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Seeds
and Sparks: Cycles of Seven
Rabbi Avraham
Arieh Trugman
The
statement by the Sages (Vayikra Rabbah 29:10) that
“all sevens are precious” is derived from their
understanding that seven is the primary cycle of time as revealed
by God in the Torah. “And the heavens and earth were
completed and all their array. By the seventh day God completed
His work that He had done, and He abstained on the seventh
day from all his work that He had done. God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it, because on it He abstained from all
His work which God created to make” (Genesis 2:1–3).
Thus, the seventh day became not only the culmination, blessing,
and sanctification of the entire Divine creative process,
but the cycle of seven became engraved in all future cycles
of time as well.
In
days, weeks, months, years, and millennia, the number seven
appears as the principle cycle by which we mark the continual
flow of time. Shabbat has become the central axis around which
all Jewish life revolves, like the menorah of seven branches,
whose middle column and light is the main pillar, balancing
the three other branches on each side of it. The continual
observance of Shabbat plugs us into a Divine energy and pattern
of time, the very model of creation relived on a weekly basis.
There
are two seven-week periods in the Jewish year — one prescribed
by the Torah and one by the Sages. There are seven weeks in
the period between Pesach — the redemption from Egypt
— and Shavuot — the giving of the Torah on Mount
Sinai. These seven weeks, or seven-times-seven Omer period,
serves to connect these two holidays, thus teaching us that
the purpose of leaving Egypt was in order to receive the Torah.
This seven week cycle is not marked passively, but actively,
by consciously counting each day with the recitation of a
blessing, as we figuratively climb the mountain once again
to receive the Torah on Shavuot, the culminating fiftieth
day. These seven weeks are further associated with the sefirot,
the Divine emanations through which God’s infinite light
is channeled into our finite world. The seven lower sefirot
(there are ten in all) relate to seven emotions and archetypal
energies in the psychological makeup of man. During each day
and week of the Omer period, we work on rectifying these energies
in order to become worthy vessels to receive the Torah anew
on Shavuot.
The
second cycle of seven weeks are the seven weeks between Tishah
B’Av and Rosh HaShanah. Tishah B’Av, the fast day
commemorating the destruction of both Temples and many other
calamities in Jewish history, represents the “lowest”
time of the year. From that low point to the new year on Rosh
HaShanah is seven weeks. During this time period, the Sages
established the reading of various prophesies of consolation
on seven successive Shabbats, leading us from the destruction
of Tishah B’Av to a new beginning on Rosh HaShanah.
The
number seven relates to the monthly cycle in a number of ways.
An astronomical month is approximately 29 days, which is basically
four periods of seven and slightly more than a quarter days.
The idea of a month consisting of four basic weeks is found
in a month having a new moon, a quarter moon, and a full moon
in its waxing, and then reversing itself in its waning towards
the next new moon. The Jewish calendar is essentially a lunar
one and the new moon is celebrated as a minor festival, while
the full moon is celebrated in the monthly sanctification
of the moon ceremony, known as kiddush levanah. In this model
of the month, a seven-day week becomes the basic building
block of the twelve months of the year.
The
three pilgrimage festivals in the Torah — Pesach, Shavuot
and Sukkot — all occur during the first seven months
of the year. These three festivals constitute a cycle in themselves
as relates to many laws and customs that applied at the time
of the Holy Temple. Pesach and Sukkot are themselves seven
days in length.
The
seventh month of the year, Tishrei, is the richest one as
regards holidays and in that sense is the most important month
of the year. The new year begins on Rosh HaShanah, followed
by Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, and culminates in the
joyous days of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah.
When
you come into the land that I give you, the land shall observe
a Shabbat rest for God. For six years you may sow your field,
and for six years you may prune your vineyard and you may
gather in its crop. But the seventh year shall be a complete
rest for the land, a Shabbat for God.... You shall count for
yourselves seven cycles of sabbatical years, seven years seven
times; the years of the seven cycles of Sabbatical years shall
be for you forty-nine years. You shall sound a broken blast
on the shofar in the seventh month on the tenth day of the
month, on the Day of Atonement.... You shall sanctify the
fiftieth year and proclaim freedom throughout the land…”
(Leviticus 25:2–10)
The
Sabbatical year follows the same pattern in years as the six
days of work followed by a seventh day of rest, thus creating
a macromodel of years based on seven. The pattern of the seven
weeks of the Omer period, followed by Shavuot on the fiftieth
day, is repeated in the seven times seven Sabbatical years,
followed by the fiftieth Jubilee year. Although we have lost
the feeling and effects of the Sabbatical cycle in the Diaspora,
for nearly 1,500 years, when the Jews were in the Land of
Israel and the during the time the Temples stood, this cycle
was part and parcel of the experience of living in the land.
For an observant Jew in Israel today, especially one living
on the land, the Sabbatical year once again has begun to reenter
our consciousness as an important and meaningful cycle.
The
even larger cycle of millennia also follows the pattern of
six days of work and the seventh day as a day of rest. According
to tradition, the present period of history will last six
thousand years, followed by the seventh millennium —
the Messianic period. It is no coincidence that the rebirth
of the Jewish State and the ingathering of the exiles is occurring
as we draw closer and closer to the six thousandth year. The
seventh millennium, the Messianic era, is called “all
Shabbat and rest for eternal life” (Tamid 7:4).
(Many of the above ideas will be dealt with in greater detail
at the end of this chapter.)
The
Sages integrated these cycles and their inner meanings and
mysteries and applied them to all areas of Jewish law and
custom. The first time the root of the word holy is
used in the Torah is in relation to Shabbat: “And God
blessed the seventh day and made it holy…” (Genesis
2:3). Therefore, the inclusion of “sevens” in a
host of rituals adds an aura of holiness and endless symbolic
associations. From the bride circling the groom seven times,
winding the straps of tefillin seven times on our arms, circling
the synagogue seven times on Simchat Torah, to the seven fruits
of Israel, the seven shepherds, the seven branches of the
menorah, the seven blessings of bride and groom — in
all these cases and many more, the number seven reminds us
not only of holiness and blessing, but also of God’s
imminence in the dimensions of time, space, and soul.
The
popular saying coined by the author Sholom Aleichem: “More
than the Jews have kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat has kept
the Jews,” is true in a very fundamental way. Shabbat
is the beloved soul mate of the Jewish people, the pearl in
the crown of the King of Kings. Not only are all sevens precious,
but they also connect us with God’s plan and purpose
for the world, as it says in the Friday night Kabbalat
Shabbat service: “The end of deed [Shabbat] was the
first in thought.” The infinite oneness that existed
before the creation will one day reveal itself and infuse
all reality. On Shabbat we can already taste what that means
in as tangible and real way as this world currently allows,
for in truth, the future already exists in the present.
The
cycle of seven is like a stone dropped in water, its evergreater
ripples of influence creating widening circles of effect and
blessing. The mystery of seven is deeper than the seven oceans
and higher than the seven heavens. It is with us from the
beginning of time and will accompany us till the end as it
is stated: “Their end is embedded in the beginning and
their beginning in the end” (Sefer Yetzirah 1:7).
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