From the virtual desk of the OU VEBBE REBBE Q If a brit is pushed off because of illness, and the baby becomes ready for the brit at a time when it is not convenient to make the brit, is it possible to delay it by a few days? A As you are aware, the time to do the brit mila is on the 8th day, but it is not always possible to do it then. After that time, there are several reasons to do the brit as soon as possible. The simplest reason to do the mitzva promptly is the rule of ZRIZIN MAKDIMIN L'MITZVOT (the diligent do mitzvot promptly). Promptness is a relative term and depends halachically on how much is being gained by how much delay. For example, if one can use a questionably kosher or qualified mohel right away or a clearly kosher one days later, one waits (see Da'at Kohen 138). If it's just a matter of having time to organize a more lavish brit or to have more people come, that is a weak reason to delay significantly. What is more complicated about a delayed brit is that it is harder to determine what a significant delay is. A regular brit has the cut off point of sunset of the eighth day (some poskim say that one should make efforts to make it no later than midday- see Otzar Habrit 3,5:9). Here, by contrast, there is no specific day, as the mitzva is to be done some time during one's life, the sooner the better. The Noda B'yehuda (II, 156) was asked about someone who wanted to wait for the upcoming Erev Pesach in order to allow first-borns to eat, and he vehemently opposed the idea. One should realize that there is more of a problem with delaying this mitzva than delaying others. Usually positive mitzvot are required opportunities to do something positive, and as long as it's done, it's done. However, brit milah is not only a positive mitzva, but also remove a state of orlah which has major spiritual and halachic negative ramifications (including karet). That status should be removed as soon as possible. For this
reason, the Magen Avraham (249:2) allows the brit and seuda for a delayed brit
to take place on Erev Shabbat, whereas one could not do the same for a delayed
pidyon haben. The Kovno Rav went as far as to say that when there is a question
whether to do an eighth day brit or a delayed one first, the delayed one has
precedence because his orlah has to be removed immediately, while the other baby
has until the end of the day (D'var Avraham I, 37). While few poskim agree that
there is an urgency to save minutes before the delayed brit, as long as the
matter is in the process of being taken care of, there is a consensus that it
should be done on the first possible day, barring unusually difficult
circumstances (see Noda B'yehuda, ibid.). “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” D’varim 16:20 (Parshat
SHO’F’TIM) Once, a storm destroyed an entire shipment of logs on its way down the river. The question now arose as to how to break the news to the merchant. No one wanted to bear the bad tidings, and in the end it was decided that the dayan should do so. The dayan entered the merchant’s home and started talking about various matters. Sure enough, the merchantsoon came around to discussing the importance of thanking HaShem for the bad as well as the good. Casually, as it were, the dayan asked the merchant, “Do you think that you could really live by that saying?” “Of course”, said the merchant, “I have no doubt on that score.” “Well, then, I’m sorry to break the news to you that your entire shipment to Danzig was destroyed”, said the dayan. The merchant paled before his eyes, and gave out a single cry, “Oh!” “Even that single ‘Oh!’ is superfluous”, said the dayan. From that time on, there was an expression in Lublin: “Even a
single ‘Oh!’ is superfluous.” Meet the greater bilby (an endangered species; the lesser bilby is thought to be extinct already). The Bilby (Macrotis lagotis, a.k.a. ninu, dalgyte, and pinkie) is a member of the bandicoot family (which is made up of about 20 species), Bilbies are also known as Rabbit-Eared Bandicoots. Their pouch opens back- wards so as not to be filled with dirt while digging. The Greater Bilby is the largest of the bandicoots (which are relatively small marsupials), measuring up to 55cm in length (body only) with a tail up to 29cm long. Adult males weigh up to 2.5 kg and females about half that. Bilby fur is very soft. It is mainly blue-grey, with some fawn. The belly is white and the tail is black with a white crest at the end and a naked spur-like tip. The large ears of the Bilby are almost hairless. As well as providing great hearing, they are believed to help keep the Bilby cool. The long snout, which is pink and hairless at the tip, gives the Bilby an excellent sense of smell. Bilbies have poor eyesight, so it is just as well their hearing and smelling senses are so good. The Bilby's strong forelimbs with their long claws make them brilliant burrowers. The Bilby is truly nocturnal. They don't emerge from their burrows until at least an hour after dusk, and retreat at least an hour before dawn. A full moon, strong wind or heavy rain can keep Bilbies in their burrows all night. Bilbies are omnivorous. They eat (among other things) seeds, spiders, insects and their larvae, bulbs, fruit, fungi and small animals. The Bilby (like the koala) doesn't drink water, it gets all it needs from its food. Bilbies breed all year round. Their gestation period is only 12-14 days and young, from one and three in a litter, remain in the pouch for 75-80 days, and are independent about 2 weeks later. In 1997, a soft-toy bilby was brought to the top of Mt. Everest
as a symbol of endangered species and a statement to us all that we must be
concerned with the vanishing creatures of this planet we share with them - and
all the other animals and plants, for that matter. This is partly due to the remarkable text concerning the mitzva, which alludes to the future request of the people to set up a king, "like all the other nations" (Devarim 17:14). After so much has been said about the pitfalls of copying the surrounding nations, it is strange that the Torah would put such words into the mouths of Bnei Yisrael. Moreover, this being the case, we might ask what was the transgression of the people in demanding a king in the time of Shmuel? The Tosefta argues that the fault lay in requesting a king before Shmuel's death. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yose suggested that the elders rightly requested a monarch to judge them, but it was the common people's caveat - "that we might be like other nations" - that was the source of their undoing. Abarbanel explains that while the people's use of the phrase "like other nations" was technically valid, their demand was not based on need. It was based solely on the desire to mimic the surrounding alien cultures. It seems timely to reflect that behind everything we do, it is important to have pure motives. Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center [The Sho-f'tim Homepage]
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