Tazria: Rambam’s Explanation for Why Milah is Done on the Eighth Day
In my article, "Is Circumcision Mutilation?" I wrote about one facet of the Rambam's understanding of milah. This article is about his explanation for why milah is done at the young age of eight days.
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Tazria: Rambam’s Explanation for Why Milah is Done on the Eighth Day
The mitzvah of milah (circumcision) is given in Parashas Tazria: “And on the eighth day, he shall circumcise the flesh of his foreskin.” (Vayikra 12:3). Many Jews likely assume that the practice of milah was introduced to the world through Judaism. We now know that this assumption is false, as Professor Carl S. Ehrlich writes:
Despite differences in procedure and extent, ritual circumcision was common in many cultures throughout the world. Indeed, it is evident that the performance of this rite by the Israelites was not exceptional in the ancient Near East. Archaeological and textual evidence has been found attesting to circumcision in ancient Egypt and Syria, going back as far as the 3rd millennium BCE. The practice does not appear to have been universal in Egypt, but rather restricted to the upper or priestly castes. Although circumcision was widespread in Egypt and the Levant, no evidence suggests that it was practiced in Mesopotamia. (Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel: Leviticus, p.75)
However, the Torah did introduce at least one major change in the milah procedure, as Prof. Ehrlich continues:
Most commonly, circumcision is understood cross-culturally by scholars as a puberty rite, indicating the sexual maturity and marriageability of the circumcised individual. Thus, the Tanakh’s radical innovation was to detach circumcision from its age-old connection with puberty and transform it into a sign of the divine covenant and ethnic belonging.
The Rambam (Moreh 3:49) offers two reasons for the mitzvah of milah:
Circumcision simply counteracts excessive lust; for there is no doubt that circumcision weakens the power of sexual excitement, and can lessen the natural enjoyment … There is, however, another important reason for this commandment: it gives to all members of the same religion – that is, to all believers in the Oneness of God – a common bodily sign … Circumcision is likewise the covenant which Avraham made in connection with the belief in God’s Oneness. So, too, every one that is circumcised enters the covenant of Avaraham to believe in the Oneness of God.
The question remains: Why do milah at such a young age? Given the Rambam’s explanation, we would expect him to say that the Torah wants each Jewish male to enter the covenant as soon as possible. Instead, he writes:
This law can only be kept and perpetuated in its perfection if circumcision is performed when the child is very young, and this for three good reasons: First, if the operation were postponed till the boy had grown up, he would perhaps not submit to it. Second, the young child has not much pain, because the skin is tender, and the imagination weak; for adults are in dread and fear of things which they imagine as coming some time before these actually occur. Third, when a child is very young, the parents do not think as much of him because the image of the child which leads the parents to love him has not yet taken a firm root in their minds. That image becomes stronger by the continual sight; it grows with the development of the child … The parents’ love for a newborn child is not so great as it is when the child is one year old; and when one year old, it is less loved by them than when six years old. The feeling and love of the father for the child would have led him to neglect the law if he were allowed to wait two or three years, whilst shortly after birth the image is very weak in the mind of the parent, especially of the father who is responsible for the execution of this commandment.
These reasons are eminently practical in character, as is his explanation for why milah is done on the eighth day:
Milah must take place on the eighth day because all living beings are, after birth, within the first seven days, very weak and exceedingly tender as if they were still in the womb of their mother; not until the eighth day can they be counted among those that enjoy the light of the world … The period has been fixed and has not been left to everybody's judgment.
This illustrates a fundamental principle in Rambam’s method of analyzing mitzvos, namely, that the structural details of the mitzvah need not be thematically related to the mitzvah’s essential purpose. Circumcision, itself, reflects two tenets of Judaism: kedushah and Monotheism. In contrast, the requirement that milah be done on the eighth day is dictated by practical considerations having nothing to do with the philosophy of the mitzvah.
If you’re interested in my article on this topic from earlier this year, check it out: Lech Lecha: Is Circumcision Mutilation?
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