covenants. What we are adding now may be the most amazing thing about this relationship between 8 and 13 is that the 13 instances of the phrase “the eighth day” in the Torah clearly appear in 8 different contexts, with 5 of these contexts including two appearances of the phrase.

This is truly a beautiful division of 8 and 5. There is another connection between “the eighth day,” the name of our parashah and the number 8. There are years when we read Shemini eight times, a phenomenon described as “eight Shemini—fat [i.e., opulent]” (הנמישינמה שמנ), indicating that when this occurs, the year itself will be opulent, filled with blessings both physically and spiritually.

The instance of “the eighth day” in our parashah is not its first appearance in the Torah. “Everything follows the inception” and the first time it appears is in Parashat Mishpatim. It is the first time and also the only time in the Book of Exodus, and there is no appearance of this phrase in the book of Genesis. The verse in Exodus is: “You shall do the same to your ox, to your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me” (ןכּינימּש םהויּבוםאיה עיהיםימת יעבּשךאנֹצּלךרֹׁשךעשּתילֹנותּת). This verse refers to an animal that can be brought as a sacrifice and states that it can only be offered once it is 8 days old. Even though it sounds like an obligatory statement—when the animal reaches 8 days, you must bring it as a sacrifice—in fact, it is voluntary and only revealing that you must wait until the animal’s eighth day of life.

Reflecting only on the final words in this verse, the words that contain the phrase “the eighth day”—“on the eighth day you shall give it to Me”—we notice that they end with “to Me” (יל), about which the sages say, “Wherever it says ‘to me,’ it means that once done it will not move, neither in this world nor in the world to come.” So, when you offer the animal on the eighth day there is a special quality to the giving as it lasts forever.

This is the deeper meaning of “On the eighth day you shall give it to Me.” The giving of the animal on the eighth day is akin to the circumcision of the child on the eighth day—both actions exhibit the characteristic eternity/transcendence of the eighth.

The value of the phrase “On the eighth day you shall give it to Me” (ֹנותּי תּינימּש םהויּב) 1369 (יל, or 37 squared, where 37 is the value of yechidah (הידחְי, the singular one, the highest level of the soul). This number first appears in the Torah in the second verse, in the words, “And the spirit of God was hovering over the waters,” (יםהֹלֱ אַחּרוְוםיָּמַי ההֵנְּל פַת עֶפֶחַרְמ), which the sages explain refers to the spirit of the Mashiach, which is also identified with the soul’s highest level.

When we consider this commandment from Mishpatim in terms of Divine service, we note that the verse begins with, “thus shall you do for your ox and for your sheep,” referring to every individual’s animal soul. Some animal souls are likened to an ox, others to a sheep, but what they all require is that the spark of Mashiach within each individual repeatedly subdue the animal soul and make it subservient. God wants us to continuously strive to serve Him even with our animal soul, which is rooted above the root of the Divine soul.

How does a person submit and sacrifice the animal soul? It is written in Tanya that by giving more charity, again and again, he sacrifices the animal soul.

THE 7 ADDITIONAL INSTANCES OF “THE EIGHTH DAY”

The second time "the eighth day" is mentioned is in this week’s parashah, Shemini. Here the eighth day refers to the eighth day of the inauguration of the Tabernacle. Though the Tabernacle was impermanent—it was dismantled and reconstructed each time the Israelites moved in the wilderness—its most important feature, the permanence of the Divine indwelling—“And I will dwell among them”—began on the eighth day. Thus, the Tabernacle is the second eighth day.

The third instance appears in next week’s parashah, Tazria, in reference to Brit Milah (circumcision), “And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.”

The next four instances appear in parashat Metzora, twice in the purification of the metzora (the so-called leper) and twice in the purification of the zav (a man experiencing genital discharge) and of the zavah (a woman experiencing menstruation) both of which conclude on the eighth day of their purification process. We see then that the words “on the eighth day” are a segulah (remedy) for purification.

The next time this phrase appears is regarding Shemini Atzeret, an independent festival that is known as the eighth day of Sukkot. “Seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to Havayah; on the eighth day, you shall observe a holy occasion and bring a [separate] offering by fire to Havayah... .”

