Mazal tov! Mazal tov! It’s a boy! The family was very happy to have a new baby boy. Of course, with the birth of a boy, many preparations must be made, starting with the Shalom Zachor, and then the Bris and everything along with it.
Soon after the birth, the father reached out to the Mohel, and he quickly got a positive response. Great. His next step was to get a Sandek. His life’s dream was to be mechabed his Rebbe, the Maggid of Chernobyl, zt”l, to be Sandek. He asked the Maggid, but before agreeing, the Maggid asked him, “Will there be a seudas mitzvah taking place following after the Bris?”
The man’s jaw dropped. Embarrassingly, he responded that there wouldn’t be any seudah.
The Rebbe went on to ask why he wasn’t making a seudah, and the new father responded that he simply couldn’t afford it. His finances were already very tight, and adding a seudah to the already high expenses of getting the baby and the mother the required care was simply too much.
The Maggid replied, “If you want me to be the Sandek at the Bris, then you have to guarantee that you’ll keep to the minhag of making a seudah.” The Maggid then suggested that the father borrow money from his employer to pay for the Bris.
The man was a bit surprised why his Rebbe was so adamant about the seudah, but he accepted the words of the Maggid and agreed that there would be a seudah.
The Maggid went on to explain its importance:
“One of the names of the yetzer hara is סמא”ל. What do these letters represent? They are the roshei teivos of סעודת מילה אין לעשות, don’t make a seudah for a Bris Milah. They also stand for סעודת מצוה אין לעשות, not making a seudas mitzvah. Third, it stands for סיום מסכת אין לעשות, not to make a siyum. The yetzer hara tries hard to prevent us from conducting these three meals.
“This isn’t a side battle of his but rather where he puts in his all! His very name referring to this, which shows how it is his very make-up.
“Unfortunately, when it comes to a siyum, the yetzer hara succeeded. But I won’t let him succeed to prevent us from making a meal by a Bris. This is why I am so insistent that you make a seudah after the Bris Milah.”
The Bas Ayin, zt”l, was present when this conversation took place. Sometime afterward, the Bas Ayin explained the reason why the Satan cannot stand the seudos held in honor of a siyum masechta, a mitzvah, or a Bris Milah:
The Satan goes before Hashem and complains: “So-and-so did this aveirah, Ploni did that aveirah...” He does this to awaken din on the Yidden.
How do we surpass him? The Malach Michoel immediately responds, “Take a look at their broken hearts. Even as they performed the aveirah, they don’t really want to perform it. In contrast, look at a Yid who finishes a masechta, performed a mitzvah, or made a Bris Milah for his son. Look at how happy he is. He will even throw a party to rejoice in his good fortune.”
Since this claim silences the Satan, he tries so hard to prevent us from making a seudas mitzvah so that we won’t have such a claim.
This was the reason why the Maggid insisted that man make a seudah, even though he didn’t have the means. That seudah is what prevents the claims of the Satan. When it comes to preventing the Satan, we must not give in.
