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The Jewish people en masse came to this realization in Elijah’s Sivan there is a disagreement over whether the Torah was given
time. In order to stem the nation’s attraction to the neighboring on the sixth or the seventh day of that month (Shabbat 86b-87a).
people’s false gods, the prophet Elijah challenged the priests of Ba’al According to Rabbi Yosi who argues for the seventh (and with whom
to a “Battle of the Gods” on Mount Carmel. Putting into motion Rashi agrees), it is especially clear that the day on which the Torah
an audacious plan – one requiring him to offer a sacrifice outside was given reveals the intrinsic connection between the ten plagues
the confines of the Temple which ordinarily was prohibited – he and the Ten Commandments, for the division of ten into three and
would prove to everyone the identity of the true God. The test was seven is again recalled. Further supporting this connection, the
as follows: each side would construct an altar, and the side that Ten Commandments themselves reflect this division as three of
successfully brought down fire from heaven upon its altar would the commandments are expressed in the positive and seven in the
prove that its deity was the true God. After an entire day of Ba’al’s negative.
priests praying in vain, it was Elijah’s turn. After he prayed briefly, Not only the “first” giving of the Torah (the first set of tablets)
fire rained down from heaven and dramatically consumed Elijah’s reflects the seven-three division, so does the second giving of the Torah
offering. The people responded enthusiastically to the revelation of (the second set of tablets). After the people sinned by worshipping
God’s Oneness by exclaiming: “Hashem He is Elokim – Hashem He the Golden Calf and Moses destroyed the tablets, he prayed for God
is Elokim” (1 Kings 18:19-39).
to forgive the people and descended from Mount Sinai after three
This declaration of God’s oneness is employed at the dramatic periods of forty days with the second tablets on Yom Kippur, the
culmination of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. At the tenth day of the seventh month.
conclusion of Neilah, the last prayer of the day, when the prayers Another instance of the number ten in the Jewish calendar is
reach their zenith, the congregation in unison proclaims: “Hear the Ten Days of Repentance, beginning with Rosh Hashanah and
O Israel, God our God [Hashem Elokeinu], God [Hashem] is One” culminating with Yom Kippur. Of these ten days, three are holidays
(Deuteronomy 6:4) once; “Blessed is the name of His glorious – two days of Rosh Hashanah and one of Yom Kippur – and seven are
kingdom for all eternity” three times; and “Hashem He is Elokim” not. The seven intermediate days form a transitional period between
seven times.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and the entire ten days serve as
Often the initial experience of constriction and judgment do not the transitional period between the old and new years. Fittingly, it is
seem to be merciful and loving; thus, one of the cardinal principles on the tenth day, Yom Kippur, that the finite human being perhaps
of Jewish thought is that ultimately all that God does is for the good more than any other time of the year attempts through prayer and
and that everything which occurs stems from His essential oneness spiritual service to reconnect to his or her infinite source in God.
and love. This fundamental belief is among the most mystical Ultimately, the division of ten into seven and three is also reflected
understandings a person can arrive at regarding the essence of God. in the Jewish people’s inheritance of the Land and the coming of
However, it is also among the most practical, as it offers human Mashiach. In the book of Bereishit, God promises Abraham that his
beings the most positive way of experiencing life. descendants will inherit the Land of Israel from ten nations (Genesis

15:18). Yet, after this promise is made, only seven Canaanite nations
are ever mentioned. What happened to the other three nations?
The Slonimer Rebbe explains that each of the children of Israel’s
seven shepherds purified and uplifted one of the seven lower sefirot,
which in turn corresponded to one of the seven Canaanite nations.

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