For those of you, who attended our first ever joint second night Passover Seder with Temple Beth Zion, you know that eight is the day of the Brit Mila. Rabbi Brent held up two fingers to look like scissors and said “snip” every time we got to the number “8” in the song “Who Knows One?”
Yes, 8 is the day of circumcision, but it is also the extra day of Passover some of us at Shir Shalom celebrate, compared to others who only celebrate seven days. Why the difference? While in the Torah the Feast of Unleavened Bread, AKA Passover, has seven days, the rabbis added an extra day for everyone outside of Israel, as a safeguard for not knowing precisely when the seventh day would occur in Jerusalem. Today, our calendars are precise and many liberal Jews have removed that safeguard. So, why do others still observe? One word – “Tradition!”
The number 8 means something different in the Torah. 8 is the name of this week’s portion, Shmini, and the day the Tabernacle was consecrated. It is a day of celebration and sacrifice. It is also, incidentally, the real reason Hanukkah has eight days. The Hasmoneans or Maccabis needed eight days to reconsecrate the Temple after the retaking it from the Greeks. So next year, when you sing “Who Knows One” next year on Passover, you will be fully ready to answer the question, “who knows 8?”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex