Skip to main content
Text file

 

     Early in this week's parasha the Torah states a commandment that we already know as fact: following the birth of a male child "On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised" (Leviticus 12:3). Circumcision is an ancient historical custom and one of the few injunctions to precede the revelation at Sinai. Indeed it is well known that the command to circumcise all male children represents the first distinction of many that the Jews are the chosen people. But circumcision is more than just another detail in the vast array of Biblical guidelines - eat this but don't eat that, wear this but don't wear that, circumcise all your males. It symbolizes a covenant between God and the Jewish people as expressed in this passage from Genesis chapter 17:

 

     "Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further. 'As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you; and kings shall come forth from you. I will maintain My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to you and to your offspring to come. I assign the land you sojourn in to you and your offspring to come, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.'

 

     "God further said to Abraham, 'As for you, you and your offspring to come throughout the ages shall keep My covenant. Such shall be the covenant between Me and you and your offspring to follow which you shall keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. And throughout the generations, every male among you shall be circumcised at the age of eight days. As for the homeborn slave and the one bought from an outsider who is not of your offspring, they must be circumcised, homeborn and purchased alike. Thus shall My covenant be marked in your flesh as an everlasting pact. And if any male who is uncircumcised fails to circumcise the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his kin; he has broken My covenant. " (Genesis 17:3-14)

 

     This full length description provides a detailed explanation for the practice in stark contrast to the verse from Leviticus which, in its brevity, looks like a mere reminder. In fact, given the importance of this mitzva, its significance to the Torah and the weight it has been given by the Jewish people compared to nearly every other ordinance, the short shrift that MILA - circumcision - receives in this verse is surprising. But I have quoted the verse out of context, and my complaint is easily dismissed when verse 3 is seen within the paragraph it appears. The opening paragraphs of Parashat Tazria discuss the purification procedures a woman must undertake upon giving birth. Consideration is given to whether a boy or a girl is born, and instructions for sacrificial offerings are outlined. This passage fits well with general themes of holiness and purity dealt with in Leviticus, and since the covenant with God is really not the  issue here, it seems clear that the Torah simply mentions circumcision as one step following childbirth.

 

     And yet, the Rabbis of the Talmud will not let it go at that.

 

     Far be it from the Torah to just throw in an extra five words (in Hebrew) because it happened to be on the topic. Surely, there is a lesson hidden somewhere within this repetition. In Tractate Shabbat 132a Rabbi Eliezer teaches that circumcision supersedes the Sabbath, a point he bases on the presence of the word "day" in our verse. Apparently the Torah could have written "When a woman at childbirth bears a male, she shall be unclean seven days... on the eighth, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised." Due to the extra word "day" in the Hebrew phrase "U'VA'YOM HA'SHMINI" - and on the eighth day, we learn that circumcision is to take place on the eighth day after birth regardless of what day of the week that is. For reasons which we won't get into now, it would seem that this minor surgery might have been considered a violation of the laws of Shabbat and might therefore have been forbidden, perhaps pushed off to Sunday. Leviticus 12:3 informs us otherwise.

 

     By explaining the verse as including information about Shabbat, the Talmud has revealed a curious relationship. Shabbat and Mila share a special attribute - the Torah calls both of them covenantal signs. In one of the many references to Shabbat in the Torah, the following description is offered for its observance:

 

"And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelite people and say 'Nevertheless, you must keep My Sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you. You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. He who profanes it shall be cut from his kin. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. The Israelite people shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time; it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:12-17)

 

     Here we see Shabbat identified as a BRIT OLAM - a covenant for all time, a term used with respect to circumcision in Genesis 17:7; here Israel is told Shabbat is OT HEE LE'OLAM - a sign for all times, parallel to the OT BRIT of Genesis 17:11. These are the only two commandments whose importance is emphasized by this sort of language. What do these mitzvot signify?

