"Isaac shall laugh joyously"
The Zohar opens its discussion of Parashat Shemini with the following,
“And it came to pass on the eighth day.” Rabbi Isaac opened with, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (יַחַד בְּרָן כּוֹכְבֵי בֹקֶר וַיָּרִיעוּ כָּל בְּנֵי אֱ־לֹהִים).
The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, links the verse with which the Zohar opens to a verse that appears later in the portion: “And there came a fire out from before God, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fats; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces” (א כַל וַתּ י־הוה מִלִּפְנֵי אֵש וַתֵּצֵא עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֶת לָה הָע וְאֶת הַחֲלָבִים ַרְא וַי כָּל הָעָם נּוָֹּרּ וַיִּפְּלוּ עַל פְּנֵיהֶם). He explains that the link between the two verses is in the words, “sang” (בְּרָן) from the verse quoted by the Zohar and “they shouted” (נּוָֹּרּ וַי) in the verse from our third reading, which stem from the same root, רנן; from here on out we will refer to this as rinah. Rabbi Isaac, whose words the Zohar quotes is himself related to rinah, as we say in the afternoon Shabbat Amidah, “Isaac shall sing” (יִצְחָק יְרַנֵּן ). In passing, let us note that a possible source for this phrase and connection between Isaac and singing can be found in the verse, “Serve God with joy, come before him with singing” (בִּרְנָנָה לְפָנָיו א וֹּבִּמְחָהׂבְּש י־הוה אֶת עִבְדוּ) where the first half refers to Isaac whose name means laughter and joy and the second half speaks of singing. Note also that the value of “with singing” (הָנָנְרִבּ) is the same as “Rebeccah” (רבקה), Isaac’s wife.
Hebrew and Aramaic as Run and Return
What is the meaning of “they shouted” (נּוָֹּרּ וַי), from our reading? Rashi writes “as its translation” referring to Onkelos’s Aramaic translation of the Torah. Usually when Rashi sends us to look at the Onkelos, he quotes and explains it. But on rare occasions, like here, he writes only “as its translation” and nothing more. If we do look in Onkelos, we will find that he writes, “[and all the people saw] veshabachu” (וְשַבָּחוּ). This word, veshabachu, is a word common to various concepts of praise and song and as such, it would seem that Rashi has not added very much to our understanding. This is especially so because the original Hebrew word, “they shouted” (נּוָֹּרּ וַי), appears to indicate a greater arousal than would be accompanied by just praise; it seems to indicate an excitation that was so great that it caused them to fall on their faces.
Therefore, we are led to infer that in referring us to Onkelos (“as its translation,” and nothing more), Rashi is hinting that here, specifically, the Torah’s Hebrew text and the Aramaic translation should be unified. Normally, the relationship between the Torah’s Hebrew and Onkelos’s Aramaic is described as “face and back” (פָּנִים רוְאָחו), which also corresponds to a relationship of “run and return.” As such, the Aramaic translation acts to “settle” (i.e., return) the wonderment and excitement inferred in the original Hebrew. The Aramaic translation is thus like a safeguard against a reality in which the excitement of the moment and the experience causes a run without a return—an excitement that has no psychological vessel to contain it.
We can tie this together with the death of Nadav and Avihu, Aaron’s sons described in the very next verse. Nadav and Avihu brought an unauthorized fire (of incense) before God. This was an act of spiritual excitement—a run without a return—without the required vessel, i.e., God’s command. As a result, “And fire came out from before God and consumed them.” Thus, it certainly would fit that Nadav and Avihu’s “run without return,” their over-excitement evolved out of the “and the people saw, they shouted, and they fell on their faces” upon seeing how, “fire came out from before God and consumed upon the altar.” Note that the exact same words, “fire came out from before God and consumed” (וַתֵּצֵא אֵש מִלִּפְנֵי י־הוה א כַל וַתּ) describe the death of Nadav and Avihu!
Gematria Around 63
In Kabbalah, the filling of God’s essential Name, Havayah whose value is 63 (יוד הי ואו הי) is known as the Name Sag (סג). Sag is the Name associated with the shattering, elevation, and excitement. The shattering is illustrated in the verse brought by the Zohar, the elevation corresponds to the Israelites’ reaction to the consuming fire that came down from God on the altar, and the excitation is associated with the awakening caused by feeling great love for God as in “You shall love Havayah your God with all of your... might.” In the scheme of the four most important fillings of Havayah, Sag is the one that corresponds to the sefirah of understanding (binah) and to the name of our parashah, Shemini, since understanding is the eighth sefirah from below.
Now, the value of the entire verse quoted by the Zohar contains eight words, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (ןָרְבּ דַחַי יֵבְכֹכּו רֶקֹב יעוִּרָּיַלָכּ יֵנְבּ יםִהֹ־לֱא) is 18 times 63, or Sag. It is also the same as the product of “David” (דִוָדּ) and “Nadav and Avihu” (בָדָנ יהוִּבָאא). Amazingly, the value of just the initial letters of the verse (ביכבוכבא) is 63, Sag. If we square the value of each of just the first three initial letters—ביכ—their sum equals the value of the first three words of our parashah, “And it came to pass on the eighth day.”
