Archive for the ‘Bris’ Category

Why circumcise, and What is man’s mission in life?

Avraham enters into a covenant with Hashem, that his descendants will be many, they will be great, and they will inherit the land. The sign of the covenant, is circumcision, the bris milah.

At the beginning of the parsha of milah, the pasuk says:

וַיֵּרָא יְהוָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי-אֵל שַׁדַּי–הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי, וֶהְיֵה תָמִים – And Hashem appeared to Avraham, and said to him; “I am The Omnipotent, be before me, and be perfect”. (17:1)

The Beis HaLevi explains that people who deny fundamental precepts of Judaism, or even Hashem, can sarcastically ask that “if God can do everything, why do we have to do anything? Let Him have made the world perfect!”. They feel that the existence of imperfection disproves God. In the context of milah, the question is the same, that “if God wanted you circumcised, why didn’t He make you that way?”.

The Beis HaLevi points out that the name Hashem appears to Avraham with is אֵל שַׁדַּי. Chazal teach that this means the Omnipotent, that Hashem could have kept creating and building from Creation, but said דַּי – “enough”. Had Hashem not chosen to stop, creation would manifest itself perfectly, where all living things would give birth to adult offspring, food would not need processing or cooking, etc.

But Hashem said “enough”. Creation is not meant for us to enjoy in perfection, as the Torah tells us at the onset of Shabbos, the transition from Creation to existence, כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ, אֲשֶׁר-בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת – for on that day did Hashem refrain from all His work, which He made to be done. (2:3). The point of existence is לַעֲשׂוֹת – to be done by man. Our instruction of וֶהְיֵה תָמִים, to be perfect, is our own responsibility.

Circumcision, and everything else in life, do not come naturally. They require input of effort and hard work, but it is the end goal of being here – to be perfect.

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Who we are

After informing the Jews to perform the mitzva of the Korban Pesach, to protect from the final plage, the Torah tells us how וַיֵּלְכוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה’ אֶת מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן כֵּן עָשׂוּ – The Jews went and did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, and so they did. (12:28)

It is quite perplexing as to why the Torah would insert כֵּן עָשׂוּ, which Rashi explains to mean that Moshe and Ahron also performed the mitzva. Would we have expected otherwise?

But why is human input necessary at all? The first nine did not affect Jews, by default. For example, frogs, animals, and hail did not enter Jewish areas. Why by the final plague is there a requirement to perform this Mitzva and smear the door posts and lintel in order to be saved?

Furthermore, the Korban Pesach was not the only Mitzva given that night; circumcision was instituted that night too. What is particularly special about these two mitzvos that they needed to be instructed to perform them on the night of the Slaying of the Firstborn?

In Ezekiel (16:4) the Prophet says that the Jewish People were “born” in Egypt. There are two aspects of the Jewish People – the “doing”, and the “being”, active and passive.

Every person born to a Jewish mother is a Jew from the moment they open their eyes until the moment they finally close them. This is passive, the “being” aspect. There is not a thing that can change this; people can convert or practice other religions, but halacha states that they remain Jews, they can just opt right back in. There is no element of choice in the matter. G-d chose the Jews, and that choice obviously cannot be undone.

The second aspect, of “doing”, is much more down to personal choice, to do as we are told.

Circumcision is a passive mitzva – it is performed 8 days after a boy is born and the child will have no knowledge or choice in the matter. It cannot be undone either. However, Korban Pesach is a personal choice, an active mitzva to be done. It is the only mitzva in the entire Torah where the word עבודה, service, is used in terms of a mitzva. It is not for nothing that these are the only two positive commandments whose punishment for not performing them is Kareis, spiritual excision – being cut off from Hashem.

R’ Shlomo Farhi observes how in Parshas Yisro, Moshe Rabbeinu is described as an Egyptian man. Moshe Rabbeinu! The same would be true of the Jews in Egypt, themselves almost Egyptian. These mitzvos set them apart.

