The Tough Decisions - You can make them.

      Hello dear reader,

      As you know Shabbat is coming in just a few short hours. I wanted to write a little earlier today but I did not have a topic at hand that I thought was Shabbat appropriate. However, as usual HaShem always provides me with a wonderful topic to touch upon. I firmly believe it is Him at work when ever I find myself talking with someone during a given day that provides me with the insight I need to begin my little blogs. Today I want to touch upon the tough decisions we as Jews in the modern world have to make. A very very dear friend of mine whom is like a brother to me called me this afternoon and shot me a question concerning my position on circumcision. I know we had talked about circumcision in the past because it was an issue for him while he was making an honest effort in becoming more observant as a Jew. Some events had transpired which caused him to go off the derech again, but it warms my heart that what I do to bring Torah to my friends, and family acts as a kind of pillar to him. I sincerely hope that in time through the proper baby steps, he becomes Torah observant. But returning to his question, he has a rather secular and agnostic view of circumcision and feels like the rest of the secular world that it came about because of hygienic needs, and practices. However, that is just simply not the case.
      So let's talk about the importance of circumcision, and then move on into the hard choices for observance. We will start from the beginning and inception of  circumcision and then explore further how truly vital the practice is to us as a people.

      What Torah says on Circumcision:

GENESIS 17 9-14

      So Genesis is pretty clear about the importance of circumcision as we can see. But exactly HOW important? Why must we commit ourselves to removing a physical part of ourselves? It is always the case that men are obligated to observe time sensitive commandments such as praying shachrit, mincha, and maariv, as well as wrapping teffilin, donning the tallit as well as the tzittzit just to name a few.This has always been the case that we as Jewish males are bound to these visual and physical observances because of how they cause us to be mindful of the passage of time. Why?  We as males lose track of time very quickly, you see it when we play our computer games, study, read, play D&D, hang out with friends, run into arcades, casinos, as well as get lost in our xbox, and PS3 (PS3 is better btw). We are notorious for these allowing ourselves to get lost in types of things. Because of this, G-d has provided us with reminders that time is not as plentiful in a given day as we might think, or believe. Circumcision is no different. Circumcision represents an eternal covenant that G-d made with our Jewish people saying that we would never disappear. Let us backtrack just a couple of verses previous to the ones cited:

Genesis 17: 6-7

      G-d here tells Avraham Avinu  that He will make us a great people, that we will be numbered, and that our everlasting existence as the Jewish people is an everlasting promising. How does He want us to signify that promise that we will be His People, and He will be our G-d? Circumcision. My last post concerning divestment touched on the subject of understanding that it is easy for us to remove G-d's Laws from us through iniquity. I also explained that it is easy to regain our garments of righteousness through prayerful repentance and charity as promised. Understanding my previous posting and establishing it as a foundation for this subject concerning the commandment of circumcision, can we falter in this requirement if we are already circumcised? No of course not! We cannot grow the foreskin back. Therefore we are in perpetual completion of our obligation in this matter. That being the case, why does it really matter in terms of time dependent Torah obligations? It is my personal understanding that when we as males tend to our hygienic needs we of course have no choice but to look at the area affected by the circumcision. With that being the case, we can see before our eyes the permanent covenant engraved on ours bodies knowing full well that His promise to us is equally permanent. Baruch HaShem!
      I would like to make one side note, and pose a question: Why is it that the child to be circumcised must be circumcised on the 8th day? Our Sages of blessed memory teach us that G-d completed the world on the 6th day, and rested on the 7th (at the exact moment the 6th day ended and the 7th day started). But it is on the 8th day that HaShem began His improvements on His creations. That is why the number 8 for us is rather important because it stands for improving ones self. On the 8th day we are moved into a state of perpetual improvement. When the Torah says "You shall circumcise..." in Hebrew is וּנְמַלְתֶּם which has the same meaning as  וּמַלְתֶּם which means "You [plural] shall circumcise" in the plural future passive form. This is telling our children, and children's children that they have no choice in the matter. (haha, sorry guys)

      Now that we have a basic understanding of the initial event that was the inception for the practice. G-d told us to do this in order to act as a physical sign of His eternal promise. We can move a couple of books further and in Leviticus 12:3  we are told once again that circumcision must occur, "And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.". While this is a small blip concerning our obligation to the circumcision of the foreskin, why is it so important?
      Let me ask you. Did Avraham Avinu have a Torah scroll? Did our early Jewish people before Mt. Sinai have a Torah scroll? The answer is no. While we were in captivity in Egypt it is safe to say without any doubt that the practice probably became a minority. Many had adopted the pagan practices of their Egyptians captors, hence why G-d had to reiterate the importance of this very commandment. So it goes without saying, this practice is very important to G-d. Allow me one final moment to show you just how vital this simple act is, for this we will explore Ezekiel. Allow me to point out that this is messianic:

