So the topic tonight is the greatness, the specialty of the מצוה of ברית מילה. Now, one of the ways sometimes to see the greatness of a מצוה is by looking at what happens if you don't do it, and from that we can see how important it is. We do that sometimes when we deal with certain, God forbid, עבירות, and we want to know which one is worse than the other. So when we look into the הלכה and see what punishment you get for different עבירות, then that is the way to judge what is worse. Not because we're dealing with the punishment, but that's just a proof of which עבירה is worse. And therefore we find that those עבירות that in the time of the בית המקדש there would be a death penalty, you know that's the worst. And those עבירות that you would only get כרת is not as bad as bad, but it's worse than others. Those that you get מלקות is not as bad, and so it goes on. So sometimes looking at the punishment, we can see how important an how terrible עבירה is, and the same thing is concerning a מצוה. When it comes to a מצוה, positive מצוה, usually we do not find in the תורה at all any punishment. All the punishments in the תורה are for עבירות, for not for for transgressing a negative commandment. But for not keeping a positive commandment, there is no punishment in the תורה, with two exceptions: קרבן פסח and ברית מילה. The הלכה is that if a person does not bring the קרבן פסח on פסח, the punishment is כרת. Now, כרת is considered one of the worst punishments in the תורה. That means that a person dies at an early age, and his נשמה gets cut off, all kinds of terrible things it says about כרת. We only find the punishment of כרת for transgressing a negative commandment, certain negative commandments, they are called חייבי כריתות. But for not doing the קרבן פסח, which means for not doing the positive commandment of the קרבן פסח, the punishment is כרת, it says in the תורה, and for not doing the מצוה of ברית מילה, the punishment is כרת. Now, this shows how important the מצוה of ברית מילה is, that it's important for the essence of the Jewish person's life, and that's why for not doing it, God forbid, his life is cut off. That just shows how important, and there's no other positive מצוות. The מצוה of eating מצה on פסח and keeping and listening to שופר, it doesn't say anywhere if you don't listen to שופר on ראש השנה, which for us you know, שופר on ראש השנה, מצה on פסח, there is no punishment. השם will punish them בידי שמים, but it doesn't say in the תורה any punishment. But if a person doesn't do the מצוה of ברית מילה, it says clearly he gets כרת, which means he gets cut off. That shows that this is a מצוה important for the essence of this person's life. And therefore, this was one of the two מצוות that השם wanted the יידן to do at the time when the Jewish nation was born, when the Jews were about to leave מצרים, and that was the time when they were born as a nation. As it says in תנ״ך, in יחזקאל, that at that time the nation was born, השם wanted of them to do two מצוות: the מצוה of פסח, קרבן פסח, and the מצוה of ברית מילה, because these two מצוות are fundamental, and they are important to the essential part of a ייד, to the essence of a ייד. And that's why when the יידן became a nation, they had to be do these two מצוות. And as we see also that when a person wants to convert, a non-Jew wants to convert and become a ייד, one of the things he has to do is ברית מילה, because that's essential to being a Jew. In other words, the reason he has to do this מצוה is not because since he's becoming a Jew, now he has to keep all the מצוות. That's not true, he has to keep all the מצוות, but ברית מילה is not a מצוה he has to keep after he becomes a Jew. The מצוה of ברית מילה is one of the things he has to do in order to become a Jew, that makes him a Jew. Other מצוות he has to keep when he becomes a Jew. Now since he's a Jew, every Jew has to keep all the מצוות, so he has to keep all the מצוות. ברית מילה is before he becomes a Jew, in order to become a Jew. Actually, the סדר, the order is that when you're מגייר, first is ברית מילה, and then you're still not a Jew, then מילה, then טבילה, then you go to the מקוה, and then you become a Jew. So this is an introduction to becoming a Jew. So this shows that ברית מילה is important to the essence of a Jew even more than the קרבן פסח, because the קרבן פסח the יידן had to bring before the nation became a nation. But there is no הלכה that in order to become a Jew, when a גוי wants to convert and become a Jew, he has to bring a קרבן פסח. There is no such דין. We could have thought so, and actually רש״י in חומש at one point brings out that there is a הוה אמינא, that there is a possible first thought that a גר, as soon as he converts, has to bring the קרבן פסח no matter what time of the year it is. And רש״י says that the פסוק teaches us that he doesn't. Why would we have thought? Because the קרבן פסח is one of those things that is fundamental for a Jew. But nevertheless, the bottom line is that he doesn't have to. But ברית מילה he has to do in order to become a Jew, which means that ברית מילה is the foundation of a Jew. Which is also the reason why the first מצוה that אברהם אבינו was given—אברהם אבינו is the father of the Jewish nation, and this was before he was a nation yet, but this was already the beginning of the Jewish nation—what was the first מצוה אברהם אבינו was given? Beside the מצוה that was given to the whole universe, the seven מצות בני נח, what was given to אברהם as אברהם, as being the father of the Jewish nation, was the מצוה of מילה. Because the מצוה of מילה is the