ויהי ביום השמיני
“It was on the 8th day.” Eighth day from what?
Rashi says that it was Rosh Hodesh Nissan, their second year in the desert that they built the Mishkan. There were seven days of inauguration, and this was the “8th day.”
Why call it the 8th day? When we have seven days of Sheva Berachot after a wedding, we don’t say that the next day is the 8th day of Sheva berachot. The inauguration was over, so shouldn’t it be counted as the first day? But the rabbis tell us that they wanted the first real day of the Mishkan to be associated with the number eight. The number eight represents things above nature. Seven, like 7 days of the week, is nature. 8 is above nature. A child gets a Milah on the eighth day, because the eighth day is above nature. Similarly, an animal can’t be offered in the Bet Hamikdash until eight days have passed. Regarding the miracle of the splitting of the sea, which we just celebrated, we start the song of אז ישיר Az Yashir.
Az is א 1+ ז 7, which is 8
And again, our rabbis tell us it’s because the number 8 symbolizes going above nature.
That’s what brings about miracles.
When we go against our nature that brings miracles.
It says that when the sea split, וירא הים וינס, -“it saw and it ran”
it perceived something, and split.
The Gemara tells us that it perceived the bones of Yosef. The power of the bones Yosef was that they signified the concept of going against nature. Yosef ran away from the test of his boss’ wife and that’s why the sea split; and those same words “ran away” are used to describe it.
This is an important rule: When we want things to happen, we have to go against our nature.
My mother reminded me that I once took someone into Rabbi Ades, and Rabbi Ades told the person, “ Give money until it hurts.”
Why does that mean? It meant the man needed a certain salvation and when it hurts it, means you’re going past your nature.
If someone asks you for a donation and you give them $101, that doesn’t hurt. $360 doesn’t hurt. $1,800 hurts a little bit. It has to hurt to be considered going against your nature..
Rabbi Ades also said that if you want to make something happen, you have to make a “Ra’ash,” a noise in Shamayim. He said he had a Kabbalah from his grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Ades, that you must make a noise in the heavens- something that makes them say, “Wow, something happened down there!” And it doesn’t only have to be with money.
The noise could be a fellow who has started praying Netz since he’s been locked up and hasn’t gone to Shul. That’s not his nature, he never usually gets up that early. That could make a noise in heaven!
There are many cases of when people do things above the nature, that makes noise in the heavens. They feel it and see it.
Rav Ades tells a famous story about a man who wanted to buy an etrog but couldn’t afford one. He ended up taking a pair of extra tefilin, that he had inherited from his grandfather, and he sold that to get money to buy the etrog. His wife heard about it and got so upset that she threw the etrog, and the pitom broke. She felt that if he was going to finally sell the tefillin, the money should’ve gone to something more than an etrog, that could only be used for seven days. He should’ve used it for the family, or for food. But the man said, “Hashem, You took away my etrog, but can’t take away my Shalom Bayit,” and he did not get angry.
His grandfather came to him in a dream and told him that the fact that he sold the tefilin to buy the etrog had made a little impact in Shamayim, but that was his nature. However, the fact that he didn’t get angry when his wife threw the etrog really made a Rash in Shamayim! It made a noise.
That’s the point here.
ויהי ביום השמיני It was on the 8th day.
It was a day of למעלה מן הטבע
It was a day of going beyond nature.
One of the things that made noise in heaven was when Nadav and Avinu passed away and Aharon HaKohen was quiet. He continued with his Avodah. He didn’t stop and get broken. He picked himself up and moved on with Opening Day. He was told he wasn’t allowed to mourn. He had to go on, and continue with his regular Avodah.
That is what is going on nowadays. There are people, Lo Alenu, that have lost loved ones. They can’t really mourn in the regular way. They can’t even have a regular funeral. People are going beyond their nature.
In this case,
וידם אהרון Aharon was quiet. Nature is that he should’ve been crying. Nature is that he should have been screaming. But Aharon went against his nature. He was quiet, and he accepted the gezerah of Hashem.
It’s also something super-human and above nature when people are going through difficult times, and they try to strengthen their bitachon.
When they overcome their natural reaction and intuition, that makes noise in the heavens.
That’s what we must do now. We must look for things to do, that go against our nature. We have to do the kinds of things that aren’t the typical, or what we usually do, whatever it maybe.
It says that when a person controls their mouth from responding to something someone tells them, that is going above nature.
When you control your eyes from looking where you shouldn’t look, that is going above nature.
When you control your mouth from eating what you shouldn’t eat, that’s going above nature.
There are endless, natural, human animalistic instincts. When we go against these natures, that is the source of miracles. G-d says: you went against your nature, you went against your impulse, I’ll have the doctors go against nature. This person may not look like they have good odds but that is just natural. G-d says, “I’ll change that nature. I’ll have the doctors come up with new ideas and new approaches to make things change.”
So never underestimate the potential of an extra push. If there was a person who never says tehillim, and now he starts saying it, that’s going against his nature in a positive way, by doing something he never did before. Controlling something negative that he used to do but shouldn’t be doing is also going against nature.
That’s the power that makes miracles.
Have a Shabbat shalom.