Shiv'a - mi yodeya?

Question

Who knows seven?

(I mean really, who doesn't?)

Please cite/link your sources, if possible. In about one business day, I will:

• Upvote all interesting answers.

• Accept the best answer.

• Go on to the next number.

Answer 1

Seven are the liquids that can cause a food item to be ready to become tamei.

Answer 2

7 are the traits of a hacham (Avot 5:9) (also of a golem, but let's be positive here)

Answer 3

The lower sefirot, nameley: chesed gevurah tiferet, netzach hod yesod, malchut.

The weeks between Shavuot and Pesach.

(When I give two answers in a single answer, there's a connection)

Answer 4

Sevens by Ari Lesser

Passover extends seven days my friends
And from the night after the first day ends
We count seven times seven days till Shavuot
Refining our souls with the seven Spheriot
We go through Tiferet, Malchut, Yesod
Chesed, Gevurah, Netzach, and Hod
We’re not tzaddiks but after seven weeks
We’re ready to receive the words G-d speaks

In the Holy of Holies the High Priest whips
Seven drips of blood from his fingertips
In the seventh month we atone for our sins
In the seventh month when the year begins
In the seventh month sound the Shofar blast
After seven, seven-year cycles have passed
Throughout the land we declare Jubilee
Every debt is forgiven every slave goes free
Every seventh year is Shabbat for the land
In the seventh year we leave it in G-d’s hand
No one reaps, and no one sows
In the seventh year we just eat what grows
There’s barley and wheat, figs and dates
Pomegranates and olives and grapes
The seven species of the holy land
Growing as abundant as the beach has sand
Seven Brachas all seven days of the celebration
Of a wedding when a man and wife begin to have relations
But during menstruation there’s no cohabitation
They keep a seven-day period of separation
Uncircumcised first seven days that we’re born
Sit shiva in the house seven days when we mourn
Tefillin wraps seven straps round the arm when we pray
Every morning of the week except the seventh day
And when we dwell in the sukkah seven days of Sukkot
On the seventh day there’s seven hoshanot
With seven of the four species we make a line
As we circle the bimah seven times
In the seventh month after the year’s head
Seven days of Pesach we eat no bread
On all seven we’d to bring a ram, and a goat
Two bulls, and seven lambs for the Korbanot

Passover extends seven days my friends
And from the night after the first day ends
We count seven times seven days till Shavuot
Refining our souls with the seven Spheriot
We go through Tiferet, Malchut, Yesod
Chesed, Gevurah, Netzach, and Hod
We’re not tzaddiks but after seven weeks
We’re ready to receive the words G-d speaks

