At eight days old all your males shall be circumcised (Bereishis 17:12)
There are five stages to a person’s spiritual life.
The first is from birth until the age of three. In this stage, a person has no obligations in Torah and mitzvos. He does not keep any mitzvos, neither does he do any aveiros, because his understanding is not yet developed enough for that.
The second stage is from three to thirteen. Chazal describe a child in this age bracket as having “breath devoid of sin.” He can learn Torah, but he cannot sin. There is an obligation to educate him. His father teaches him Torah and trains him to perform the mitzvos he is capable of.
The third stage is from thirteen to twenty. In this stage, a person is fully obligated to keep mitzvos, but is not yet subject to capital punishment at the hands of Heaven. As far as beis din on earth is concerned, he is liable to the same punishments and rulings that apply to other adults, but as far as misah bidei Shamayim is concerned, he is exempt.
The fourth stage is from twenty and on. He is now a full adult. Certain sins could cause him to lose his life, and certain mitzvos could bring him longevity.
The fifth stage, which not everyone reaches, is when a person corrects his shortcomings, and becomes a tzaddik. Now he is holy and pure.
Let’s return to the first stage. As we said, a young child has no obligations in Torah and mitzvos. However, the Chasid Yaabetz writes that a Jewish baby from the day he is born has a connection to kedushah and a portion in the World to Come. The neshamah that Hashem places in him is pure. If a tragedy would happen and the baby would die, he would go to Olam Haba, because Olam Haba is all about connection to Hashem, and the baby has that connection.
When Chazal said that a child has a portion in Olam Haba from the time that he starts saying amen, this is referring to a higher level in Olam Haba. It is speaking of reward for the performance of good deeds. However, a Jewish child is inherently connected to kedushah even before that.
The child has this connection because he possesses inherent holiness. It is not just because he didn’t do any sins yet. It is because he is a tzaddik gamur. He is in a state of sheleimus. He doesn’t need Torah and mitzvos in order to perfect himself. Even if his parents are as wicked as can be, the child is a tzaddik gamur at this point. He has no connection to sin at all, due to his great inherent kedushah.
Nevertheless, there is a certain mitzvah that applies even to a child under the age of three, and that is the mitzvah of milah. To understand how this is so, we need to understand what milah is all about.
When David Hamelech entered the bathhouse and recognized that he was naked, he said, “Woe to me, for I am naked from mitzvos.” When he remembered the milah in his flesh, he felt relieved, and recited a song of praise over it, as it says למנצח על השמינית – “For the conductor, with melodies about the eighth.” This refers to milah, which is given on the eighth day.
As soon as a Jewish child is born, he is inherently connected to kedushah, and the mitzvah of milah expresses this very quality. It signifies that a Jew is so deeply connected to kedushah that wherever he is, whatever he does, the sign of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is on him, engraved in his flesh.
There are various types of chesed that Hashem does for people. The first is wealth. Not so many people receive this. The second is parnassah. This is much more commonplace; almost everyone receives parnassah. However, some people are very poor, and some even die of starvation. The third is air. This is a chesed that everyone receives. Tzaddikim and resha’im alike have air to breathe. The Chafetz Chaim and the most despicable rasha are equal in this respect. Hashem’s chesed is so great that everyone has air. Yet, it is still possible for a person to die due to lack of air.
There is a chesed on an even higher level. It is called “space.” Everyone has a certain amount of space, of place, in which he exists. Our very presence in the world, the fact that Hashem gives us a place in which to be, is the greatest possible chesed. And it is given to everyone without exception. Even the resha’im in Gehinom have a place. If they didn’t, where would they be?
So it is with mitzvos, too. Some are more ubiquitous than others. Some mitzvos are so important and wonderful that we cannot possibly exist without them, no matter what. One of these mitzvos is milah. Once a Jew enters the bris, he is connected to Hashem at all times, even if he does the worst aveiros in the world. The mitzvah of milah is like the chesed of space. It is so essential to a person that it never leaves him.
