Ulpana Girls Academy - Kiryat Arba
"On the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised."
Many of the commentators on the Torah deal with the connection between Milah and the laws
of childbirth which appear at the beginning of our parsha this week. As a matter of fact,
this proximity is not strange since that same "eighth day" takes the two, above
mentioned, from their former limits to a new reality; the newly delivered mother leaves
her impure state to her pure state (excepting the matter of Mikdash and its holy items),
and her new-born male leaves entirely his uncircumcised state to a circumcised state.
The Act of Milah we call Brit (a covenant) when we actually mean that from this time
forward the boy will carry on his flesh a Sign of the covenant. Therefore in the Mila
ceremony, we make two blessings: the first, "regarding circumcision", and there
after "to bring him into the covenant of Avraham Avinu".
What is the essence of this same Brit which every male in Israel bears its sign? Three
basic ideas were established by Hakadosh Baruch Hu at the time when He commanded Avraham
and his descendants about Mila:
a. the eternalness of his descendants;
b. the eternalness of the connection between the One giving this covenant and his
descendants;
c. the eternalness of the gift of the land to his descendants by Hashem.
Thus we see that the new born leaving his uncircumcised state testifies that with his
Milah he becomes another link in the eternal chain which was established in the days of
the Forefathers; and enters into a personal connection with Hakadosh Baruch Hu; and at the
same time, becomes a child of Eretz Yisrael.
The connection between Mila and Eretz Yisrael is evident in "Birkat Ha'aretz"
(the second Bracha) of Birkat Hamazon in which we mention the gift of the good Land and
add our thanks for "the covenant which You sealed in our flesh". So too, in
relation to the fact that with the entrance of B'nei Yisrael into Eretz Yisrael, in the
days of Joshua, all of the males who had not been circumcised during the journeys of the
desert were circumcised in one large impressionable ceremony.
Commentating on this same ceremony Chazal said "It is written 'this is the Davar
(deed) that Joshua has circumcised' (Joshua 5,4). Joshua spoke to them (Davar like Dibur -
speech) about it and then circumcised them. He said to them: And what do you think, that
you can enter Eretz Yisrael uncircumcised? Thus said Hakadosh Baruch Hu to Avraham: 'And I
will give to you and to your offspring the land of your sojourns'; in order that 'As for
you, you shall keep my covenant'." (Bereishit Rabbah 41,9)
In addition we also found in Chazal "Eretz Yisrael is comparable to Milah, just as Milah pushes aside the Shabbat (it is done even if the eighth day falls on Shabbat), so does the conquest of Eretz Yisrael push aside the Shabbat." (Yalkut Shimoni, 'Ekev', sign 870) (Israel's soldiers are to war even on Shabbat for the sake of our hold to our land).
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Shalom Horowitz
Rabbi Horowitz is a Rav Mechanech at the Ulpana Girls Academy -
Kiryat Arba
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