 

     Circumcision is a physical sign of the eternal bond between God and the Jewish people. A father circumcising his son attests to the enduring value and faith in his connection to his God and belief in God's promises to Abraham of many descendants and acquisition of the Land of Israel. Circumcision is a seal, an ever-present reminder of an agreement between two parties. The covenant is an uneven one, hardly a mutual agreement, for in return for the two gifts God offers, Abraham is not required to give anything to God, to follow any commandments, to observe any rituals or hold any beliefs. It is a promissory type of arrangement where a superior party takes a weaker inferior party under his protection out of love or goodwill demanding perhaps only loyalty. And although it seems a bit lopsided, the agreement expressed in Genesis 17 is nevertheless a covenant. We might in fact suggest that the discussion of circumcision there does not express the mitzva of mila so much as a description of the remembrance for God's promises, and it is Leviticus 12:3 which constitutes the commandment.

 

     Shabbat is a metaphysical sign, which is apparently also, according to Exodus 31, symbolic of the eternal bond between God and the Jewish people. The meaning of Shabbat is somewhat more complex than that of circumcision, making it difficult to identify exactly what the covenant is here. At its heart of course, Shabbat observance recognizes that God created the world. It makes perfect sense therefore to call Shabbat an OT - a sign, since reserving one day every week serves to remind us of God's existence, His creative power, His continued interest in keeping the world running. Shabbat, like circumcision is an OT - a testimony. But is it a testimony to a covenant? Again, comparison to circumcision reveals the same sort of arrangement. As described in the opening chapter of Genesis, God created the entire world - earth, sky, plants, animals, people. No reasons are given for why God did this, just as scant explanation is offered for why God suddenly presents Abraham with two tremendous and unexpected promises. The Torah merely presents God as bestowing the gift of life on an untold number of species. It is not an obligatory type of covenant for God does not make any demands upon the earth's inhabitants, but a promissory type of arrangement where God seems to state "I have created all of you and will take care of you. This I have done out of love and kindness."

 

     Now since creation is a wonder that benefits all life (although the Talmud at one point comes to the conclusion that man would have been better off had he not been created - see Eruvin 13b) we might expect Shabbat to have been labeled as a sign of a universal covenant. Why does the Torah not compel all of mankind to observe Shabbat? Certainly, from the Torah's perspective non-Jews are required to maintain some recognition of God, manifested in the Seven Noachide Laws. Wouldn't Shabbat observance add to the non-Jew's faith in one God, his creator?

 

     I'll admit that I don't have a full explanation for this question. There are two approaches I could offer. The first is one that sees Shabbat as a multi-dimensional phenomenon. While it's true that the essence of Shabbat is its significance within the creation story, Shabbat's character is further developed with the Egyptian exodus. For example, in the commandment to observe this day appearing in Deuteronomy 5:15 the Torah states "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." With this verse Shabbat joins the long list of commandments associated with God's salvation of the Jews, and as such takes on a particularly nationalistic nature. The problem with this approach is that the term BRIT OLAM - is not used in conjunction with this aspect of Shabbat, it does not appear in Deuteronomy 5. When God says in Exodus 31 that Shabbat is an eternal covenant between Him and the Jews, He explains this by saying that "In six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed," not that God rescued the Jews from generations of suffering.

 

     The second approach to this problem suggests that perhaps Shabbat was in fact originally intended to mark a universal covenant between God and His creations. An historical reading of God's relationship to humanity suggests an even and equal connection to the entire human community. Due to the sins of individuals (Adam and Cain) and civilizations (the generations of the flood and the Babel tower) God narrowed his approach to man and selected Abraham and his descendants with whom to preserve a unique relationship. The heritage of what Shabbat represents - a covenant with all of life, was subsequently taken away from the nations and given to the Jews as part of their complex system of ritual and belief. The glitch in this understanding of Exodus 31 is that, as mentioned before, once Israel becomes the Chosen Nation, God does not abandon the rest of humanity. Other peoples are still required, for example, to refrain from idolatry since that would be a rejection of the One God. Shabbat could still have retained its significance to non-Jews and, like the other Noachide Laws, have merely assumed a much more limited application in comparison to the plethora of detailed laws required of the Jew.

