The reason for the location of this possuk.
The Ohr Hachaim discusses why the Torah saw a need to write this possuk here. Chazal deduce from this possuk that a Bris Milah must take place by day. Likewise, they deduce that the Mitzvah of Bris Milah has the ability to push away Shabbos, and a person can do a Bris Milah even on Shabbos. But why did the Torah wait until this Parshah to reveal this to us? Why is it not included in the pessukim in Parshas Lech Lecha, where the Halachos of Bris Milah are elucidated?
The Ohr Hachaim begins with the suggestion that if the possuk would have taught us that Bris Milah has the ability to push away the prohibitions of Shabbos in Parshas Lech, there is a possibility that someone would mistakenly deduce that this only applies to Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu was not required to keep Shabbos, he accepted the Torah of his own accord. Perhaps Hashem’s obligation to perform a Bris Milah on his child was greater than his own acceptance of Shabbos on himself. Although the Gemara tells us that the Mitzvah of Milah was repeated at Har Sinai, binding all of Klal Yisroel, someone could still make the mistake of applying this rule to Avraham and only to Avraham. Only the Shabbos that Avraham accepted is pushed away for Bris Milah, not the Shabbos in which all of Klal Yisroel are obligated. For this reason, the Torah writes this here, after Klal Yisroel accepted the Torah and were obligated to keep Shabbos. They are still permitted, and obligated, to perform a Bris Milah on Shabbos, even the Shabbos that was commanded to us in the Torah.
Another reason offered by the Ohr Hachaim is that the Mitzvah that Avraham was told was surely repeated exactly as said at Har Sinai. Nothing was added at Har Sinai. However, Avraham Avinu did not need the Torah’s permission to perform a Bris Milah on Shabbos. Avraham Avinu was never obligated to keep Shabbos; he did so voluntarily. When Hashem commanded him to perform a Bris Milah on the eighth day, he would have no right to push this off because of a personal drive to keep Shabbos. If the Torah had given this permission in Parshas Lech, we would have asked, how is this relevant to Avraham Avinu, who was never obligated to keep Shabbos? The only place to write this possuk is here, after Klal Yisroel were commanded with the Mitzvah of Shabbos.
The juxtaposition to the previous pessukim.
The Ohr Hachaim then proceeds to explain why this possuk was written after the previous possuk that proclaimed a woman to be impure for one week after childbirth.
הרה"ק רבי חיים זאנוויל בן רבי משה זצ"ל מריבניצא.
נערך ע"י: הרב יוסף שמלאשוילי שליט"א.
לרפואת: משה בן חנה בתוך שאר חולי עמו ישראל אמן!
גיליון זה להצלחת: שושנה תמר בת זוהרה, וכן יוסף בן שרה אמן!
וכן להצלחת: נעכא העניא בת רבקה חנה וכן שמחה בן נעכא העניא אסתר בילא בת ברכה וכל משפחתה אמן!
הגיליון מוקדש: לע"נ כל הנרצחים, ולרפואת כל הפצועים, ולהשבת כל החטופים, ולהצלחת כל חיילי צה"ל שה' ישמור צאתם ובואם אמן, ועיטרם בעטרת ניצחון וידבר שונאנו תחתיהם אמן ואמן!!!
The Torah is giving us a reason why Hashem pushed the Mitzvah of Milah off for eight days. Why are we not obligated to perform a Bris Milah on the first day, similar to a slave that is bought, that must be circumcised on the day of purchase? Chazal give us a reason – that the assembled not be happy while the parents are sad. The mother is impure, and must separate from her husband for this week. If they did the Bris Milah on the day of birth, the celebration would exclude the parents, and that would not be fair. The Torah commanded us to wait until this impurity has passed, when the couple have been reunited, to perform the Bris Milah. Now, everyone’s happiness is complete.
