Midrash that states that before G-d created this world, he created other worlds and destroyed them.

Why then the emphasis on the “eighth day”?

The number eight has several important metaphorical meanings in Jewish tradition. While the number seven appears far more often than the number eight, they are often closely related. In tradition we find seven days of creation, the seventh day as a day of rest, the seven branches of the menorah (candelabra) in the Tabernacle, there are seven days of impurity, seven days of mourning, seven days of the festivals Passover and Succot, and seven days of celebration for marriage, just to mention a few of the significant sevens.

Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch (1808-1888, the great Bible commentator and leader of German Jewry) states that the number sevenhas the general connotation of “fullness” “wholeness” or “final completion.”

As parashat Shemini opens, the seven days of the consecration ceremony known as the days of “mee’loo’im,” have concluded. The events in the early chapters of Parashat Shemini take place on the next day, the eighth day. Everything is in place, the Tabernacle, which had been assembled and disassembled seven times, is now standing and has been consecrated. Aaron and his children have been properly anointed and are now ready to serve. The rules of the service governing the Tabernacle have been clearly articulated and the new sanctuary is about to begin functioning. A bright new page of history is about to be written on the occasion of the Mishkan‘s inauguration, and the entire nation of Israel anticipates the