The eighth day and the techeiles thread

ועפי"ז יש לפרש דברי רש"י בשם ר' משה הדרשן שכ' שח' חוטין רמז לח' ימים שהי' מיצ"מ עד קי"ס ותמוה דלא היו רק ז' ימים.

And according to this we may explain the words of Rashi in the name of R' Moshe HaDarshan, who wrote that the eight threads [of tzitzis] allude to the eight days from the exodus from Mitzrayim until the splitting of the Yam Suf (krias Yam Suf) — which is puzzling, for there were only seven days.

Rashi (citing R' Moshe HaDarshan) connects the eight threads of the tzitzis to eight days between Yetzias Mitzrayim and the splitting of the sea, but this seems to contradict the well-known count of seven days from the Exodus to the sea.

ולפימ"ש א"ש דחוט תכלת שמחציתו לבן יום א' הוא והוא באמת יום הז' דקי"ס שהי' מכוון ליום השבת כדאיתא במד' בא.

But according to what we have explained it is resolved: that the thread of techeiles, whose other half is white, is itself "one day" — and it is in truth the seventh day, the day of krias Yam Suf, which corresponded to Shabbos, as is brought in the Midrash on parshas Bo.

The Sefas Emes resolves the difficulty: the single techeiles (blue) thread, half of which is white, counts as one special "day." That day is really the seventh, the day of the splitting of the sea, which the Midrash teaches fell on Shabbos — so it is at once the seventh day and a distinct eighth element, just as the blue thread stands apart from the seven white ones.

ועליו כתיב ויושע ה' ביום ההוא לשון נסתר.

And of it is written: "And Hashem saved on that day" — an expression of the hidden.

The verse describing the salvation at the sea uses "on that day" (Shemos 14:30), which the Sefas Emes reads as pointing to a concealed, transcendent dimension of that day.

פי' שהי' בו התקשרות הזמן דלתתא בשורש שלמעלה.

Meaning that on it there was a binding of time below to its root above.

On that day the ordinary time of the lower world became bound to its hidden source on high — like Shabbos, which links the days of the week to their spiritual root.

והוא כפול לחם משנה כמ"ש.

And it is doubled, like the lechem mishneh, as we have explained.

This is why that day has a "double" quality — paralleling the lechem mishneh (two loaves) of Shabbos — for it joins the lower day to its upper root and so counts as both the seventh and an eighth.

ובקי"ס שהלכו בנ"י בים זכו להוציא בחי' התכלת חלזון שבים שהיא הארה גנוזה לצדיקים כנ"ל.

And at the splitting of the sea, when Bnei Yisrael walked through the sea, they merited to bring forth the aspect of techeiles — the chilazon of the sea — which is a hidden light stored away for the tzaddikim, as above.

By passing through the sea, Bnei Yisrael drew up the techeiles, whose dye comes from the chilazon of the sea; this blue represents a concealed light reserved for the tzaddikim, now revealed through the miracle.

וי"ל עוד בזה דאיתא בזוה"ק בשלח ע"פ ויסע משה כו'.

And one may add further on this, for it is brought in the Zohar on parshas Beshalach, regarding the passuk "And Moshe caused [Yisrael] to journey…"

The Sefas Emes brings a further teaching from the Zohar on the verse describing how Moshe led Bnei Yisrael onward from the sea.

ויצאו אל מדבר שור אסתכליתא כמו אשורנו כו'.

"And they went out to the wilderness of Shur" — "a beholding," as in "ashurenu" ("I behold it").

The Zohar reads "Shur" as related to histaklus, "seeing"/"beholding" (as in Bilam's "ashurenu," "I behold it" — Bamidbar 24:17), teaching that after the sea Bnei Yisrael reached a level of clear spiritual vision.

והיינו שע"י קי"ס זכו לזאת ההסתכלות וזה הי' ביום המחרת של קי"ס א"כ תכלית הגאולה נעשה ביום הח' וע"ז נשאר רמז בתכלת שזכו לראיית פני השכינה כמ"ש חז"ל במנחות וראיתם אותו ע"ש:

That is, through the splitting of the sea they merited this beholding, and this was on the day after krias Yam Suf — so the culmination of the geulah occurred on the eighth day; and of this an allusion remains in the techeiles, that they merited to behold the face of the Shechinah, as Chazal said in Menachos on "and you shall see it" — see there.

The clear "beholding" came the day after the sea split — the eighth day — which is thus the true climax of the redemption. The eighth thread of techeiles hints at this: Chazal in Menachos (43b) link the techeiles to seeing the Shechinah, for the blue recalls the sea, the sky, and the Throne of Glory. Counting that culminating eighth day, R' Moshe HaDarshan's "eight days" is fully justified.

Summary: The Sefas Emes resolves Rashi's puzzling count of eight days from the Exodus to the sea: the seventh day, krias Yam Suf, fell on Shabbos and carried a "double" quality, binding lower time to its hidden root — like the single techeiles thread that stands apart from the seven white ones. Through the sea Bnei Yisrael drew forth the techeiles, a hidden light of the tzaddikim, and on the following eighth day attained a clear "beholding" of the Shechinah — the true culmination of the geulah, alluded to in the eighth thread of tzitzis.