It’s been a difficult time for me. Last Tuesday, just a day before Pesach, I fell and fractured my humerus.

My wife has been wonderful, and I’m on the way to recovery. But the biggest problem has been a separation from Torah. It’s hard to hold my beloved texts, and even harder to type. And so today, I the chance to teach once again.

“And it was the eighth day,” the Torah tells us. The Tabernacle and its vessel were finished. The priests had prepared for seven days, and it was time to begin the sacrifices.

The number eight was no coincidence. Long ago, God had labored for seven wonderful days. And on the eighth day of creation, it was time for the man and the woman to become God’s partners.

And once again, it was time for humans to become God’s partners. The people would bring their gifts, and the priests would pass them on to the Holy One. And through gifts, through community, God’s presence would come to dwell among them.

The offerings of the eighth day marked a new phase in Aaron’s life, because he would bring the people’s offerings to God. And through his love of the people, through his willingness to see the unique goodness in each person, he would embody God’s love for them.

But the Torah teaches that Aaron felt undeserving of this role. After all, he had sinned with the Golden Calf. Why was it that Aaron, a former sinner, was chosen? Sefat Emet explained it this way:

The rabbis taught that “In a place where a repentant stands, even the totally righteous cannot stand.” Returning – acknowledging who we are and becoming the people we were meant to be – is harder, and more valuable to God than being totally righteous.

Moses set up the Tabernacle and took it down, again and again. But God’s presence never appeared. It was only because Aaron was broken – because he had grown from his mistakes – that the presence of God appeared.

And the truth is that Aaron was righteous. But he was only human. He wanted to be a good person. He wanted to be close to God. And so he looked inside himself and made the changes he had to. He made teshuvah out of love. And this was Aaron’s legacy, his teaching for all generations: that no matter how far we stray, we can always return. And we can all cause God’s presence to appear.

This is the teaching of the eighth day. No matter how far we stray, we can always return, and we can cause God’s presence to appear.