Covenant of Circumcision (Brit Mila)

Good morning Master Cohen, I trust you are enjoyed your Sunday morning breakfast, I have always loved the smell of cheese blintzes. I understand that the family is going bike riding on the Jaeger trail after your lesson.

<= = = Yessir, my dad got an emergency phone call, one of their instructors got sick, he got recalled and our last ride got tripped up, so we rescheduled. I confess, I have not read ahead today sir.

That is fine, today we speak of covenant, Brit, and in particular Brit Mila, the covenant of circumcision. You have noticed of course in the locker room and scouting that your penis may be different that some of the other kids and you are familiar with Brit Mila, I am sure, but today, we want to make sure you know it is more than an elective surgery. And we have another first, the first use of El Shaddai, God Almighty, a term that turns up in Job very often.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD came and appeared to him and said, "I am El Shaddai , God Almighty, serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation."

At this, Abram fell face down in the dust. Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations! But wait, there's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram, exalted father; now you will be known as Abraham, the father of many nations. I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them! "I will continue this everlasting covenant between us, generation after generation. It will continue between me and your offspring or seed forever. And I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. Yes, I will give all this land of Canaan to you and to your offspring forever. And I will be their God.

Now Izzy, I am sure you have been taught that if a deal seems too good to be true, then look for the catch. If any deal in the history of earth is too good to be true, this is it. So Abraham remained silent, face down in the dust, listening, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Your part of the agreement," God told Abraham, "is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised; the flesh of his foreskin must be cut off. This will be a sign that you and they have accepted this covenant. Every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family, but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. All must be circumcised. Your bodies will thus bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. Anyone who refuses to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for violating the covenant."

<= = = Sir, I believe the famous Woody Allen joke is "Cut off my head, that is my second favorite organ." How is it possible this practice has survived through time?

Well Izzy you can think of this as a cosmic intelligence test. Do you want to be part of the covenant family and enjoy all the blessings God has for you, or not?

<= = = Sir, please do not misunderstand me, but I have been called names at school, when we went to Jerusalem, we had to curtail our visit to other parts of the country because of the Palestinian rockets, the news that is reported is heavily biased, and yet when I look at history it is worse, the holocaust, the diaspora, it seems like we have and always are on the brink of survival. I’m starting to feel like Tevia from Fiddler, when he says something like, “I know we’re the chosen people, but every once and a while couldn’t you choose someone else?”

Izzy, could it be that if we were not always on the brink, we would trust in the strength of our own hands, the wisdom of our own minds and not count on God? The covenant means we are part of the family God so long as we keep our side of the covenant. And speaking only for myself, I find in impossible to imagine being separated from God. I hope you feel the same way, much is riding on you.

<= = = You have hinted at that several times, can't you just tell me?

After your Bar Mitsvah, when you begin to cross into manhood, we can talk about such manly things, am I right? Of course I am right. Now, back to the story or this blogpost will exceed my terms of service with the ISP for length.

Then God added, "Regarding Sarai, your wife--her name will no longer be Sarai; from now on you will call her Sarah (princess). And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings will be among her descendants!" Abraham bowed down to the ground, ( he got up with God started talking about surgery to the male organ), he laughed to himself in disbelief. "How could I become a father at the age of one hundred?" he wondered, "I'm as good as dead". "Besides, Sarah is ninety; how could she have a baby?"
And Abraham said to God, "Yes, may Ishmael enjoy your special blessing!" Abraham was thinking God was senile and needed a bit of help.

But God Almighty who is ageless and all-knowing replied, "Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You will name him Isaac, one who laughts, and I will confirm my everlasting covenant with him and his descendants.


As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will cause him to multiply and become a great nation. Twelve princes will be among his descendants. And it has been just as God has said. Later we will recite their names, but for now let's just say that much of the Middle Eastern Islamic world is the seed of Ishmael.

< = = = I heard in school that Arabs could not possibly be the seed of Ishmael, is that true?

The scriptures say that Ishmael will become a great nation. Most people will not give you a second listen if you try to claim Ishmael is the father of the United States, Russia, China, India, Europe, or even that one in a million underdog Israel. And yet God promised a great nation. Twelve princes that far back allows for a lot of diversity and reach, one might be able to assert the Arab nations are not purely the seed of Ishmael, using some scientific or historical approach that is in favor at the time, but it is flat out impossible to say there is no relation of the bloodline of the Arabs to the seed of Ishmael. The scripture says great nation, why beat that to death? Anyway, what is most important is how God concludes the conversation with Abraham.

El Shadai, the Almighty God then said, "But my covenant is with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year." That ended the conversation, and God left, vanished from, Abraham just as He had appeared.

On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and every other male in his household and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, exactly as God had told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old at that time, and Ishmael his son was thirteen. Both Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised the same day, along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants. The next few days, there was a marked loss in productivity in terms of herd development and for the next week the women in the camp were markedly edgy.

<= = = So is Abraham now a Jew?

Nope, but he is the founder of the covenant family. Other races can and do claim Abraham as their father, even tribes, tongues and races outside of the covenant family and scripture supports this. Now enjoy a biking outing with your family and I will come to you again soon.

Hagar and the Angel of the LORD

Short lesson today, I know you have your Torah chanting lesson with Benjamin, Hagar has run away from Sarai and Abram. Running away was an emotional decision, but not a wise one, it was a long way to Egypt and through rough territory. Hagar was lucky, she found a spring with drinkable water, but she was afraid to leave it as she had almost run out of water in the journey and was seriously dehydrated when she found the spring. Now she had water, but her food was running out. And then the angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a desert spring along the road to Shur.

