Parshat Tazriah: “If I told You Once I’ve Told You a Thousand Times…”

Parshat Tazriah: “If I told You Once I’ve Told You a Thousand Times…”

Rabbi Jeffrey H. Miller

 

And on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

וּבַיּ֖וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֑י יִמּ֖וֹל בְּשַׂ֥ר עָרְלָתֽוֹ:

[Lev. 12:3]

Having just cited a law concerning a mother who gives birth of a baby boy, a simple one sentence reminder of the Mitzvah of Bris Milah hardly seems out of place.  However, Chazal are of the opinion that there is nothing superfluous in the Torah.  Every story, law, letter – and even every calligraphy mark on every letter – is sacred; there is no redundancy in God’s Torah.  Rabbeinu Bachya certainly embraced this concept:

We know that the Torah does not contain a single superfluous sentence, word, or even letter.

אבל התורה כולה רמזים אין בה תיבה ואות שלא נאמר לענין הכרחי ומוצרך

[Commentary to Gen. 47:28]

Ramban, too, accepted this approach:

For the Torah scroll of God is perfect, it has neither a superfluous nor a missing letter, they were all written with “Chochma”[1]

כי ספר תורת ה’ תמימה אין בה אות יתר וחסר כולם בחכמה נכתבו

[Maimonides’ Sefer Ha-Mitzvot with Ramban’s Responsa, Shoresh B]

In fact, much of Talmudic analysis rests on this principle, called “omnisignificance” in modern scholarship.  There is nothing in the Torah that is haphazard.  Conversely, every detail – no matter how seemingly insignificant – is meant to teach us something.   We are therefore left wondering why circumcision is repeated even though it was revealed way back to Avraham Aveinu, about half a millennium earlier:

This is My covenant, which you shall observe between Me and between you and between your seed after you, that every male among you be circumcised.	זֹ֣את בְּרִיתִ֞י אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְר֗וּ בֵּינִי֙ וּבֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם וּבֵ֥ין זַרְעֲךָ֖ אַֽחֲרֶ֑יךָ הִמּ֥וֹל לָכֶ֖ם כָּל־זָכָֽר:
And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be as the sign of a covenant between Me and between you.	וּנְמַלְתֶּ֕ם אֵ֖ת בְּשַׂ֣ר עָרְלַתְכֶ֑ם וְהָיָה֙ לְא֣וֹת בְּרִ֔ית בֵּינִ֖י וּבֵֽינֵיכֶֽם:
And at the age of eight days, every male shall be circumcised to you throughout your generations, one that is born in the house, or one that is purchased with money, from any foreigner, who is not of your seed.	וּבֶן־שְׁמֹנַ֣ת יָמִ֗ים יִמּ֥וֹל לָכֶ֛ם כָּל־זָכָ֖ר לְדֹרֹֽתֵיכֶ֑ם יְלִ֣יד בָּ֔יִת וּמִקְנַת־כֶּ֨סֶף֙ מִכֹּ֣ל בֶּן־נֵכָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹ֥א מִזַּרְעֲךָ֖ הֽוּא:
Those born in the house and those purchased for money shall be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.	הִמּ֧וֹל ׀ יִמּ֛וֹל יְלִ֥יד בֵּֽיתְךָ֖ וּמִקְנַ֣ת כַּסְפֶּ֑ךָ וְהָֽיְתָ֧ה בְרִיתִ֛י בִּבְשַׂרְכֶ֖ם לִבְרִ֥ית עוֹלָֽם:
And an uncircumcised male, who will not circumcise the flesh of his foreskin-that soul will be cut off from its people; he has broken My covenant.”	וְעָרֵ֣ל ׀ זָכָ֗ר אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־יִמּוֹל֙ אֶת־בְּשַׂ֣ר עָרְלָת֔וֹ וְנִכְרְתָ֛ה הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ הַהִ֖וא מֵֽעַמֶּ֑יהָ אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֖י הֵפַֽר:

[Gen. 17:10-14]

Why then does the Torah repeat the fundamental Law of circumcision that was already well known and previously revealed?  The Chezkuni, Rabbeinu Bachya and Baal HaTurim opine that the law is restated to teach new facets and details that we would not necessarily have gleaned from its Genesis counterpart. וּבַיּ֖וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֑י teaches us that that a bris (as well as all the surrounding acts necessary to perform it) are to be performed (i) only during the daytime and (ii) even on Shabbos.

The Or HaChayim (ויקרא יב: ג ) does not dispute that new laws are extrapolated here, but he is not quite satisfied.  He notes, correctly, that

It is still problematic since we must then ask: why didn’t God simply enumerate these [new] laws back in Lech Lecha when discussing circumcision?

קשה למה לא רשם ה’ פרטי דינים אלו שם בפרשת מילה שנכתבה בפרשת לך לך

According to the Or HaChayim, that circumcision preempts Shabbos only makes sense after Shabbos was commanded to the Jewish people!

This is so even though we have a tradition that our forefathers voluntarily observed all of Torah.  This ‘tradition’ is nether easily understood nor universally accepted.  Compare, for example,

Rab said: Our father Abraham kept the whole Torah, …	אמר רב קיים אברהם אבינו כל התורה כולה
R. Shimi b. Hiyya said to Rab: perhaps, … this refers to the seven Noachide laws and circumcision [and not to the whole Torah]	רב שימי בר חייא לרב … ואימא שבע מצות ומילה

[Talmud Yoma 28b]

Rambam adopts the view of R. Shimi b. Hiyya, noting that Avraham only observed the laws previously revealed to Adam and Noach, plus Bris Milah and davening Shacharis.  See, Rambam Hilchos Melachim 9:1.  Rabbi Yehuda Amital expressed it this way:

The avot did not observe the mitzvot in the sense in which we observe them. They did not put on tefillin or shake the lulav. But they understood and appreciated the underlying messages of the mitzvot.

I would like to suggest that one reason why Bris Milah was revealed twice is to emphasize the profound difference between observing a Sinaitic Commandment and a Patriarchal Covenant.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had personal experiences with the Divine that guided their paths in ways that we can barely understand.  While their lives inspire and influence us, our commitment to Jewish values are more than a mere familial connection with our forefathers.

We observe Torah and Mitzvot because certain conduct is expected of us by God, as revealed at Sinai.  We observe Torah because we are commanded to do so, not because we appreciate and understand them, or merely choose to live a certain lifestyle.  Torah is the Objective Truth; not a subjective choice.  For if our connection to Judaism is based only on our personal affinities and our love for our folklore, then our commitment could not possibly survive to the next generation.

Both of these types of revelations are incorporated into blessing that the father recites at the conclusion of the circumcision procedure:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to enter him into the Covenant of Abraham our father

בא”י אמ”ה אקב”ו להכניסו בבריתו של אברהם אבינו

Bris Milah certainly connects us with Abraham.  And it also connects us with all of God’s commandments given at Sinai.

Immediately after the father’s b’racha, all assembled add in unison the following expression of hope:

Just as you have inducted him into ‘the covenant’, so too may you introduce him to Torah, the marriage canopy, and good deeds

כשם שנכנס לברית כן יכנס לתורה, לחופה ולמעשים טובים

The Eturei Torah cites an anonymous midrash that explains why this declaration is made here and nowhere else.  Just as Bris Milah is a permanent commitment to a way of life, so too do we hope that this little boy’s commitment to the other fundamentals of Jewish life – Torah, family and Mitzvot – will be equally permanent.

Shabbat Shalom!

 

[1] While ‘Chochma’ means ‘wisdom’, Ramban may have meant to convey a certain Divine and Mystical Wisdom also associated with the word Chochma.