Circumspection Concerning Circumcision
I was asked to be sandek at a brit milah in Buenos Aires. For this purpose, I traveled with my escorts from Eretz Yisrael to New York, and from there, to Argentina.
As we boarded the plane in New York, the weather was cold and stormy. The streets were flooded with rains, and the airport was shrouded in snow. There was therefore a delay in our departure time. We had nothing to do but sit tight and hope for the best.
We spent many hours waiting for the snows to abate. After six hours of waiting, I realized that if we would not arrive at the brit on time, our long journey from Eretz Yisrael to Buenos Aires would be in vain. Since there was nothing that we could technically do to rush up the flight, we made our own efforts in the way of prayer.
- Serving as sandek
With great Heavenly kindness, we arrived at the brit close to sunset. The baby was quickly circumcised, and I merited being the sandek. Afterward, we prayed Ma’ariv. Then we made the long journey to Israel via New York.
Just as my companions and I made the difficult trek around the globe in order to fulfill the mitzvah of brit milah on time, every Jew must sacrifice himself to do all mitzvot on time and in the best way possible.