On the seventh day rise up to the Torah
Read one of seven aliyahs from the Parshah
Bereshit Bara Elokim, the first
Line in the Torah is a seven word verse
G-d created to earth and the heavens
Worked six days and was done on the seventh
So the seventh day is the day of rest
The seventh day G-d blessed with Holiness
He made Adam and Chava and she was the mother
Of Cayin and Hevel who was killed by his brother
But G-d didn’t punish Cayin for seven generations
So violence and robbery spread through creation
Til G-d said to Noach, “In seven days
The waters of the flood will begin to raise
So get seven other people, and bring at least
Seven pairs of each kosher bird and beast.”
So Noach got seven male and seven female
Of each clean creature on the Ark set sail
Til the seventh month, when the waters dropped
And the ark came to rest on the mountain top
Let the raven fly, seven days went by
Sent the dove, she came back cause nothing was dry
Waited seven days at the end of the week
Sent the dove, she returned olive branch in beak
He still wasn’t sure so he waited seven more
Sent the dove buts she didn’t come back like before
Cause the flood was over, for Noah G-d showed
A Sign in the cloud, seven color rainbow
Then he gave seven Noachide laws to be done
By the seventy nations who come from Noach’s sons
But there was evil in the seven nations of Canaan
So G-d swore to give their land to Avraham
Who lived in Beer Sheva that was the well spring
Where he gave seven sheep to the Philistine king
And Sarah was Avraham’s beautiful wife
One hundred twenty seven were the years of her life
There’s seven generations from Avraham to Moses
I’ll keep the story short most everybody knows this
Sarah bore Yitzchak to Avraham
Yitzchak begot Yaakov, who ran to Aram
For seven years Yaakov work like hell
For his uncle Lavan, trying to marry Rachel
But the night he wed, he got tricked instead
Woke up and found Leah, was laying in his bed
Seven kids came through Leah, that’s true
But Yaakov knew he had to have Rachel too
So after seven days another wedding was on
But he had to work seven more years for Lavan
And when his son Yoseph was just seventeen
He got sold as a slave down to Mitzrayim
He was sitting in prison when Pharaoh had a dream
And nobody in Egypt knew what it could mean
He dreamt seven cows all healthy and fat
Emerged from the river and behold after that
There came seven cows looking ugly and cursed
And the second seven ate the seven cows that were first
And he dreamed seven ears of grain all stood
On a single stalk, they were full and good
But then grew seven thin ears withered by the wind
The first seven got swallowed by the seven that were thin
Yosef said, “Pharaoh, your dream about the grain
And your dream about the cows, are one and the same
To me it’s clear that the seven full ears
And the seven fat cows are seven good years
The seven thin ears and the seven cows that were lean
Are seven bad years, and the meaning of your dream
Is that seven years of plenty will come and get swallowed
By seven years of famine that immediately follow.”
Then Pharaoh repaid Yoseph, who had saved 
Egypt, making his family their slaves
But his wise men told him they saw in the stars
The Moshe would be born on the seventh of Adar
They were right, Moshe started a fight
Killed and Egyptian then he had to take flight
Married one of seven daughters of Yitro
Before he told Pharaoh, “Let my people go”
Seven plagues brought Egypt down on it’s knee
And like a low blow, Bo, there came the last three
G-d split the sea and we walked seven weeks
Up to mount Sinai where we heard G-d speak

Passover extends seven days my friends
And from night after the first day ends
We count seven times seven days till Shavuot
Refining our souls with the seven Spheriot
We go through Tiferet, Malchut, Yesod
Chesed, Gevurah, Netzach, and Hod
We’re not tzaddiks but after seven weeks
We’re ready to receive the words G-d speaks

On the seventh day G-d called and allowed
Moshe to ascend to midst of the cloud
HASHEM let him stand in the highest of places
And taught him teaching with seventy faces
He came back with the seven books of the Torah
Built the Ark, Altar, seven branch menorah
Set up the Tabernacle seven times in a row
For the first seven days he was Kohen Gadol
But the people was to much for him to support
So he set up a seventy man supreme court
When his sister complained, G-d made her stay
With Tzaras outside the camp for seven days
An affliction like that you show to a priest
He’ll quarantine you for seven days at least
When he sees you again, if he still isn’t sure
He might have to quarantine you seven more
If he says it’s Tzaras then you wait outside
Til he slaughters a bird the day you’re purified
Dips a live bird, cedar wood, crimson thread
And hyssop in the blood of the bird that’s dead
You get sprinkled with the blood seven times by the priest
Take the bird that’s alive outside to be released
After that you can enter the camp, but you stay
Outside of your own tent for seven more days
Til the seventh day when he shaves all the hair
On your head, and your beard, eyebrows, everywhere
Then you bring offerings to atone for your crimes
And he sprinkles you with olive oil seven times
Some things we do just because G-d said
We take an unblemished unworked cow that’s red
Slaughter it and have the Kohen flick a spackle
Of it’s blood seven times before the Tabernacle
Burn it, put the ashes in some H2O
That came from a river with a seven year flow
When anybody touches any body passed away
Purify’em with the Mayim on the third and seventh day”
Then Miriam died from HASHEM’s kisses
She was one of Israel’s seven prophetesses
So G-d blessed her with a painless fate
And she was one of seven corpses the worms never ate
Just like Moshe and Aaron those three
Come from a family full of prophesy
But they were many others who had revelations
G-d even gave seven prophets to the nations
Bilaam was one of the worst on earth
So Balak hired him to curse us but first
They built seven altars, according to plan
And offered up seven bulls, and seven rams
It failed so Balak just built seven more
Burnt seven bull, and seven rams like before
Failed again so he did seven more like the first
Still he gave us a blessing instead of curse
Our enemies joined as one to attack
But on seven different roads they ran right back
Just like Moshe told us on the other side
Of the river Jordan before he died
He passed away on the seventh of Adar
Never made it to the land only saw it from afar
But we crossed over under Joshua’s command
And celebrated Pesach in the promise land

