In the beginning of the Torah portion of Tazria we find the commandment “and on the eighth day shall the flesh of his foreskin be circumcised.” Hundreds of years before this commandment was given to the Jewish nation, Abraham was instructed to circumcise himself “and your seed after you, for generations.” Yet, Jewish boys are circumcised from the command in this week’s Torah portion, and not because of our forefather Abraham.
The command given to Abraham to circumcise himself was a commandment given to an individual and revealed by G-d through prophecy. The mitzva of brit mila in this week’s portion is one of the 613 commandments of the Torah which were given to the entire Jewish People at Mount Sinai, to which every single Jew was witness.
Chasidic philosophy explains that a Jew’s G-dly soul enters the physical body upon performance of the brit. Before the brit mila, the joining of the spiritual, G-dly soul and the corporeal body was incomplete; brit mila effects a linking and union between the two. This is why, according to many of our Sages, only after brit mila does a Jew have a share in the World to Come.
The word “brit” means “covenant,” for indeed it is a sign of the Covenant between G-d and the Jewish People. So great is this bond that it finds expression in the very physical flesh of a Jew, testimony to the depth of his relationship and commitment.
Brit mila is unique in the sense that it is a perpetual mitzva. The Talmud relates that once while King David was visiting a bathhouse, he suddenly grew despondent, concerned that he was also “unclothed without mitzvot” before his Creator. But after he reminded himself of the sign of brit mila engraved in his flesh he was reassured that he was not without merit for even one moment.
An additional advantage brit mila has over other commandments is the fact that it involves the physical body. Other mitzvot, even if they necessitate the use of various limbs of the body to carry them out, are primarily concerned with matters pertaining to the soul. The mitzva of mila is so great that it effects a change even in the physical realm, which the human eye can witness as testimony to the sacred bond between G-d and the Jewish people.
This explanation also sheds light on why a baby is circumcised before he can even comprehend the significance of the act. Performed on the physical body, the mitzva of mila effects a bond even greater than intellectual comprehension can grasp; in this respect, infant and adult are equal. The circumcision is therefore performed on the earliest possible date, the eighth day of life.
Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
By Simon Jacobson
When the Torah relates the story of the exodus of egypt and how G‑d told Moses that He will redeem the Jewish people from Egypt, G‑d uses four terms for the word redemption, corresponding to the four cups of wine at the Passover Seder and the four stages of the Exodus (Exodus 6:6-7):
The different terms for redemption refer to:
- First, the end of the 210 year pressive bondage – “I will take you out from the suffering of Egypt.”
- The end of hard labor, six months before the Jews actually left Egypt – “I will deliver you from their bondage.”
- Physically leaving Egypt and the elimination of the Egyptian enemy – “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.”
- The Jewish people become a free nation, driven by a higher mission – “I will take you to Myself as a nation, and I will be to you a G‑d.”
Mitzrayim (the Hebrew word for Egypt) means constraints. The redemption from Mitzrayim gives us the power to achieve freedom from all our constraints.
For us as well, four steps are necessary to achieve freedom from limitations in our lives, which correspond to the four above‑mentioned terms and the four levels of the human soul.
- “I will take you out from the suffering of Egypt.” First you must get out of the line of fire. As long as you remain in range of a force that is hurting you, you cannot begin the journey toward freedom. This step is the hardest because after years of pain you can become so resigned to oppression that it is hard to even acknowledge that there is an “enemy”.
- “I will deliver you from their bondage.” Even after their hard labor ended the Jewish people needed to be delivered from the psychological hold of being a “slave” for so long.
- “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” Finally you get out of “prison,” but the enemy is still lurking. At this stage you need an “outstretched arm” to embrace you, reassuring you that you will be safe.
- “I will take you to Myself as a nation, and I will be to you a G‑d.” Freedom is not merely the absence of slavery – escaping the negative. Ultimate freedom is to discover your Divine calling and serve it with all your faculties and resources.
At the Seder Table we pour a fifth cup for Elijah the Prophet, corresponding to the fifth expression: “I shall bring you to the land.”
After we are freed from our own personal constraints, corresponding to the four levels of the soul, the fifth dimension emerges – which is the Essential level of the Divine, with the coming of Moshiach and the final redemption, announced by Elijah the Prophet.
This fifth level only surfaces after we travel through the first four phases.
