OzTorah

Among the detailed laws in the sidra comes a reminder of the duty of circumcision (Lev. 12:3), which had been previously promulgated early in Genesis.

The Midrash Tanchuma (Tazria 5) reports that the Roman, Turnus Rufus, asked Rabbi Akiva a good question concerning this mitzvah. “If,” said the Roman, “your God desires circumcision, why does a child not leave its mother’s womb already circumcised?”

Rabbi Akiva was not without an answer. He went back to the story of creation, in which the sixth and seventh days (Gen. 1:26-2:3) record the creation of man in the Divine image and the establishment of Shabbat as the day of rest.

Both events, the climax of the work of creation, are later described as b’rit olam – “an everlasting covenant”.

This phrase is applied to Shabbat, in Exodus 31:16, which tells us la’asot et haShabbat – “to make Shabbat”. It is applied to man, in the law of circumcision in Genesis 17:7, where Abraham is told, “This is My covenant which you shall observe, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.”

Rabbi Akiva told Turnus Rufus, “The reason why men are not born already circumcised is that the Almighty desired the individual co-operation of every Jew in the perfection of His creation by performing the mitzvah of b’rit milah.”

Similarly, when God says, “The Children of Israel shall keep Shabbat, to observe (literally, ‘to make’) Shabbat throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant”, He means us to make a personal effort to fulfil His purposes by turning Saturday into Shabbat.

It is our effort that completes God’s creation of the seventh day and indeed of the week itself.

Through the two mitzvot of circumcision and Shabbat, we affirm our belief in God, we recognise our human role in the world, and we assume our full human dignity as “partners with God in the work of creation”.

Many questions need to be asked about this week’s sidra.

The first is why a woman who has given birth is ritually impure and needs to bring an offering.

Is not procreation the very first of the commandments? Are not children “a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3)? Is not a mother fulfilling a God-given purpose?

Abravanel suggests the offering is not because of any sin but in thanksgiving to God who brought her safely through the pain and danger of childbirth.

Not only for herself should she be grateful, but on behalf of the child; Rabbi Abba bar Kahana remarks in the Midrash, “The embryo dwells in its mother’s womb and the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over it that it does not fall and die. Does this not warrant praise?”

Another Midrash speaks of the wonder of childbirth and the beneficence of the Almighty.

Rabbi Levi says, “The way of the world is that if someone secretly leaves a purse of silver with another person, and the latter gives back a pound of gold in public, should he not be grateful? Thus it is with the Holy One, blessed be He. Human beings secretly deposit with Him a drop of fluid, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gives back magnificent, complete human beings in public. Does this not warrant praise?”

The mother’s ritual impurity is seven days for a boy and 14 for a girl. Some commentators believe it takes longer to recover from the birth of a girl; a medical view on this assertion would be interesting.

Samson Raphael Hirsch thinks the second seven days in the case of a girl takes the place of the milah of a boy, who is circumcised after the first week of life.

Q. What is Tikkun Olam and why do we hear so much about it?

A. The phrase means the repair or restoration of the world.

The second paragraph of Alenu looks forward l’takken olam b’malchut shaddai – “to the perfection of the world under the kingdom of the Almighty”.

It clearly regards tikkun olam as a messianic concept, part of the climactic redemption of mankind and the world.

As found in the Mishnah, however, the phrase has a here and now connotation. Mishnah Gittin lists social ordinances made mip’nei tikkun ha’olam, which Danby translates, “as a precaution for the common good”; the Soncino Talmud renders it “to prevent abuses” and adds, “Literally, for the better ordering of society”.

An example is the institution of the prozbul, which allowed a lender the right to collect debts due despite the sabbatical year, because unscrupulous borrowers might exploit the law to save themselves paying back what they owed (Gittin 4:3).

The messianic connotation of the phrase came as the result of the famous kabbalistic notion of sh’virat hakelim, the breaking of the vessels.

Put simplistically, the earthly “vessels” were unable to contain the intense heavenly light and thereafter shattered. As a result everything was awry, and man’s task became that of reclaiming the holy sparks and putting the creation right (see Gershom Scholem’s book, “Kabbalah”, Keter, 1974, chapter 3).

A number of modern Jewish movements have adopted and adapted this concept and given it their own interpretation, urging human beings to improve society and enhance its ethical quality in order to help bring about a world that will be worthy of man made in the Divine image.

While, however, one applauds the imperative for social justice in Jewish ethics, it is not the be-all and end-all of Judaism.

Q. Why are German Jews called Yekkes?

A. Here are several theories:
1. In Eretz Yisra’el in the 1930s, it was only the German Jewish immigrants who insisted on dressing properly with jackets (“jacket” = Jacke).

2. In Eastern Europe, men wore long kaftans; only the German Jews wore short jackets.

3. The name is the initials of yehudei kasheh havanah, people who don’t understand quickly.

What occurred in this sidra was bayyom hash’mini, “on the eighth day”.

There is considerable significance in an eighth day.

B’rit milah takes place then, after the baby’s first week of life. There are other first weeks, notably the first week of marriage and (l’havdil!) the first week of mourning.

Maybe we should institute an eighth day ceremony in those cases too.

Imagine. On the eighth day of marriage the sheva b’rachot are over and the newly-wed couple are on their own… a good occasion for a quiet ceremony of commitment to each other and of affirmation of the principles they espoused amid the emotion of the day of the chuppah.

On the eighth day of mourning the shivah is completed and the bereaved family are on their own (of course family and friends promised all week, “We’ll always be there for you!”, but it does not always happen).

Here too there could be a quiet ceremony of dedication to each other, undertaking that the family will not let itself fall apart for any reason, financial or other; and determining that though they have to return to the world and go back to work and normal activity, the inspiration of the deceased will be with them for ever.