Passover extends seven days my friends
And from the night after the first day ends
We count seven times seven days till Shavuot
Refining our souls with the seven Spheriot
We go through Tiferet, Malchut, Yesod
Chesed, Gevurah, Netzach, and Hod
We not tzaddiks but after seven weeks
We’re ready to receive the words G-d speaks

When Joshua was going around Jericho and
There were seven Kohanim, with seven shofars blowing
They circled the city seven days in all
The seventh day circled seven times round the wall
We won that battle but coast wasn’t clear
Cause Midian invaded for seven years
Til Gideon rose up and made them run
Came home a hero had seventy sons
Shimshon showed  those Philistine kings
He could break through seven new bow strings
Til Delilah pressed him, left him for dead
By shaving the seven dreadlocks off his head
She was bad but wise woman stands alone
On seven pillars she builds up her home
Ruth was a convert good as they come
She was better to Naomi than seven sons
Her descendant David was just another
Son of Yishai with seven brothers
But he was destined to sit on the throne
For the first seven years he reigned in Chevron
He had seven wives but that was before
He met Bat-Sheva and he took one more
She gave birth to Sholmo when he was alive
He got married to seven hundred wives
Seventy thousand men had to cut the stones
Of the temple he built while he sat on the throne
Took seven years, in the seventh month it was done
Then he had a double seven day celebration
When it was destroyed Yermiyahu was clear
That the exile would last for seventy years
So we sat seven decades in Bavel and waited
While the date of redemption was miscalculated
By Achashverosh, the king whose hand
Ruled over a hundred and twenty seven lands
He threw a seven day long feast for his friends
His seven chamberlains, and his seven wise men
One of them was Daniel who prayed for the end
Of the exile end, then an angel came to him
Said, “Seventy weeks,” but it wasn’t so clear
Might have meant seventy more sets of seven years
Since then we’ve been punished again, and again
In seven different ways for our seven sins
Feeling like Iyov so many mishaps
He lost seven sons when their house collapsed
And he had a huge flock but a fire came
Seven thousand sheep just went up in flames
So he sat in silence morning his plight
For seven days and seven nights

When the wicked stumble they meet their demise
But the righteous can fall seven times and rise
Five, Seven, Seven, Three is the year we’re in
Waiting for the seventh millennium to begin
Had the seventh Rebbe in seven seventy
So how much longer will this galus be
Let our enemies all be crushed at once
We’ll bury their bodies for seven months
Their weapons will fuel our fires for free
For seven years we won’t cut down a tree
Let the river spilt into seven streams
Like the sea when we left from Mitzrayim
I can dream, next Pesach we’ll be redeemed
Have Seder all together in Yerushalayim

Passover extends seven days my friends
And from the night after the first day ends
We count seven times seven days till Shavuot
Refining our souls with the seven Spheriot
We go through Tiferet, Malchut, Yesod
Chesed, Gevurah, Netzach, and Hod
We not tzaddiks but after seven weeks
We’re ready to receive the words G-d speaks

Answer 5

Seven are the household items containing chametz ingredients, listed in the Mishnah (Pesachim 3:1) as having to be disposed of before Pesach.

Also, seven are the reactants used to test a stain of unknown origin, to see whether it is blood or something else (Niddah 9:6).

Answer 6

The rabbinic mitzvot, namely:

1. Netilat yadayim
2. Eruv
3. Berachot
4. Shabbat candles
5. Purim
6. Chanukah
7. Hallel

Answer 7

Branches of the Menorah from the Temple.

