Mesiras Nefesh for Milah in Russia:
Still and all, this mitzvah displays Klal Yisroel’s love of Hashem and their willingness to overcome a parents’ natural tendency to protect their child from any pain. Parents do this mitzvah with joy, being moser nefesh to fulfill His command. This is depicted in a story that occurred in Communist Russia, when the government forbade the Jews from keeping the Torah and one who circumcised his son was literally risking his life. If a father was caught doing a bris on his son, he was sent to a labor camp in Siberia, and everyone attending a bris was in danger of arrest as well. Despite the risk, many Jews did this mitzvah in secret.
A Russian Jew recalled that he had been part of a secret minyan that attended bris milahs. The minyan consisted of a group of upright Jews who could be trusted not to reveal the secret. One day, a high-ranking official in the Russian army contacted them and invited them to a bris milah he was making the next day. When they came to his house, the official led them into an inner room, where a table had been set up that was replete with all types of delicacies.
A short time later, the baby was brought in and the bris was performed. After the baby was returned to the mother, the group suddenly heard a loud cry. They ran to see what happened and found that the mother had fainted. They succeeded in resuscitating her and they asked what caused her to faint. She answered, “This boy is already over one year old. My husband and I have been waiting for an opportunity to make the bris. I vowed that I would not kiss my son until he had his bris. Whenever I felt a desire to kiss him, I thought to myself: How can I kiss a child that has not had a bris? I now kissed my baby for the first time, which made me so emotional that I fainted.”
This beautiful story depicts the love all Jews in all situations have for Hashem and His mitzvos.
