“And it came to pass on the eight day, that Moses called Aaron and his
sons, and the elders of Israel…”
This week’s Parashah (Torah portion) is called “Shmini” (The Eight), Leviticus
9:1 through 11:47. It addresses various topics. Among them, it relates the
tragedy that befell Aharon’s two sons.
The issue I wish to address in this article is
the one concerning the consecration of the Mishkan (God’s dwelling place).
The seven days in which Moshe performed
all the necessary tasks preparing for the consecration of the Mishkan are over.
On the eighth day, he summons Aharon and his two sons to, officially, pass on to
them the scepter of priesthood.
I want to share with you, dear readers,
a different perspective on this subject, one that the titular name evoked in
me.
Years ago, I saw a French movie called
“The Eighth Day.” It unfolds the story of a professional man, named Harry who becomes
a workaholic. The money he earns affords him the pursuit of many materialistic
gratifications. Harry drives a nice car. He buys a spacious and beautiful house
full of precious items. Unfortunately, it is devoid of warmth or inviolability.
It is just a house, not a home. His
family nucleus begins to disintegrate. His wife leaves him taking their two
daughters and he becomes a recluse and very unhappy.
It is at one of his most difficult
moments that Harry meets and befriends Georges, a young down syndrome man.
Georges becomes his spiritual director. He guides Harry through a healing
process. He helps him slow down and teaches him the importance of appreciating the
natural world around us. Eventually, Harry reunites with his family and they
live happily ever after.
Unfortunately, as is the case with
most down syndrome victims, Georges dies at a young age. As the angels are
carrying his soul to heaven, the narrator recounts the story of the creation in
Genesis day by day. “And on the Sabbath, G-d rested,” he tells us, “looked at
his world and thought ‘what is missing in my world?’ So,” the narrator concludes,
“on the eight day, He created Georges.”
The eighth day, mentioned in this
Parashah, derives its name, “Shmini,” from the very first verse which states: “And
it came to pass on the eight day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the
elders of Israel…” On this day, The Mishkan is consecrated.
Unlike the narrative presented in the movie that I mentioned above, on the
Seventh Day of creation, when G-d rested, he had already known what was missing
in His world. He had already known what had to occur on the Eight Day. For six
days He had been working on creating a world for us, humans, a perfect dwelling
place, a world to satisfy our physical needs and existence. G-d, in his wisdom,
did not want us to end up like Harry in the story above. He knew that the
physical universe He had created was just a house. It needed to become a Home, a
place that would include a spiritual dimension, righteousness and morality, a
place where we, its dwellers, would be blessed with an appreciation for the
gifts of life bestowed upon us by Him.
What was, therefore, needed to be formed
on “The Eight Day” was a dwelling place for G-d, among us. It would have been
the missing piece, the one that would make His creation complete.
Naturally, some may argue that G-d, the
omnipotent, could have, himself, created “the Eight Day” merely by speaking,
just as he had done on the previous six days. Why, then, didn’t He?
In order to answer this question, let me take you back to the Book of Shemot
(Exodus), more specifically Chapter 25 verse 8, where G-d tells Moses, “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” The task of building a
dwelling place for G-d, not only amidst them but in them, in their heart, is
upon Am Yisrael. ( I refer you to an article I wrote on the subject last year: https://wingnsonawildflight.blogspot.com/2020/02/terumah-building-tabernacle-within-us.html)
Only then would the world be the Home that G-d had intended it to become for us
and through us, for humanity.
"The Eight Day" in G-d’s plan, therefore, is the day on which the Tabernacle,
which Bezalel, who was blessed with the wisdom of the heart designed and which
Am Yisrael together contributed to and jointly built. It is the day in which
the spiritual universe, which G-d had planned for us to built for ourselves,
bonded and merged into one with the physical world that He had set up in
Genesis.
It is our duty to ensure that the Eighth Day
and what it stands for remains an inseparable part of the rest of the week. We
need to preserve it as G-d had intended it to be, not just a “house” but a “home,”
as well. It is the only means to heal and restore that which has become, in the
words of the late Lord Rabbi Sacks, “a fractured world.”
Shavua tov