So why did the Jews have to do something to be saved from the 10th plague? R Yehoshua Hartman explaining the Maharal teaches that the difference here is that Hasehm performed it Himself. Hashem says this time, it will be Him; not an angel, messenger, seraph etc. This has an obvious implication that with the other 9, angels and messengers were used. The Maharal explains that angels are not usually able to harm Jews, as Jews are a higher spiritual being. But Hashem is not subject to this instruction; He is above everything! He was looking for people to bind themselves to Him through the Mitzvos He gave them; it wasn’t like the other nine where it had been enough to be born to a Jew. They had to demonstrably show in a visible way they identifed themselves with G-d to be saved, with these mitzvos.

With this in mind, we can answer the first question. If people had to prove they were with G-d, one might think that being G-d’s spokesperson to Egypt and the Jews was enough for Moshe and Ahron; that they’d shown who their lot was cast with. This is inaccurate. Moshe and Ahron only did what G-d asked them when they were asked to fulfil a task, but whenever they weren’t in His service, they were just normal people. So the pasuk said כֵּן עָשׂוּ to explain that actually, Moshe and Ahron also performed the Mitzva, and they too only became servants, עבדים of Hashem after performing the עבודה of the Korban Pesach.

The doing/being has another relevancy to us. The mitzvot of Tfilin וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת עַל-יָדֶךָ וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ And you shall bind them as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. The brachos we make show this, one is “lehaniach” – on the binding, one is “al mitzvas” – passive, on the mitzva. This is further shown in the fact that if one puts on Tefilin before sunrise, one must retie the arm Tefilin to make the bracha, but does not need to adjust the head Tefilin. The reason for this is that our arms are what we use to do, so they must be active, and perform actions. Our heads are passive, our minds are who we are, and as such no new bracha is required.

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Is there a hidur mitzva after the mitzva is done?

There is a concept called hidur mitzva, which means that we enhance mitzvos we do to make them beautiful. Examples of this principle include using beautiful esrogim on Succos, using larger tefillin and arranging for a megillah to be written by the best scribe.

The basic mitzvah of Chanukah is that the householder will light one candle each night on behalf for all the residents. The next stage is where another candle is progressively lit as the holiday progresses. The ideal method of performance is where each resident lights progressively

The Brisker Rav quotes the Rambam as codifying the act of lighting in the singular, indicating his view that there is no such step as the final one mentioned above, and that therefore the best mitzvah one can do is for the householder (but not each member of the house) to light progressively, which Sefardi Jews do.

This is at odds with the Rema, whom Ashkenazi Jews tend to follow, who maintains that each person lighting is ideal. What is the disagreement over?

The Gemara in Shabbos discusses a Bris Milah, where the Mohel realises afterwards that he has left a small piece of skin. There are two types of this skin, one that leaves the baby considered uncircumcised, and the other does not matter; and therefore the mitzvah has been fulfilled. The Gemara concludes that there is no need for the Mohel to repeat the Bris if it is the type which does not matter.

Rashi explains that it is only when the circumcision takes place on Shabbos that the Mohel does not return, but that on weekdays he would. The Rambam disagrees, and says the Mohel would not perform the operation again even on a weekday.

The Brisker Rav sheds light on the issue: after the time of the mitzvah has gone, the mitzvah cannot be improved. There is no doubt that this is the case on Shabbos, where there is universal agreement that one does not break it for the hidur, but the Rambam says that once the Mohel has finished the Bris, he cannot make it any more beautiful than it was, as the mitzvah has been completed and therefore gone.

The Rema and Rashi disagree, and say that yes, you can! This is the difference with regard to lighting menorahs. The Rambam says that once the householder has lit, there is no further possibility for the rest of the household to perform a hidur, as the basic mitzva was already completed when the householder had lit the first light, so the hidur stops once he has lit additional lights. Any further attempts at beautification by doing more, eg everyone else lighting, are after the mitzva has passed, so are redundant.

Ashkenazim follow the opinion the Rema and Rashi, that we can enhance something after the main mitzvah has been completed, which is why each of us lights our own menorah.

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A Lame Excuse?

ויאבק איש עמו עד עלות השחר…ותקע כף ירך יעקב בהאבקו עמו – ‘and a man wrestled with him until dawn…and his hip-socket was dislocated when he wrestled with him.’

