About that 6 or 7 meme. Not sure what it really means, or why it has become so wildly popular, but everyone is referencing it – and no one can really explain it.
BH we found a mystical meaning to this popular online 6/7 juxtaposition and toss-up.
6 is the six days of the workweek, and 7 represents Shabbos. As the verse says, “Six days you shall work, and rest on the Seventh”. Working the six is also part of the observance and service. Six needs the 7th, and the 7th needs the 6th!
Most would think 7 would win that match-up, after all, Shabbos is much holier than the weekday. But Chassidus sees greatness in both! Shabbat and Weekday, the 7 and the 6, both are necessary for a full Jewish life.
In fact, there are many Jewish aspects and Chassidic goals and missions only possible in the workweek! More so than Shabbat!
So 6 and 7 can be seen as a very meaningful toss-up, a constant ongoing balance and synthesis, we need both and there’s much spiritual opportunity both ways. Judaism isn’t only seeking higher and holier, says Chassidus, it’s also seeking how to bring that holiness lower, down into our physical world. And our weekday service can do more of that.
We’re now entering the Torah portion of Noah. At the start of the story G-d tells Noah: “Come into the Ark”. As the Baal Shem Tov teaches, “Teiva” (the Hebrew word for Ark) also means Word. G-d tells Noah (and each of us!) to enter within the words of Torah to be protected from the turbulent waters of livelihood and worldliness. The Ark is a retreat from worldliness, it’s a spiritual escape. But that’s not the end of the story! At the end of the Flood, G-d tells Noah to “Leave the Ark!” That, too, is a spiritual mission! The purpose isn’t to stay within the Ark but to exit it, to engage with worldliness, to elevate it, to transform it.
Look, this Chabad House on campus got dubbed “Shabbos House” (there’s a history behind that) but we’re open all days of the week, too! Our hope is that all of our weekday activities and events are permeated with the spirit and energy of Shabbos. But yes, much of our mission can only get done in the weekdays, the 6’s!
This 6/7 meme has come to the fore in Fall of 2025, when we had this series of midweek holidays soon followed by Shabbat weekends. We hardly had a 6 week. Now that we’re done with so much holier holiday, its a good time to emphasize the potential in the weekday 6’s.