<= = = Who is the angel of the LORD? In some of the Christian commentaries it says he is a pre-incarnation of Jesus Christ like Melchizedek.

Melchizedek, Mashellsedek! If Priest Melchizedek, wasn't Melchizedek, why do you think the scriptures call him Melchizedek? This is going to come up again in just a second, so for the moment let us just say the angel of the LORD is a specific, chosen messenger of God. And in this case, the message was "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I am running away from my mistress," Hagar replied.

Then the angel of the LORD said, "Return to your mistress and submit to her authority." The angel added, "I will give you more descendants than you can count." And the angel also said, "You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, which means "God hears" for the LORD has heard about your misery.
The angel of the LORD continued, "This son of yours will be a wild one--free and untamed as a wild donkey! He will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live at odds with the rest of his brothers."
Thereafter, Hagar referred to the LORD, who had spoken to her, as "the God who sees me," (El-roi) for she said, "I have seen the One who sees me!" Later that well was named Beer-lahairoi, which means “well of the Living One who sees me.” and it can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.

So, it seems Master Cohen, the title angel of the LORD isn't an angel at all, because a created being can hardly give Hagar more descendants than she can count. And Hagar herself refers to him as God. Though this is the first time the phrase is used, we will see this special messenger, this extension of God on earth in a physical manifestation again and again. He often will show up at an important turning point for the Jewish people or as now, at a time of special consequences. The intention of scripture is to cloak his identity, to paint him, like Melchizedek, as mysterious and we should honor that as we collect more information about him as the story unfolds. I promise we will come back to this and Melchizedek as well before our time is complete. Now, let's get back to Ishmael.

So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old at that time.

Abram goes to bed with Hagar

What did you do for Purim Izzy? Did you have fun? Isn't the story of Esther amazing?

< = = = We chanted Megillot Esther and acted it out wearing crazy clothes borrowed from our parents. Benjamin dressed up like a girl wearing his sister's stuff and was voted most beautiful. I don't think I would be comfortable doing that, but he really pulled it off. My favorite part was when the left and right side of the room competed to boo the evil Haman the loudest. And Mrs. Schultz brought Hamentaschens, ho, those are good, I had never had those before, the sour cherry filling was my favorite. But why do we celebrate Haman at all on Purim?

Oh, no one is celebrating Haman, Hamentaschens means Haman's pockets. The idea is that his wealth transferred from him, who would plot against the Jewish people even unto death to Mordecai, Esther and the rest of the people who persevered and survived.

<= = = I have been doing my reading Mr. Storyteller and it sounds like we have a particularly juicy story today.

Yes, Master Cohen, straight out of the tabloids, but keep in mind we begin the birth of one of the modern nations. As you know since you have read ahead, Sarai, Abram's wife, had no children. So Sarai took her servant, an Egyptian woman named Hagar, Pharoah's daughter, and gave her to Abram so she could bear his children. "The LORD has kept me from having any children," Sarai said to Abram. "Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her." And Abram agreed.

<= = = Is it OK to do that? I mean he is married to Sarai, this sounds like cheating. Only, Sarai is initiating it, so it sounds like modern love. And Hagai is younger that Sarai, Abram must be psyched. And yet, he was so holy and righteous and all that, this is confusing.

Don't need to dig too deep Master Cohen. Yes it was cheating. Yes, Abram was psyched, he had seen Hagar around the camp for many years and yes, though Sarai was a lovely lady even as her age is advancing, Hagar is a younger woman. Yes, there will be consequences both then and on to your generation. And yes, in the sense of holy meaning set apart for God, Abram was. However, it is important that this notion of righteous because of his faith not be tied to Abram's actions whether good or questionable. What that passage means is because of Abram's faith, God chose to view him as righteous, God knew at the time, Abram would go to bed with Hagar. He chooses not to look or not to see. Yesterday we talked about the angel of death passing the houses that kept the ordinance of Passover and put the blood on the lintels of their houses. That many lusty Hebrews, you think there wasn't any questionable behavior going on in at least some of those houses? In fact, even if one of the Egyptians had put the blood over their door, they would have been spared and in fact some did and were. But, let's move on.

As we have said, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram first arrived in the land of Canaan.) So, proximity leads to touching, led to kissing and sure enough Abram slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress Sarai with contempt. Now, with a child, Hagar thought she might assume the role of first wife. Then Sarai, fully aware she was in a one down situation at this point said to Abram, "It's all your fault! Now this servant of mine is pregnant, and she despises me, though I myself gave her the privilege of sleeping with you. The LORD will make you pay for doing this to me!, let the Lord choose between you and I."

And we see how clever the Hyksosian Pharoah and his advisors were, not only did they overthrow the government of Egypt for a season with a bloodless coup, but by giving his daughter Hagar to Sarai to be her handmaiden, he has tied his bloodline to the bloodline of Abraham. Pharoah knew, when the LORD inflicted him on account of having Sarai in his harem that Abram was someone very, very special.

Now Abram is in a compromised situation. He has been with Sarai for a long time and truly loves her and does not want to lose her. Sarai gave him the chance to bed Hagar, and it was fun, that was a night to remember, but now the outcome is not ideal. The two women of his life are fighting one another. The have known each other for a long time, they know exactly which buttons to press to drive the other woman crazy. There is no peace in the camp, productivity is starting to be impacted. There is no easy way out, so Abram replied to Sarai, "Since she is your servant, you may deal with her as you see fit." So Sarai treated her harshly, and Hagar ran away back to Egypt.