Howdy Laird,

This is interesting:

>>Consequently, the number seven represents completion - as reflected in the seven days of Shiva in Judaism; the number eight represents beginning - as reflected in the Judaic practice of circumcising on the eighth day.<<

I've never heard of the seven days of "Shiva" in Judaism (which isn't saying much) and, as far as what the numbers represent, I'd always heard that seven represents "a sufficiency," and eight "an abundance." Which I thought went a long way to explain the significance of "trimming back" (ouch) Judaic foreskins on the eighth day.

Of course, Judaism isn't quite the same as what was originally practiced by the Hebrews before John Hyrcanus was moved to throw off the hated Greek yoke and convert the equally hated Edomites en masse at the point of the sword. It's true. Herod the Great himself came from a family of Edomitic proselyte Jews. Talk about becoming more Jewish than the Jew, and then, of course, the same thing happened years later, in Spain, when the Pope decided they all needed to convert to Catholicism or die (Trajan had these royal and priestly Jews shipped off to Sepha in Spain when they'd failed miserably to keep Judaea profitable for Rome). Here in the Southwestern United States we still have descendants of the original conquistador expansion into this region discovering that many of the observances and rituals their devout Catholic families practiced discretely at home actually stemmed from the Jewish tradition!

It's amazing how we think we can navigate all this undergrowth. :)

Regards,
Mark