Parshat Tazria-Metzora

The Brit and the Seven-Day Week

In the beginning of the first of this week's two parshiyot, the Torah says: "If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be unclean for seven days… and on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised" (VaYikra 12:2-3).

Essentially all Jewish boys need to be circumcised when they are eight days old.

This is not the first time the Torah has commanded us about circumcision. God already told Avraham: "At the age of eight days, every male shall be circumcised to you throughout your generations" (Bereshit 17:12), i.e. that all his future male descendants needed to be circumcised when they became eight days old.

We can ask why the Torah repeats the commandment here, especially when the pesukim in Bereshit are the primary source.

The simplest answer is that the Torah's concern in Sefer VaYikra is to teach us about purity and impurity. Therefore, its focus here is to explain the woman's status after childbirth, with the law of circumcision merely mentioned as a byproduct of the birth.

However, we can add a halachik dimension that gives us a fascinating insight into the life of our Patriarchs and their knowledge of the seven day week.

When Sefer VaYikra repeated that the son must be circumcised on the eighth day, the Torah is stressing that even if the eighth day falls on Shabbat, a day when it should be forbidden, the child must be still be circumcised.

This law obviously, could not have been taught to Avraham. Why not? Because Avraham had no idea what the Shabbat was. It would have been a meaningless commandment to him.

The first time that Israel is commanded to keep Shabbat is in Shemot, shortly after the Exodus. There God tells them that the manna would fall for six days, but never on the seventh. The fact some Israelites nonetheless went to gather manna on the seventh day, shows that up until then, they were ignorant of the seventh day being special. (See Shemot Chapter 16).

Joshua Berman, in his book "Created Equal" goes even further and says that Avraham and his contemporary world did not even know a seven-day week and that the Torah's institution of the seven-day week and Shabbat after the Exodus, was revolutionary!!

The seven-day week is a concept that is almost universally accepted today, however, it is not based on astrology or astronomy. The ancient world was able to calculate the months and the years, whether they used a solar or lunar calendar, but the weeks are not part of either cycle. The seven-day week is an artificial concept.

Indeed the ancient Egyptians had a ten-day week. They divided the months into three weeks of ten days each, and at the end of the year they had a five day holiday, before beginning the new year.

Soon after the French Revolution, the French also adopted a ten day week. The workers therefore, had a day of rest once every ten days. This calendar survived for 12 years, before they reverted to the seven-day week. Soviet Russia also adopted a series of new calendars from 1931. First they tried a five-day week and then a six-day week. Their aim was to create a more productive work force, however, they returned to the seven day week in 1941.

Other cultures also had different types of weeks and it was as late as Christian Rome that the seven day week became a universal phenomenon.

It should be noted that in both the French and Soviet examples, they continued with the Gregorian calendar, as the days of the week are not linked to the calendar.

The earliest historical record that we have of the seven-day week is that of the Jewish people in the Babylonian captivity (around 586 BCE). Therefore, it seems that the Torah introduced the concept of the seven-day week. Before the Torah was given, no such concept had existed before and so, Avraham, the forefather of the Jewish people who obviously never had the Torah, did not have it, and so, did not have the Shabbat.

Therefore, even though God had already commanded Avraham to teach his descendants about circumcision, once those descendants, the Jewish people, were introduced to Shabbat, they needed to be taught that circumcision overrides the Shabbat. That command exists in this week's parsha.

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat Tazria, entitled: "Tzara'a – a Physical or Spiritual disease" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2008/04/parshat-tazria-tzaraa-physical-or.html

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat Metzora, entitled: " The Four Lepers" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2008/04/parshat-metzora-four-lepers-parshat.html Another

Sedra Short on Parshat Tazria, entitled: "Seven Followed by Eight" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007/04/parshat-tazria-metzora-seven-followed.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat Tazria, entitled: "The Sin-Offering of the Mother" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006/04/parshat-tazria-mezora-sin-offering-of.html

Parshat Lech Lecha

The Repeated Promise

At the age of 70, Avraham Avinu begins a new chapter in his life.