Chazal also say that Hashem had compassion on the child and told us to wait until he has strengthened sufficiently to receive the Bris. Eight days is a sufficient amount of time to build a baby’s strength. Hashem took pity on this baby, and he also took pity on a baby animal, not allowing a person to bring it as a Korban until it was eight days old.
The Ohr Hachaim is bothered by the number of days that Chazal gave. Why eight? Why not more or less? Why does it take eight days for the child to be strengthened?
The answer is based on a Zohar, that the child needs to pass through a Shabbos. When Shabbos comes, his soul is supported through the special powers of Shabbos, and then we can be sure he will survive. Chazal tell us that prior to Shabbos’ arrival, the world was weak and shaky. Shabbos arrived and the world was solidified. The same is true with the child, that his life is unsure until Shabbos has spread its wings over him.
Another hint alluded to in this possuk is with the letter וי"ו at the beginning. If we keep the Halachos of impurity, and the childbearing mother is careful not to defile anything that should be pure, Hashem will reward this family with the Mitzvah of Milah.
The deeper meaning of Bris Milah.
The Ohr Hachaim quotes a Gemara. Turnus Rufus, the Roman leader, asked Rabbi Akiva – whose actions are nicer, that of Hashem or that of humans? Rabbi Akiva answered that Hashem is greater than any human. Turnus Rufus triumphantly asked, “if so, why do you insist on performing a Bris Milah on your children? Why not leave them as they were created?”
Rabbi Akiva answered by bringing a selection of breads and pastries, as well as a bowl of wheat kernels. He showed him the two types, and explained that one was the actions of Hashem; the wheat that grows through Hashem's rain. This was inedible. Only after the humans had used their efforts to grind the kernels and prepare them properly, did they become edible and pleasing to humans.
Turnus Rufus then asked, “if Hashem wished that His people have a Milah, why did He not create them perfect? Why did he add that foreskin?”
Rabbi Akiva answered him that Hashem only gave His Mitzvos to Klal Yisroel in order to purify them and prepare them to get close to him, as the possuk says, ‘the words of Hashem are refining.’ The answer of Rabbi Akiva’s explains the point to the mind of Turnus Rufus. In his mind, there was a reason to continue asking, what is the comparison between the wheat kernels and the Bris Milah? Hashem made wheat kernels, and humans prepare it, according to their understanding, for their purpose. On the other hand, the Bris Milah that we do is not for our benefit, rather for Hashem’s purposes.
To this, Rabbi Akiva explained that the Mitzvos are also for our benefit, not that of Hashem. We are exactly the same as the wheat kernel.
The Ohr Hachaim explains that this answer was only geared for people like Turnus Rufus, who would have no idea of how Torah works and how Klal Yisroel connects to Hashem. We are Klal Yisroel, we were given the Torah and we can understand with greater depth.
Anything that gives birth to something else, would give birth to something that is similar to himself. Children look similar to their parents, and their character traits are similar too. How is it possible that a father who has had a Bris Milah should give birth to a child who still has a foreskin? One could answer that the father too was born with a foreskin, showing that his essence is a person with a foreskin, and the removal was merely cosmetic. Cosmetic additions to a person do not carry over to the next generation. However, this cannot be true. A Yid is always a ‘circumcised one,’ and this is his essence. Additionally, Moshe Rabbeinu was born as someone who has had a Bris Milah, yet his son was born with a foreskin, as we see in the Torah that Tzipporah had to quickly perform a Bris Milah on her second son.
The Ohr Hachaim explains that the foreskin added to a person corresponds to the evil part of him. A person’s body is a wrapping container for his soul, with the wrapping closely attached, showing what is inside. The extra piece of skin corresponds to the extra, seemingly unnecessary piece of evil that is in every person. Once it is removed, a Yid is disconnected from the evil in the world, and he is considered good. The other nations of the world, whose entire souls are connected to the evil side, can never remove that and be considered pure.
