Parashat Shemini

The Pasuk states, "And it was on the eighth day" (Vayikra 9:1).

Why does the Torah stress that this was the eighth day of the setting of the mishkan?

True, it was the culmination of the preceding seven days, which Moshe spent in preparation for the official inauguration. 

Yet it would seem more appropriate to emphasize that it was the first day of the functioning of the mishkan, as we find in the account of the offering of the Nesi-im (tribal princes) in parashat Naso. 

In this light, it seems that the first seven days were merely “practice sessions”, as it were, which became insignificant once the mishkan and the kohanim assumed their full sanctity.

If so, why is the eighth of the day given such prominence to the extent that even the name of the parasha stresses it? 

The Torah wants to teach us that the preparations one makes for doing a mitzvah have nearly as much importance as the mitzvah itself, and that the preparations are really part of the mitzvah itself.  

For example, even though the seder lasts only a few hours on Pesach evening, it requires weeks of preparation. 

Having to learn many laws and customs, one might think it a waste to spend all that time preparing for such a short affair.  In reality however, the preparations are part of the mitzvah because without them it would be impossible to do the mitzvah properly.

Similarly, one is allowed to pronounce the blessing of shehechiyahu (who has kept us alive) as soon as one completes building a sukkah, even though one cannot perform the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah until the first night of the festival.

This is why the Torah stresses the fact that the inauguration of the mishkan took place on the eighth day of the preparation, rather than calling it the day of the mishkan itself.

The seven days which preceded the consecration, even though they were not the ultimate “raison d’etre” of the mishkan, had an importance nearly equal to that of the days that followed.           

-- from sefer “Kol Dodi”

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Benhamu