God speaks to him for the first time and tells him to go to the land of Canaan and that He will make him a great nation there.

All this is fine, apart from the fact that this promise is repeated a further four times.

The first time: "Go forth from your land … to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation…" (Bereshit 12:1-2)

The second time: Avram passed through the land…and the Canaanites were then in the land. The Lord appeared to Avram, and He said, "To your seed I will give this land" (ibid 6-7).

The third time: "The Lord said to Avram after Lot had parted from him, "Raise your eyes and see... For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed to eternity" (13:14-15).

The fourth time: "On that day, the Lord formed a covenant with Avram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land" (ibid 15:18).

The fifth time: "I will give you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, the entire land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be to them for a God" (ibid 17:8).

When the word of God was so precious, when God only spoke with Avraham five times over these 29 years, why did He give Avraham exactly the same message each time? Why was it necessary for God to repeat His message four times?

The answer can be found in a close reading of the text.

God had promised Avraham Canaan and that he would become a great nation there. However, when Avraham got there, he had a great shock: "The Canaanites were then in the land". This land was not an empty land waiting for a master. It was already fully inhabited by a strong and mighty nation.

This must have come to Avraham as a great surprise and must have given him doubts. Therefore, God immediately reassured him saying: "To your seed I will give this land". He adds that His promise was not going to be fulfilled immediately, but only in the future. Avraham "built an altar to the Lord" (ibid 12:8), showing that He trusted God.

That reaffirmation satisfied Avraham until he had another major crisis. Avraham had no children. His heir was Lot, his nephew, the man he brought up as his own son. He must have been satisfied that God would maintain his promise through Lot. However, Lot left him. His successor was gone. Therefore, God again reassured Avraham: "All the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed to eternity". God then tells Avraham to: "walk in the land, to its length and to its breadth" signifying his ownership of it. Avraham again shows his faith as "he built an altar to the Lord" (ibid 13:17-18).

Yet some years later, Avraham experienced another crisis. He had defeated a military super-power and was now worried about revenge. God tells Avraham "Fear not, Avram; I am your Shield" (ibid 15:1). At this point Avraham asks what was the point of all this protection when "I am going childless" and "You have given me no seed, and behold, one of my household (Eliezer) will inherit me" (ibid 2-3).

God therefore tells him that Eliezer, the head of his household " will not inherit you, but the one who will spring from your innards-he will inherit you" (ibid 4). But He also goes when one step further than just making a promise; He makes a covenant with Avraham – the "Covenant Between the Pieces", committing Himself to this pact. Avraham once again "believed in the Lord" (ibid 6).

The final time that God makes the promise to Avraham is not the result of any fears that Avraham had expressed. Simply, the time had come for the promise to begin to be fulfilled. Sarah, Avraham's wife was about to conceive. However, before that could happen, Avraham had to have his name changed from Avram to Avraham, signifying his acceptance of his new role, and he had to enter the covenant of circumcision - the Brit Milla.

Just like Avraham had to wait for the promise to be fulfilled, so too his descendants, the Jewish people, had to wait. Just like Avraham had to have blood spilt before he could take possession of the land, so too the Jewish people have experienced blood shed. Nevertheless, God has been faithful and the land of Israel is now our "everlasting possession" (ibid 8).

Last year's Sedra Short for Parshat Lech Lecha, entitled: "The Cannanites Were Then in the Land” appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007/10/parshat-lech-lecha-cannanites-were-then.html

Another Sedra Short for Parshat Lech Lecha, entitled: "Sarah, Wife of Avraham” appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/parshat-lech-lcha-sarah-wife-of.html

Another Sedra Short for Parshat Lech Lecha, entitled: "The Double edge of Circumcision" can be found at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/parshat-lech-lecha-double-edge-of.html