Ezekiel 44:7-9

      This passage concerns the third and final temple that we hope is built in our days. When it is rebuilt G-d is very very clear that you must be circumcised. To be circumcised of the heart is a subject I plant o touch on in a later post, but for now we will stay on the subject of the physical circumcision. G-d says IT MUST happen. Notice how it states "...in the heart and the flesh"? It means that even IF you are circumcised of the heart, you must ALSO have the physical circumcision. No matter how you may like to paint it, you have to get it done.
      However Christianity has a completely different view on this, just to paint you a small picture let's see what the Christian New Testament's stance is on the matter:

      I have provided for you just 5 of a plethora of verses from the Christian Bible on their stance of circumcision. You can see the common theme here, and that is that circumcision has no value. Paul is very clear on his stance that circumcision has no value, and people who cease in the practice. What is interesting is that we have from our Torah the simple fact that circumcision is vital, important, HOLY, and EVERLASTING, but Paul seeks to abolish the practice altogether.
    Now I suppose you are wondering why 1 out of the 5 citations I have provided is in bold. Let's read it together: "Again I declare to ever man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law[Torah]."- Allow me to make a few points here:

1. Paul insists that we have a choice in the matter of circumcision. I have a feeling he forgot about the fact that G-d tells us we have no choice in the matter.
2. Paul also appears to forget that we are circumcised at 8 days old.
3. Paul attempts to state that our commitment to the Torah is hinged on circumcision. Exactly where in the Torah does it state this? No where. Paul made it up. But you should not be surprised. He does this most of the time.
4. If we travel to Galations 5:2 Paul states that Jesus has no value to those who are circumcised!
5. Although Paul claims to have been a student of R. Gamliel (a blatant lie), and a Pharisee (-eye roll-) it goes without saying that he completely forgot what the Prophet Ezekiel was telling the Jewish People, a and the world. So much for being a learned Jew. He continuously makes these kind of mistakes time and time again showing us that he was never a Pharisee and a student of R. Gamliel.

      I am going to go just one more step further to show you just how "knowledgeable" and "frum" the writers of the New testament were. Examining Acts 15:1 (I will provide simply the snippet) "according to the custom taught by Moses...", I will ask you this: Are they correct in calling it a custom as taught by Moses? The simple answer is no. The reason being is that first of all, it is a commandment. The second thing to touch on is that Moses did not simply teach all 3,000,000 Jews at Mt. Sinai. No, in fact the 3,000,000,000 all received the revelation of G-d's Torah from Mt. Sinai at the same time, and heard the commandments from G-d Himself. By simply examining the New Testament we can see just how truly they "loved" our Torah. No longer was it G-d fire breathed and given to millions of people at once. No. Now it is merely a custom from Moses to the people of Israel. No longer given to Avraham Avinu (Abraham) as a lasting commandment. Just a custom from Moses.

      To end this point I want to talk just lightly on the kind of weight your decision carries when you complete a commandment you are apprehensive about. Our Sages of blessed memory teach us in Pikrei Avoth, Perek (chapter) 2, Mishna 16 that for those who make the difficult decisions in following our Torah, greater is their reward in the world to come. This the theme in Pikrei Avoth concerning the rewards for doing what is righteous and holy in G-d's eyes even when it is difficult. I was circumcised as a baby like many children. Is it counted to me in the world to come having not made the decision myself? No, of course not. But for you dear reader, if you are lacking in the obligation and you make that conscious decision to uphold this vital and important commandment (I'm assuming you are male here. Females, you are except.), you are rewarded. And if you do not want to get circumcised for various reasons but do it anyway then even greater is your reward in the World to Come. Do you understand now? Take heed of these teachings, and understand the very importance and weight that the circumcision carries. Get it done. And who knows, you may seek to become a mohel and do circumcisions for others. Great pay, and you always get to keep the tip! (Ba-dum-ting)

      Shabbat is coming quickly, and I have dishes to do and shabbat meal to make though simple it may be. Ask my best friend and his wife over, and just enjoy the shabbat evening. Tomorrow I will go to schul at Shaarie Torah and kiss our Torah. I wish you all good health and a peaceful Shabbat.


      Shabbat Shalom,