 

     There is another sign of an eternal covenant appearing in the Torah which continues as a universal agreement between God and His world and which is also a one-sided promissory arrangement.

 

     This agreement is struck in Genesis chapter 9:

 

"And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 'I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, and with every living thing that is with you - birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well - all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth. I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.' God further said 'This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, all flesh that is on earth. That,' God said to Noah, 'shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth." (Genesis 9:8-17)

 

     This passage contains terms we have seen before - BRIT OLAM, OT BRIT, signifying the eternity of the covenant. Like the other two covenants we have been discussing, this one is lopsided and unconditional. God does not say - "if you behave yourselves and do not descend to the sinful depths of the antediluvian civilization, I will not destroy you." And like the other two examples, God does not explain Himself - we are not told why God enters into this pact with the world - and are left to guess that this covenant too is merely a manifestation of God's love for His creations.

 

     Interestingly, what we have so far are three covenants, each heralding a different stage in the history of the world. Shabbat is a memorial to God's creation of the world; the rainbow is a symbol of God's re-creation of the world and commitment to its survival; circumcision marks the beginning of God's relationship with the Jewish people. Three covenants, three signs. And yet, the Torah has yet another covenant to record - the one at Sinai. And with this covenant, everything we have been discussing changes. Once Israel leaves Egypt and begins an earnest relationship with God, the Lord begins slowly and methodically to lay out the terms for the relationship. We are no longer dealing with a one-sided deal but an obligatory covenant based on the laws that God legislates. Even before the revelation at Sinai God instructs Moses "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel: 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Me. Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples." (Exodus 19:4-5)

 

     This is an introduction to the new level to which the association between God and the Jews has been raised. Soon they will receive the Ten Commandments (inscribed on LUCHOT HA'BRIT - the Tablets of the Covenant) and the rest of God's Torah which forms the basis of the contract between Him and the nation. Unlike the earlier covenants we have seen, this arrangement demands compliance from both sides, and the responsibilities are laid out numerous times throughout the Torah: obedience to God's rule on the part of the people will require God to provide reward and good living; disobedience will require God to punish His people.

 

     Israel's formal acceptance of the covenant at Sinai appears in Exodus 34: "Then he (Moses) took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do and obey!' Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord now makes with you concerning all these commands." This sprinkling of the blood might be reminiscent of the blood of circumcision, but it is curious that mila is not mentioned here as a sign of the Sinai covenant. Certainly, it has always been understood that belonging to the Covenant of Abraham means acceptance of the Law of the Torah. Why does the Torah not make any connection between the new terms of the relationship and the physical sign of the Jew? Indeed, it seems that there is no covenantal sign associated with this new covenant at all! Surely Revelation at Sinai was of equal importance to God's agreement with Abraham if not to creation itself. Why does it not merit a covenantal sign?

 

     There is one last mitzva in the Torah which joins mila and Shabbat with the title of OT - sign. (The rainbow is called an OT too, but has no commandment associated with it.) That mitzva is tefilin. The Torah discusses phylacteries four times, and each of those times it is called an OT. Tefilin is also referred to as a ZICHARON - a remembrance (Exodus 13:9) and as TOTAFOT (Exodus 13:16, Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18) a word which is generally assumed to mean "symbol." In the two Exodus passages in chapter 13, tefilin is said to be a remembrance for the impending departure from Egypt; in the two Deuteronomy passages tefilin seems to be a reminder to its wearer of the entire Torah law: "Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead (6:6-8); "Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead" (11:18).

 

     Now it certainly seems like this is the OT we've been looking for. The Sinai covenant has a sign - it is worn daily on the arm and forehead to remind its wearer of all of his obligations covered in the rest of the Torah. In fact, the construction of tefilin serves its purpose well for it contains within it the four Torah passages that describe its function. But, if tefilin represents a covenantal sign, why is it only called an OT and not an OT BRIT?

