The Essence

FROM THE MASTERS OF KABBALA

THE RAMBAN

"…..It is 'atzeret'" (Leviticus 23:36)

By way of the Truth, [the mystical teachings of the Kabbala], for in six days the Eternal made the heaven and the earth, and the seventh day is the Sabbath which has no partner, and the congregation of Israel is its partner, as it is said, and the earth, this being the eighth day. It is Atzeret for there everything is assembled. Now with respect to the Festival of Unleavened Bread He commanded that it be observed for seven days, with the first and seventh [days] being holy, though they are all holy and the Eternal is among them. From then on [i.e., beginning with the second day of Passover] we are to count forty-nine days [of the omer], which are seven weeks comparable to the [seven] "days" of the world, and then to sanctify the "eight day" [i.e., the Festival of Weeks] just as the eighth day of Sukkot [is holy]; and [the forty-nine days] counted between them are in the "intermediate days" of the festival, in the interval separating the first day and "eighth day" of the festival, this being the day of the Giving of the Torah when He made them to see His great fire and His words they heard out of the midst of the fire. Therefore our Rabbis, of blessed memory, always called the Festival of Weeks by the name of Atzeret [a name here used in the verse for the eighth day of the Festival of Sukkot], for it is on the "eighth" day of the festival, which Scripture here so called by that name. And this is the [intention of the] saying of the Rabbis: "The eighth day is a festival in and of itself" with respect to 'p'zar k'shab' , [an acrostic for: payis (lots), zman (time), regel (festival), korban (offering), shir (song), bracha (blessing)]. but yet it complements the first [seven] days [Thus: "He that made no offerings on the first festival day of Sukkot, must offer them any day throughout the whole festival, even on the last [i.e., the eighth] day of Sukkot] since it is an emanation of the first days but it is not like their unity. Therefore in the section of All the firstlings [Deut. 19:19] He mentions in speaking of the three festivals -- the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Tabernacles -- [that the Festival of Tabernacles] is seven days and He did not mention the eighth day, for there He said, all thy males appear [Deut. 15:16] etc. This is thus clear.

(Adapted from the 13th century classic by the illustrious scholar, philosopher and defender of the faith, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman--known as 'RAMBAN' or 'Nachmanides', a master kabbalist in his own right and a major link in the transmission of Jewish mysticism--based on the excellent annotated English translation by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel)