The Eighth Day Solemn Assembly of One Bull and One Ram

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Pinchas 15:1

(Numbers 29:36:) "Then you shall offer up a burnt offering, [a fire-offering of pleasing aroma to the LORD]: one bull, one ram." A parable: it is comparable to a king who made a banquet of seven days, and invited all the people of the province for the seven days of the feast. When the seven days of the feast had passed, he said to his beloved friend: We have already discharged our obligation to the people of the province. Let us, you and I, make do with whatever you can find — a litra of meat, or fish, or greens. So too did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to Israel: All the sacrifices that you offered during the seven days of the festival, you were offering on behalf of the nations of the world; but on the eighth day there shall be a solemn assembly for you. Make do with whatever you find — with one bull and one ram.

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