 

     We must explain that the Sinai covenant did not represent a new relationship between God and the Jewish people, but merely a development of an existing one. After revelation, circumcision still serves as the identifying mark on the Jew that he and God share a bond unique to His people, a connection that has endured from the time of Abraham. Nevertheless, because the nature of the bond has altered, a new sign is introduced to commemorate the extension of what that connection means and entails. Hence tefilin, and Sinai, do not mark a new covenant but a turning point of the old one.

 

     Let us return to the difference we noted earlier between the Sinai covenant and the earlier three events. God's commitments as reflected in the previous covenants are unconditional and permanent - God will continue to care for the earth, He will never destroy life on the planet and He will never abandon His promises to Abraham. The nature of these vows is reflected in the type of signs that represent them. Shabbat is regular, eternal and predictable. It comes every week regardless of whether man chooses to observe it - Shabbat is there to remind the world of God and creation. The rainbow is a little less predictable but it too is a perpetual fixture of nature. As for circumcision - its initial performance must be accepted by the baby's parents which does give humans some control over the arrangement (although no choice is given to the individual), but following mila, the male is completely bound to the Covenant of Abraham - it is a permanent sign of an eternal bond. Because none of the signs can be discarded they are perfect symbols for unbreakable covenants.

 

     But then there's tefilin, and tefilin is a physical object which can be taken off and put away, ignored and abandoned. This too reflects the character of what it symbolizes. The nature of the Sinai covenant is two-sided: the Jews can accept the terms of the agreement or reject them. Of course, the two options lead to different consequences and the Torah repeatedly and strongly urges its adherents to be adherents, but God also recognizes that He is giving Israel the free will to refuse the covenant and to lay aside the OT which symbolizes it. Perhaps this is why tefilin are never called an OT BRIT - the covenant at Sinai is itself eternal, meaning that the Torah's laws are forever valid (leaving aside possible Messianic upheavals) but the nature of the sign indicates the covenant's distinction from earlier agreements.

 

     Perhaps we can use these interpretations of the various covenants to explain three interesting arrangements in Jewish custom.

 

     According to Jewish law, tefilin are not worn on Shabbat (from a Biblical perspective tefilin should be worn all day during the week; Rabbinic adjustment has limited their requirement to morning services). The traditional explanation for this follows Rabbi Akiva's statement in Eruvin 96a that two OTOT - signs - are not needed; Shabbat observance signifies a covenant with God, and thus tefilin are unnecessary. Because, according to Exodus 34, Shabbat does not symbolize a universal covenant but a national one, it no longer is bound to its initial meaning, associated with creation of the world. Indeed, halakhic observance of Shabbat is based on creation of the Tabernacle, a completely Jewish institution. The laws of Shabbat were given at Sinai and tefilin are not needed to commemorate that.

 

     It is common practice to perform a circumcision immediately after morning services and for the principals, at least, to continue wearing tefilin throughout the ceremony. Following what we have said this makes perfect sense - the tefilin is an extension of the meaning behind mila.

 

     Lastly, we return to this essay's starting point: circumcision on Shabbat. Since circumcision represents the national covenant we should expect it to be unnecessary or unwanted in the face of the national meaning that Shabbat has attained, as we explained with tefilin. And yet the Talmud interprets Leviticus 12:3 as mandating just the opposite - mila overrides Shabbat and must be performed on that day if it is the eighth after birth. But let us remember that the significance of mila both precedes and outweighs tefilin. Circumcision is a sign of the covenant which makes Shabbat meaningful and possible; it is the mark of the Jew which makes him obligated to observe Shabbat, a power that tefilin does not share. Because mila is an eternal sign whose permanence reflects the unbreakable bond with God, not even Shabbat can prevent its performance.

 

 

This website is constantly being improved. We would appreciate hearing from you. Questions and comments on the classes are welcome, as is help in tagging, categorizing, and creating brief summaries of the classes. Thank you for being part of the Torat Har Etzion community!