The next instance of “on the eighth day” is found in the laws of the Nazirite whose consecrated hair was defiled, “On the eighth day he shall bring to turtledoves or to pigeons....” Here we have another rectification of a state of impurity that happens on the eighth day.

The eighth context in which “the eighth day” appears is the inauguration offerings brought by the kings of the twelve tribes to the Tabernacle. Each of the kings, following the order of their encampment round the Tabernacle, brought an identical offering, and “On the eighth day, it was the king of the children of Manasseh, Gamliel son of Pedahtzur” (הּׁשַנְי מנֵבִיא לִׂשָי נִינִמְּשַם הויַּב רּהצוָּדְּן פֶּל בֵּיאִלְמַּג). This is the final appearance of the “eighth day” in the Pentateuch. Notice that the entire verse has 8 words. Its value is 1872, which is the product of 72 and 26, where 72 is the value of “loving-kindness” (דֶסֶח) and 26 is the value of God’s essential Name, Havayah (1872 .י-הוה is also a multiple of 8. This also connects with the fact that the tribe of Menasheh corresponds to the eighth month of the year, Cheshvan.

PARTZUF OF “THE EIGHTH DAY”

Since we have found that all the instances of “the eighth day” belong to 8 distinct issues, let us conceptualize and order them as a partzuf, a Kabbalistic model. In this case, even though we have eight elements to correspond to a Kabbalistic model, we will use the sefirot. In the crown, we will place the Nazirite. The word “nazir” in Hebrew literally means crown.

So-called leprosy is associated in Kabbalah with a burst of revelation from the sefirah of wisdom, and so we will place the purification of the metzora in wisdom.

We correspond the eighth day of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret with the sefirah of understanding because it is considered the day of reception, the day on which all the spiritual effluence from Sukkot is received into the womb of the Mother Principle (Imma Ila’ah), which represents the sefirah of understanding. In fact, understanding is the eighth sefirah (from below to above, starting with kingdom) and is therefore referred to as “the eighth firmament.”

What this also means is that this entire partzuf that we are now constructing is related to the Mother Principle (Imma Ila’ah).

The phrase “the eighth day” which appears in context of the Tabernacle corresponds to the sefirah of knowledge (da'at). The Tabernacle, and the Temple in Jerusalem after it, represent the spread of knowledge of God everywhere as in the verse, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Havayah, just as waters cover the sea,” and King Solomon’s prayer, “Hear in Your heavenly abode and grant all that the foreigner asks You for; thus, all the people of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will know that Your name is attached to this House that I have built.” The ultimate purpose of the Divine Presence in Israel is to fill the world with the knowledge of God. Similarly, in parashat Shemini, the Divine Presence came down to the mundane realm on the eighth day of the inauguration, which was the first day of Nissan and it was on that day that the death of Nadav and Avihu occurred.

Next, we have the man and woman purifying from a genital discharge and menstruation, respectively. These we will place in victory and acknowledgment (netzach and hod), following the Zohar’s statement that “He is in netzach, she is in hod.” Impurity and purity are connected to “understanding [binah] extends to acknowledgment [hod]” which includes victory [netzach]; in principle, we could identify both purifications with acknowledgment as well, since victory and acknowledgment are considered “two halves of the same body.”

It is easy to see that circumcision corresponds to foundation.

Finally, we have the first instance of “the eighth day” regarding the animal offering. We place it in kingdom (malchut). One of the most well-known numerical allusions is that the two fillings of God’s essential Name, Havayah, that equal 45 (יוד הא ואו הא) and 52 (יוד הה וו הה), which correspond to the sefirot beauty and kingdom, also equal “man” and “animal” respectively. Thus, kingdom is related to the animal, specifically to the animal soul in man, which is rectified by offering it on the altar. Everything begins with elevating and rectifying kingdom, subduing the animal soul by offering either a sacrifice or, as we saw earlier, by giving, giving again, and giving without end.