(Exodus 25:37)

Answer 8

Seven are:

• The days of the week
• Sons of Chana in the times of Chanukah
• Years in the Shemittah cycle
• Shemittah cycles in the Yovel cycle
• The days in Pesach and Sukkos (proper)
  • The seven guests that visit the Sukkah
• Seventh of Adar is Moshe's birthday
  • ..and yahrtzeit.
• Yisro's names: Yisro, Yesser, Hovav, Reuel, Chever, Putiel and Keni
  • ..and daughters
• The minimum number of items we shake on Sukkos:
  • 1 Lulav
  • 1 Esrog
  • 2 Aravos
  • 3 Hadassim
• The number of directions your enemies shall flee from you when you follow God's will (Devarim 28:7)

• Berachos by a wedding

  • ..and days of celebration following

• Days of Achashverosh's party for Shushan

• Aliyos on Shabbos
• Children of Leah: six sons and one daughter
• The cows and stalks in Pharaoh's dreams
  • ..and the years of plenty of famine that they foreshadowed
• Length of each plague in Egypt
• Number of Rakiyim
• Winds of the tefillin shel yad on the forearm
• Words in the first pasuk of Torah
• Leap years in the Jewish calendars 19-year cycle
• Years that Yaakov worked for each of Leah and Rachel
• Nations that inhabited Eretz Yisroel prior to Bnei Yisroel
• Days Yehoshua circled Yericho
  • ...and times it was circled on the Seventh Day

..and no more patience.

Answer 9

Seven are the rules for humanity.

Answer 10

.... are the Naviyos (Prophetesses) of Yisrael:

1. שרה
2. מרים
3. דבורה
4. חנה אם שמואל
5. אביגיל אשת דוד
6. חולדה
7. אסתר המלכה

Sarah Miriam Devorah Chana (Mother of Shmuel) Avigayil (wife of David) Huldah Queen Esther

Answer 11

Are the fruits that Eretz Yisroel is blessed with. Chita, Seora, Gefen, Teaina, Rimon, Zayis, Tamarim (Devarim 8:8 as interpreted by Rashi)

Answer 12

Seven are the questions to always ask when studying something, according to the Tiferet Yisrael commentary on Avot 2:14; this list (which begins "mi? ma?") produces a really-hard-to-get-out-of-your-head Jewish pop hit.

Answer 13

Seven are the days before an animal is sacrificed.

Answer 14

The amount of Berachos in the Shemona Esrei of Shabbos

Answer 15

We read 7 Haftoros of Nechama (consolation, comforting) after the three weeks.

Answer 16

Seven are the things that existed before Creation: 1. The Torah; 2. Repentance; 3. Paradise; 4. Gehinnom; 5. G-d's throne; 6. The Temple; and 7. The name of the Messiah. Source: Pesachim 54a; Nedarim 39b

Answer 17

7 are the sprinklings below the yesod of the mizbe'ach in the avoda of yom kippur (you know, that achas, achas v'achas etc. part)

7 are the paths that your enemies will run away from you, or that you will run away from them, depending on how you behave.

Answer 18

1. Times the kallah circles the chosson in the custom for which there is no real source.

2. Stops during ma'amados at a levaya.

3. Ladies in waiting that Esther got from Achashverosh during her period of preparation to meet him (Esther 2:9).

4. Number of times a righteous person stumbles and recovers (Mishlei 24:16).

Answer 19

Seven are the (main) gates to the Azarah: Nitzotz, Korban, Moked, Nikanor, Mayim, Bekhorot, and Delek.

(Middot 1:4-5)

Answer 20

There are seven mitzvos in chazzal which are equivalent to all the other mitzvos as enumerated and explained in Rabbi Shlomo Volbe's seffer Hamitzvis Hashakulos

1) Whoever denies avoda zara affirms the entire Torah. Sifri Shlach on chapter 15 verse 22-23, Chulin 5a.

2) Tzitzis is equivalent to all the mitzvos. Rashi Shlach 15, 41.

3) Whoever desecrate shabbos is akin to worshipping idols which is equivalent to all the mitzvos. Rashi Shlach 15, 41. Shmos rabba 25, 12.

4) Even all the mitzvos are not equal to one word of Torah. Yerushalmi Peah 1,1.

5) Great is Mila which is equivalent to all the Mitzvos in the Torah. Nedarim 32a.

6) Tzedaka is equivalent to all the mitzvos. Bava basra 9a.

7) Living in Eretz Yisroel is equivalent to all the mitzvos in the Torah. Sifri Re'eh piska 80, brought in Yalkut 885.

(He mentions the opinion of the Baal Haturim in Nitzavim that says Tshuva is equivalent to all the mitzvos, but his list is of seven from chazzal)

Answer 21

Seven is the number of different types of trees listed in one Pasuk in Tanach.

