[pl. Britot] – covenant; as in a covenant with G-d. The Jewish People has made several covenants with G-d. One is “Brit Milah,” or Circumcision, performed on a healthy male Jew at the age of eight days. Far from being a mutilation of the body, it is in fact a perfection of the body, and a completion of G-d’s work, in accord with the verse “which G-d created, to complete.” (Bereshit 2:3) Another “Brit” is the “Brit HaTorah,” the Covenant of the Torah, which the Jewish People negotiated with G-d, saying “We will do it (i.e. perform its commandments), before we understand ,” thus showing unqualified belief, trust and loyalty.
