Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

141
Tazria
Partners with God
Noam White
T he first place in the Torah where we see the concept of brit mila is regarding
Avraham Avinu. God said to Avraham, “י ִניבּ ֵ תירִ בּ ְ תוֹא ְל היָ הָ ו ְ ם ֶכ תְ ַל רְ ע ָ רשַׂ בּ ְ תא ֵ םתֶּ ְל מַ ְנוּ
ם ֶכי ֵני ֵבוּ“ – “And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and that shall be a
sign between me and you” (Bereishit 17:11). Then God comes and commands us in
our parsha to do the same, as it says: “וֹת ָל רְ ע ָ רשַׂ בּ ְ לוֹמּי ִ י ִנימִ ׁשְּ ה ַ םוֹיּ ַבוּ“ – “and on the
eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised” (Vayikra 12:3). The Rambam
famously says in his commentary on the mishna (Chullin 7:6) that we only keep the
mitzvot because they were commanded to Moshe on Har Sinia and not because of any
previous commandment. So if we only keep this commandment because it was given
at Har Sinai, and not because of Hashem’s command to Avraham, how does Hashem’s
command to Avraham color our understanding of the mitzvah of brit mila?
To add to our question, in the pesukim preceding God’s command to Avraham the
Torah (Bereishit 17:1-11) describes the covenant between that is being established
between God and Avraham. Avraham’s name is changed to reflect the fact that he
is gaining a new level of prominence as the “father of a multitude of nations,” God
promises that Avraham will have many offspring who will inherit Eretz Yisrael and
have a special relationship with God. The sign of all of this is the brit mila. What does
brit mila have to do with all of these grand promises?