Once we are told that “a man wrestled with him”, isn’t the repetition – “when he wrestled with him” a little redundant?

The Ksav Sofer points out that Rashi gives two interpretations on the word ויאבק: firstly, the word is from אבק - dust – that they kicked up a lot of dust through their movements. Or שחבקו ואבקו בזרועתיו – that they were embracing with their arms (which is also an essential part of wrestling, of course).

The first interpretation is in line with the way that enemies fight with each other, whereas the second has echoes of the way that friends embrace. This is precisely what Chazal mean when they discuss Maaseh Avos Siman LeBonim. (This is a principle that ancestors leave imprints that repeat for their descendants)

There are two ways in which the enemies of the Jewish people try to bring them down (as is famously noted by Chazal in a number of a places – מיד אחי מיד עשו – he needed to be saved from both aspects of Esau as we are about to discuss). The first is by harsh decrees, pogroms, crusades etc. But what happens when they try this? You only need to hear what the Mossad agent who caught Eichmann (according to some – Isser Harel) stated that Eichmann said upon his capture - שמע ישראל ה’ אלקינו ה’ אחד – Shema Yisrael!

When questioned about how he knew this, he testified- as did many other Nazis, that it didn’t matter which type of Jew was in the gas chamber, this was the constant phrase on the lips of those holy martyrs. When oppressed, the Jew gets closer to G-d. This doesn’t work for our enemies. So they try another way – they befriend us, influence us, try to make us one of them. Through this, says the Ksav Sofer, they make us be פוסח על שתי סעיפים – straddling both worlds, so that we have one foot in both worlds and thereby are not totally part of either one, making us unable to walk properly…hence the limp This is the second interpretation of Rashi – because the initial wrestling did not work in overcoming us, they resort to the embrace. Unfortunately, history has shown the second method to be deadlier, as it distances us from G-d. Through this ותקע כף ירך יעקב – the point of the Bris is dislocated!

Amazingly, what follows is ויזרח לו השמש – the sun shone for him – i.e. after the dark period which equates to the harsh treatment of Galus, they attempt the sunshine or friendly treatment. This is the bit that damages us the most and we are פוסח על שתי סעיפים – in two places. And – this is the best part – it is this which indicates the inability to walk properly, or the limp. What are the words which follow ויזרח לו השמש? That he had a limp on his hip, the area of the Bris that signifies are relationship with G-d!

Incidentally, this explains the reason he asked to be saved “miyad achi miyad Eisav“, on the one hand the destroyer, on the other, his brother, how could he resist?

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The Nature of Marriage

R’ Shamshon Refael Hirsch relates a concept where the first use of something in the Torah explains how it is used in all other cases. He cites the blessing by a Pidyon Haben as an example; זה קטן, גדול יהיה – “this small one, may he become great”. He explains that the first instances of the words קטן/גדול in the Torah are in reference to the luminaries, the sun and moon. The moon only reflects light, whereas the sun actually produces light. The blessing thus means, that the baby, at the time helpless and reliant on others, should become an independent and great person.

Adam has a problem of finding his עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ, partner, and this problem is solved when Hashem completes his surgery; וַיִּסְגֹּר בָּשָׂר, תַּחְתֶּנָּה – and He closed the flesh in its place. (2:21)

This is the first time the letter ס – “samech” – is used in a verb in the Torah – it’s appearance was limited to nouns and names until this juncture. The Torah is hinting that there is some kind of relationship between the letter and women getting married.

The letter ס, when spelt out, reads סֶמֶך, a support, meaning that Eve was intended to assist the Adam and be there for him.

The letter ס is circular, and in Kabbalah, a woman is likened to a circle, and a man to a square. The woman is meant to be an עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ, around him always. Incidentally, old rings in the cities of mekubalim like Tzfat used rings that have a square surrounded by a circle, illustrating this concept. This is partly why the bride circles the groom under the chupa.

This circular idea is further demonstrated by the numerical value of עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ, which equals 360, which happens to be the amount of degrees in a circle.

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ראש חודש ניסן

This Weeks Parsha

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