Yeshayahu ישעיהו מא:יט / 41:19

"אתן במדבר ארז שיטה והדס ועץ שמן, אשים בערבה ברוש תהדרר ותאשור יחדיו".

I will give in the desert cedars, acacia trees, myrtles, and pines; I will place in the wilderness boxtrees, firs, and cypresses together.

Answer 22

The seventh letter of the aleph-beis is zayin. Zayin is one of seven letters that recieve tagin, along with ayin, gimel, teth, nun, shin and tzadi.

Answer 23

There are seven shepherds (Micah 5:4)

Gemara Succah 52b:

מאן נינהו שבעה רועים דוד באמצע אדם שת ומתושלח מימינו אברהם יעקב ומשה בשמאלו

Who are these seven shepherds? David is in the middle; Adam, Seth, and Methuselah are to his right; Abraham, Jacob, and Moses are to his left.

Answer 24

Bava Basra 17a:

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן שִׁבְעָה לֹא שָׁלַט בָּהֶן רִמָּה וְתוֹלֵעָה וְאֵלּוּ הֵן אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב מֹשֶׁה אַהֲרֹן וּמִרְיָם וּבִנְיָמִין בֶּן יַעֲקֹב

Our Rabbis taught: Seven peoples' bodies didn't decompose (lit. were not ruled over by worms and maggots); Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Miriam and Binyomin (son of Yaakov).

Answer 25

Seven spokes on the wheel of the Wheel of Time (IIRC R' Aryeh Kaplan says that the world is like a wheel in InnerSpace) that represent the seven ages of the world (with the seventh being the sabbatical era), and seven locks of indestructible heartstone seal the prison that binds the Shai'tan (i.e. Satan, yetzer hara, sitra achra).

I once read on the Internet someone theorizing that the author of the WoT series is a closet kabbalist. Could this be true?

Answer 26

Seven is the number of labours Adam had to do in order to find a garment to wear (according to Ben Zoma in Tosefta Brochos 6:5 as quoted by the Gemora Bavli in Brochos 58a).

וְכַמָּה יְגִיעוֹת יָגַע אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן עַד שֶׁמָּצָא בֶגֶד לִלְבּוֹשׁ גָּזַז וְלִבֵּן וְנִפֵּץ וְטָוָה וְאָרַג וְצָבַע וְתָפַר וְאַחַר כַּךְ לָבַשׁ

Answer 27

Megillah 11b - In the seventh year from the conquest of Yehoyakim, the exile of Yehoyachin took place.

גָּלוּ בְּשֶׁבַע לְכִיבּוּשׁ יְהוֹיָקִים גָּלוּת יְהוֹיָכִין שֶׁהִיא שְׁמוֹנֶה לִנְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר

They were exiled in the seventh year after Nebuchadnezzar’s subjugation of Jehoiakim, in what was known as the exile of Jehoiachin, which was actually the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.

Answer 28

Bava Basra 121b:

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן שִׁבְעָה קִפְּלוּ אֶת כָּל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ מְתוּשֶׁלַח רָאָה אָדָם שֵׁם רָאָה מְתוּשֶׁלַח יַעֲקֹב רָאָה אֶת שֵׁם עַמְרָם רָאָה אֶת יַעֲקֹב אֲחִיָּה הַשִּׁילוֹנִי רָאָה אֶת עַמְרָם אֵלִיָּהוּ רָאָה אֶת אֲחִיָּה הַשִּׁילוֹנִי וַעֲדַיִין קַיָּים

The Sages taught: Seven people spanned in their lifetimes the whole world in its entirety, i.e., their lives have spanned all of human history. Methuselah saw Adam in his lifetime; Shem saw Methuselah; Jacob saw Shem; Amram saw Jacob; Ahijah the Shilonite saw Amram; Elijah saw Ahijah the Shilonite; and Elijah is still alive. (Sefaria translation & notation)

Answer 29

There are seven pesukim in Tanakh that have exactly the same gematria as the brocho of netilas yodoyim. I am not entirely sure of the significance of this but there must be some. The pesukim are: Genesis 33:11, Exodus 10:8, Leviticus 20:23, Kings 2 10:36, Ezekiel 6:8, Isaiah 19:1, and Chronicles 1 15:19. They are all gematria 3339.