Tapping into eternity
by Rabbi Dovid Samuels
Why an Eighth Day?
After celebrating seven beautiful days of Sukkos, we gather once more for Shemini Atzeres – the Eighth Day of Assembly. The Torah tells us1: “Seven days you shall bring fire-offerings to Hashem. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and bring a fire-offering to Hashem; it is an assembly; you shall do no laborious work.” The reason for Sukkos is clearly spelled out in the Torah2: we dwell in sukkos to remember how Hashem sheltered our ancestors when they left Egypt. But what about Shemini Atzeres?
Rashi offers us a touching explanation through a beautiful parable: Imagine a king who invited his beloved children to feast with him for several days. When the time came for them to leave, the king said, “My children, please stay with me just one more day. I find it so difficult to say goodbye.”
This is Shemini Atzeres – Hashem asking us to stay just a little longer because our departure is hard for Him.But this explanation, beautiful as it is, raises some questions:
• The Logic Question: What does one extra day really accomplish? This day will also end, and we’ll still have to separate eventually. Wouldn’t it be better to just say goodbye properly when the time comes?
• The Emotional Question: When people who love each other spend more time together, their love usually grows stronger. If we delay our departure by another day, won’t that make saying goodbye even harder?
• The Practical Question: We all know that house guests who overstay their welcome can become a burden. Isn’t there a point where “just one more day” becomes too much?
A Puzzling Midrash
Before we solve these questions, let’s look at what seems like a contradiction in our sources.
There’s a Midrash3 that appears to suggest the opposite of Rashi’s explanation. It points to how the korbanos (sacrifices) during Sukkos start with thirteen bulls on the first day and decrease each day, until Shemini Atzeres when we bring only one bull: “The Torah teaches proper behaviour through the sacrifices,” the Midrash explains. “It’s like when someone goes to an inn. On the first day, they serve him chicken; the second day, fish; the third day, cheese; the fourth day, vegetables – and it keeps getting simpler until finally they just serve him beans.”
According to this Midrash, the single bull of Shemini Atzeres seems to show that our relationship with Hashem is actually weakening over the course of the festival – like a guest who’s been around too long!
But wait – the Talmud4 gives us yet another perspective on this ‘small feast’. It explains that the reduced offering actually represents the greatest love:
During Sukkos, the total number of seventy bulls we offer correspond to the seventy nations of the world. But the single bull of Shemini Atzeres? That’s just for us – the one unique nation. It’s like a king who tells his servants, “Prepare a grand banquet,” but then says to his most beloved friend, “Now make me something small and simple, so I can enjoy your company privately.”
The ‘small feast’ of Shemini Atzeres shows us something about true intimacy between Hashem and the Jewish people.
The Secret of the Eighth Dimension
To understand how Shemini Atzeres solves our separation problem, we need to explore a profound concept from the Shem MiShmuel:
Think about any physical object. It has six sides – north, south, east, west, up, and down. It also has a seventh dimension: its centre point, representing what’s inside. The number seven represents complete natural reality – everything we can see and touch, from the outside and from within.
But natural reality has limits. Physical things have boundaries in space, and they also have boundaries in time – they don’t last forever. This is what separates creation from the Creator. Created things are temporary; only Hashem is eternal – “He was, is, and will be.”
Breaking through natural boundaries means stepping into the eighth dimension – the dimension of eternity. When we move beyond nature’s limits, we go from a seven-dimensional reality to an eight-dimensional one.
Three Eternal Connections
The Torah shows us three things that move from the seventh to the eighth dimension:
Bris Milah (Circumcision) happens on the eighth day. A bris represents eternity – Onkelos translates “bris” as “kayama” – something that lasts forever. Bris milah creates an eternal bond between Hashem and the Jewish people as a whole, and on an individual level too. Our sages teach us that through circumcision, no Jew is ever permanently lost.
The Kohen Gadol wears eight garments and holds his priesthood forever. The Talmud Yerushalmi5 teaches: “A king who sins can be removed from his throne, but a High Priest who sins returns to his priesthood after being disciplined.” The priest’s holiness, like Hashem’s, is eternal.
Shemini Atzeres creates an eternal connection between the Jewish people and Hashem. Everything that reaches the eighth level transcends nature, and everything beyond nature has permanence.
When Memory Conquers Time
Here’s something we all experience: in the natural world, time erases everything. Things that exist within the boundaries of time and space are subject to the law of forgetting. As time passes, connections weaken and fade. Eventually, everything gets forgotten and disappears.
Our Sages6 teach us something fascinating: “Someone who reviews his learning 100 times cannot be compared to someone who reviews it 101 times.” Reviewing up to 100 times is natural habit (well, ideally!). This review strengthens our connection and delays forgetting, but eventually, nature wins and we forget anyway. But someone who reviews 101 times? That person has gone beyond natural habit into the realm of self-sacrifice – stepping above the way of nature. By touching something beyond nature, this learning gains greater permanence.
The Arizal teaches that Esav’s angel has the numerical value of 100, while Michael (Israel’s angel) equals 101. While Esav operates within nature’s boundaries, the Jewish people have the special ability to break through natural limitations and touch eternity.
The Power of One More
Now we can understand the beauty of Shemini Atzeres. The seven days of Sukkos represent our service to Hashem within nature’s framework. The eighth day lifts our relationship with Hashem into the dimension of eternity. This is why one sacrifice is enough for us on Shemini Atzeres. After achieving great closeness during the seven days (like reviewing 100 times), just one small additional effort makes all the difference. This one extra step is like the crucial difference between staying within nature’s boundaries and the self-sacrifice that takes us beyond them.
From Guest to Family
Now the parable of the guest makes perfect sense. Initially, a guest is a stranger, someone special who deserves elaborate treatment and abundant food. But eventually, the guest’s meals become like those of the family members – not because the love has decreased, but because the guest has become close, like family. The difference is crucial: a guest’s role is temporary. He’s told to “make himself at home,” but ultimately his stay will end. But a family member’s closeness is unlimited and permanent.
The Gift That Prevents Goodbye
Finally, we can understand why Hashem asked us to celebrate this additional day.
During the seven days of Sukkos, we existed in the seventh dimension – a reality where forgetting operates and boundaries exist. After those seven days, the natural law would be for our closeness to fade with time and distance. So Hashem said, “Your departure is difficult for Me, and I don’t want separation and distance to come between us.” By adding this eighth day, Hashem moved our relationship from the seventh dimension to the eighth – beyond nature, into eternity.
This is the profound gift of Shemini Atzeres: it has the power to prevent separation entirely. When we return to our homes after the festival, we won’t truly be separated, because our hearts remain connected. Our ability to tap into eternity is because Hashem has an eternal love for us, and He has given us this particular chag to achieve it. This intimate connection awakens us to remember Hashem’s unchanging love for us – a love that exists beyond time and never fades. The eighth day doesn’t just delay goodbye – it transforms goodbye into ‘until we meet again’, knowing that in the dimension of eternity, we never really part at all.
- 1Vayikra 23:36
- 2Vayikra 23:42-43
- 3Tanchuma – Pinchas 17
- 4Sukkah 55b
- 5Horayot 3:1
- 6Chagigah 15b
