Holidays - Holy Geometry Sometimes when we read the Torah, we wonder, what is the organizing principle of the Parsha? Why are seemingly unrelated laws and events grouped together? Toward the end of the weekly Torah portion, we read about the Menorah in the temple and about the table with the showbread. We wonder, why are we discussing these specific aspects of the temple service right here? Why is the lighting of the Menorah reiterated here for the third time in the Torah, and why do we read about the showbread here and not earlier in the narrative when the Torah discusses the laws of the temple service? The Ohr Hachaim explains that the holidays, discussed in detail in our Parsha, are organized based on the number seven, and often, differentiating between the number six and seven. Shabbat is the seventh day, following the six days of the week. There are six days of holiday in Israel (first and last days of Pesach, one day of Shavuot, one day of Rosh Hashanah, first day of Sukot and Shmini Atzeret), when most labor is prohibited, and a seventh (Yom Kippur) when all labor, as well as eating and drinking, is prohibited. That leads naturally to the Menorah that has seven candles, also divided into six branches and a seventh stem; as well as the table, which had two stacks of six loaves, with the Table itself acting as the unifying seventh element. The Maharal of Prague explains that the number six represents physical creation, which is three-dimensional. Three dimensions create six general directions (east, west, north, south, up, and down). The number seven represents holiness, for it is the central point of those six dimensions, building them and allowing them to create a cohesive creation. Six represents the physical dimension of a physical object, and seven represents its core purpose and meaning. During the days of the week, we are primarily invested in the physical side of life, seeking to achieve success and effect change and transformation in the world. Shabbat and the holidays are when we return to the essence of life, the number seven, and reconnect with holiness, our purpose, and inner soul.
ב"ה