{"id":98039,"date":"2022-11-19T22:16:11","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T20:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98039"},"modified":"2022-11-19T22:16:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T20:16:11","slug":"brit-milah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/brit-milah\/","title":{"rendered":"Brit Milah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and your offspring after you: For every male among you to be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. At the age of eight days every male among you shall be circumcised, throughout your generations \u2013 he who is born in the household or purchased with money from any stranger who is not of your offspring\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Bereishit<\/em> 17:10-12)<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Vayikra<\/em> 12:3)<\/p>\n

>Brit milah<\/em> is especially cherished by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. All creatures, man and beast, and even birds and reptiles, stand in fear of the circumcised Jew (Midrash Tanchuma<\/em>, Tzav<\/em> 14).<\/p>\n

A philosopher once asked Rebbi, \u201cIf the mitzvah of brit milah<\/em> is so beloved, why wasn\u2019t it given to Adam Harishon?\u201d<\/p>\n

He replied, \u201cEverything that was created in the six days of Creation must undergo rectification.\u00a0 For example, certain plants need to be sweetened, and wheat must be ground into flour. Mankind, too, was not created perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Akilus the convert asked Rabbi Eliezer why the mitzvah of brit milah<\/em> is not included in the Ten Commandments. Rabbi Eliezer replied that this mitzvah was given before the luchot<\/em> were brought down, as the pasuk states (Shemot <\/em>19:5), \u201cIf you hearken to Me and observe My covenant.\u201d The Midrash explains that covenant<\/em> (brit<\/em>) refers to Shabbat as well as brit milah<\/em> (Pesikta Rabbati<\/em> 23).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not been false to your covenant\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Tehillim<\/em> 44:18)<\/p>\n

The Menorat Hama\u2019or<\/em> (Chapter 6) explains that this refers to brit milah<\/em>, the covenant Hashem has implanted into our flesh, as the pasuk states (Bereishit<\/em> 17:13), \u201cMy covenant shall be in your flesh.\u201d Whoever is unfaithful to his brit milah<\/em> is considered betraying Hashem, Whose Name is impressed upon Am Yisrael. Whoever guards his brit milah<\/em> is considered as guarding the entire Torah.<\/p>\n

Avraham Avinu was not considered \u201cperfect\u201d until he circumcised himself. Before he did so, Hashem told him (ibid. 1), \u201cWalk before Me and be perfect.\u201d After he circumcised himself, the pasuk says (ibid. 5), \u201cBecause Avraham obeyed My voice, and observed My safeguards, My commandments, My decrees, and My Torah.\u201d By observing the mitzvah of brit milah<\/em>, Avraham was considered as observing the entire Torah. Regarding Yitzchak, the Torah says (ibid. 21), \u201cBut I will maintain My covenant through Yitzchak.\u201d This is the covenant of brit milah<\/em>. Yitzchak was thereby considered having observed the entire Torah, since the Torah is called brit<\/em>, as the pasuk says (Devarim<\/em> 9:9), \u201cThe Tablets of stone, the tablets of the brit<\/em> \u2013 covenant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Menorat Hama\u2019or<\/em> continues that Yosef Hatzaddik, who guarded his brit milah<\/em> and did not desecrate it with the wife of Potiphar, merited great honor both in this world and the Next. Hashem placed His Name inside that of Yosef, as the pasuk attests (Tehillim<\/em> 81:6), \u201c\u05e2\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05e1\u05e3 \u05e9\u05de\u05d5 \u2013 He appointed it as a testimony for Joseph,\u201d which can also be read as \u201cHe placed His Name within that of Yehosef.\u201d The letter \u05d4' inserted in the name \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05e1\u05e3 alludes to Hashem\u2019s Name.<\/p>\n

Brit milah<\/em> contains all the mitzvot within it. The gematria<\/em> of the word \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea is 612. Adding one for a person\u2019s body upon which the mitzvah is done gives a total of 613, the number of all the mitzvot (Torat Haminchah<\/em>, Parashat Lech Lecha<\/em>, Derashah <\/em>4).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and your offspring after you: For every male among you to be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. At the age of eight days every male among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1054],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brit-milah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}