We still need to identify the categories that correspond to loving-kindness, might, and beauty. We are left with “the eighth day” regarding the kings of the tribes, particularly the king of the tribe of Menasheh. The the letters of Menasheh (הּׁשַנְמ) permute to spell “neshamah,” or soul (הָמָׁשְנ) as well as “fat” (הָנֵמְׁש). The 12 tribes are all branches of the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who correspond to loving-kindness, might, and beauty; this is one of the reasons that they encamped in groups of three around the Tabernacle. Menasheh thus represents all the souls of the tribes.

Recall that the kings of the Tribes began bringing their offerings for the inauguration of the Tabernacle on the first day of Nissan, which the Torah describes as “the eighth day.” Menasheh was thus the eighth [to bring his offering] after the eighth [day, when the kings began bringing their offerings]. So, we might say that he draws, intensifies, and amplifies the first of Nissan—“the eighth day”—drawing down knowledge from the Tabernacle to all those seeking the knowledge of God. This is another way to understand how he specifically includes all three axes on which lie loving-kindness, might, and beauty, i.e., all the souls and all the kings.

In short, we have identified the eighth day appearing in the Tabernacle inauguration with the three emotional sefirot—loving-kindness [chessed], might [gevurah], and beauty [tiferet]—and particularly with beauty on the middle axis, which rises to knowledge to bring down knowledge of God to all the souls of Israel.

Our final partzuf is thus,

  • crown-keter רֶתֶּכ Nazirite ירִזָנ
  • wisdom-chochmah הָמְכָח purification of leprosy עָרֹצְּמַת הַרֲהַט
  • understanding-binah הָינִּב Eighth Day of Sukkot תֶרֶצֲי עִינִמְׁש
  • knowledge-da’at תַעָּד Eighth Day of Inauguration of Tabernacle ןָכְּׁשִּמַּים בִאּוּלִמְי לִינִמְׁש
  • loving-kindness-chessed דֶסֶח
  • might-gevurah הָרּבוּּג
  • beauty-tiferet תֶרֶאְפִּת Offering of the King of Menasheh הֶּׁשַנְיא מִׂשְן נַּבְרָק
  • victory-netzach חַצֶנ purification from masculine ejection בָּזַת הַרֳהָט
  • splendor-hod דֹהו purification from menstruation תַרֳהָט הָבָּזַה
  • foundation-yesod דֹסוְי Circumcision הָילִית מִרְּב
  • kingdom-malchut תּכוְלַמ Animal offering הָמֵהְּת בַבָּרְקַה

Notes:

  1. Leviticus 9:1.
  2. Before the Torah was given, Hebrew used the common letters of what is known as Phoenician script, but which the rabbis call r o’e t z or d o’e t z (see Torah Shleimah vol. 29 for a complete discussion). The Hebrew letters in this writing are: . Note that the letters are written from right to left, beginning with alef; the chet is the eighth letter from the right.
  3. Mishnah Nedarim 3:11. This refers to the 13 times that the word “covenant” (יתִרְּב) in various forms appears in God’s commandment to Abraham to circumcise himself, his male offspring, and the males in his household (Genesis 17:1-21).
  4. Exodus 22:28.
  5. See Rashi on this verse for the explanation of how we learn that it is not obligatory.
  6. Va y i k r a R a b b a h 2:2.
  7. Leviticus 9:1.
  8. Exodus 25:8.
  9. Leviticus 12:3.
  10. Ibid. 14:10 and 14:23.
  11. Ibid. 15:14.
  12. Ibid. 15:29.
  13. Ibid. 23:36.
  14. Numbers 6:10.
  15. Ibid. 7:54.
  16. See Zohar 1:162b and Mikdash Melech there. See also Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 3:1, that the eighth firmament is where the stars (as opposed to the planets) are situated. As the eighth firmament, understanding is like the womb of the souls of the Jewish people, from where all the souls issue forth and the souls are related to the many stars in the eighth firmament. In that sense, all Jews are kin.
  17. Isaiah 11:9.
  18. 1 Kings 8:23.
  19. Note also that the eighth day of Nissan, the day on which Menasheh brought their offering, is the middle day between Rosh Chodesh Nissan (the eighth day of the inauguration and the day of the establishment of the Tabernacle, etc.) and the first day of the Passover holiday, the time of our freedom.
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Wonders | April 24, 2025