Adam Harishon was born perfect, with no evil part at all. He did not have a foreskin part of his soul. When he did an aveira, the Gemara tells us it is as though he created a foreskin for himself, similar to a person who undergoes surgery to reverse his Bris Milah rch”l. The evil part of a man is expressed with his foreskin, and that of a woman is expressed in her menstruation system, which is why she is considered impure at this time.
When Adam sinned, the world lost its lofty level, and each fruit began to grow with many layers of peel. A person cannot eat things that grow, he needs to do ten jobs to the wheat before it becomes edible. These ten jobs are enumerated in the Mishna in Shabbos as the forbidden work on Shabbos. The Zohar tells us that the world was cursed tenfold when Adam sinned. These ten jobs are a product of these curses.
Indeed, when Hashem removes the spirit of impurity from the world, in the days of the future, the possuk tells us that He will remove this spirit from the earth. This is because the spirit of impurity infected the earth, causing it to produce many byproducts that need to be removed. The Gemara indeed tells us that the earth will then grow loaves of bread. The ten jobs will no longer be necessary.
This was the intent of Rabbi Akiva when he showed Turnus Rufus the kernels and bread loaves. His answer to the question about the Bris Milah was answered by the jobs necessary to bake bread. The reason for the extra piece of skin and the need to work to produce bread are one and the same. Even though some people are born pure, without a foreskin, they are born in this world, and this world causes their children to still be connected to the evil side, necessitating a Bris Milah. Just like no bread grows from the ground nowadays, only wheat, so too is everybody born with a foreskin.
This is the answer to Turnus Rufus’ first question. The next question, why Hashem did not create His people without a foreskin, shows a lack of understanding of how the spiritual works. He thought that the purpose of the Bris Milah was to perfect the body, and according to that, he had a valid question.
He could also have thought that Hashem could remove spiritual defects as well as physical ones. Why did He not create a person with total purity, both of body and soul?
Rabbi Akiva answered him with a general explanation. He told him that the purpose of this world was not the body of the person, it is his soul. He needs to perfect himself in order to purify his soul, getting it ready for the next world. There is more to the world than that which is visible. The person’s body is indeed not much different when it has had a Bris Milah to when it has not. But the hidden part of a human being – his soul – needs to be purified by human action. Hashem wishes that a person should repair the damage that Adam did, He does not want to repair it himself.
All prohibitions of the Torah are geared to clean a person’s illnesses, and the positive commandments are geared to lighting up the soul of a person. When Adam sinned, his soul darkened, and through keeping Mitzvos the light returns.
Hashem does not do this Himself, because the need for this repair is based on Adam’s actions. All souls are attached to Adam’s and all of them are supposed to repair his sin. When we all keep Mitzvos and keep away from aveiros, the sin will be rectified and the impurities removed. This is for humans to do, not Hashem.
Additionally, if Hashem were to repair Adam’s sin, or anybody’s misdeeds, there would be no concept of reward and punishment, and people would not be responsible for their mistakes. Only through human action can people merit reward and their misdeeds repaired.
This is the meaning of the word וביום. The previous Mitzvah of guarding the purity of Klal Yisroel and keeping the childbearing mother away from anything holy segues into the Mitzvah of Milah. Both of them are a product of the original aveira of Adam Harishon, and both represent the evil that was introduced to the world at the time. Both the man and the woman have the job of rectifying the aveira of Adam; the man through his Bris Milah and the woman through guarding the laws of purity.
However, the aveira of Chavah was greater than that of Adam. She persuaded him to sin, not the other way around. This is why a man can remove his connection to evil through a one-time act of cutting off his foreskin, whereas women have to suffer the impurity of menstruation for many years. She purifies herself, yet the impurity returns.
The Ohr Hachaim then suggests a new reason why the Bris Milah has to wait seven days to be done. The baby is born from his mother, and part of the impurity of his mother is attached to him. Only after she has had her seven days of impurity and is ready to be pure can the child be freed of his foreskin and connected to holiness.