foundation of יידישקייט, of the of the יידן as a whole and of every single Jew as an individual Jew, ברית מילה is the foundation. And this is why it's interesting, it says that the מצוה of ברית מילה has connections, according to קבלה, to the highest levels. Which is one of the reasons it says why the punishment is כרת. The word כרת is made up of three letters: כ, ר, ת. If you juggle around the letters, you could make the word כתר. Because the מצוה of ברית מילה reaches into this high spiritual godly level על פי קבלה of כתר, because it's such an important מצוה. And besides, we know that the גמרא says in נדרים that we see in חומש that there are 13 times the word ברית concerning ברית מילה. Concerning the entire תורה, we find three times the word ברית. Now the word ברית means a covenant. So concerning the entire תורה we have three times the word ברית. But concerning ברית מילה, we have 13 times the word ברית מילה. And the גמרא also says that ברית מילה is שקול, it weighs as much as the whole תורה, because ברית מילה is the foundation of יידישקייט. And that is why in the אלטער רבי's שולחן ערוך it says that at the time of the ברית מילה is the תחילת כניסת נפש הקדושה, it's the beginning of the entrance of the holy נשמה into a ייד. It says it finishes off by בר מצוה, the גמר כניסת נפש הקדושה, the end is at the time when you become בר מצוה, but the beginning is by the ברית. And what does that mean? Let me explain it. Now, why it's ברית is because that's the foundation, so when you do the ברית, that's when the נשמה comes in. But let me explain what it means that the נשמה comes in. In truth, from beginning of conception there is already a נשמה there. The proof is the גמרא says while the child is במעי אמו, while the child, the fetus, is inside the mother, it says the גמרא describes it, without having ultrasound and X-rays, the גמרא describes what's doing inside. The child lays with its head between its knees, ונר דולק על ראשו, and there's a candle, that's what it says, burning on top of its head, ומלמדים אותו כל התורה כולה, and a מלאך teaches the, this person, this baby, the whole תורה, and then, before he's born, he makes him forget it. Now if he teaches him the whole תורה, obviously there is a נשמה there. So what do we mean that the beginning of the entrance of the נשמה is when the baby gets the ברית? The פשט is, the נשמה is there, but as חסידות says, the נשמה is there in the form of מקיף, which means in a superficial form, it surrounds it. It's not united with the body yet. It's there, but still separated from the body. Therefore the expression is there's a candle burning on its head. When it says on its head, it's מקיף, like a hat that's not inside you, it's on top of you. The candle is on top. What is this candle? There's no candle inside. Women don't feel any burning inside, those that are carrying a baby. The candle represents the נשמה. Because it says נר ה׳ נשמת אדם, the candle of ה׳ is the נשמה of a person. So the נשמה is there, but the נשמה is there על ראשו, burning on top of the head, meaning it's מקיף. When does the נשמה become one, united with the body? Becomes one being? The נשמה הקדושה, as he says, the holy נשמה, the נפש אלקית, the godly soul, not the נפש הבהמית, the animalistic soul, the soul that gives the person simple life, which is called the נפש הטבעית, the natural... life force of the person. We're talking about the holy נשמה. When does it become united and one with the body? At the time of the ברית. Why specifically by the ברית? Because the ברית is the only מצוה that's in the body. It's a מצוה that's done with the body itself. Plus, it's a מצוה that's always there and stays always in the body. Unlike other מצות, when you do a מצוה, any מצוה you do, the מצוה is with something outside of you. Take, for instance, תפילין. You take a pair of תפילין, and your body is the one that does the מצוה, but the object of the מצוה is not the body. The object of the מצוה is the pair of תפילין. When you eat מצה, it's מצה. When you blow שופר, it's the שופר. Your body hears it, your body does it. But in the case of ברית מילה, it's the body that is the object of the מצוה. The body is the object that the מצוה was. Plus, the מצוה is there forever. When the מצוה is done, it stays with the body. By other מצות, it's on the outside. Even those מצות that do go inside, for instance, מצה, when you eat food, it goes inside, and it gets digested, and the food becomes part of you. So here we do have a case where you have a מצוה that becomes united with the person's body. True. But it's not seen. You do not see the change in the body through this מצוה. You do not see that because מצה is a מצוה, there is something different in the body, because there was something done to the body. You eat it up, and that's it. And it'll last you for one day. But you do not see the change in the body. Spiritually, there is a change, there's no question. Spiritually, every מצוה that you do stays with you forever. It says in תניא, the expression, יחוד זה הוא נצחי לעולם ועד. This יחוד, this union that a איד has with השם, when you do any מצוה, is there forever. It stays with you. But nevertheless, you cannot see it. You look at the body, you don't see it. The only מצוה you see that's a physical thing that's there, and it's within the body, and it stays in the body forever, is the מצוה of ברית מילה. And more than that, the ראגאטשאווער, one of the great scholars, he writes something very interesting. He says that the מצוה of מילה is not only that you do it once with the body, you cut off the skin, and therefore now the body has doesn't have skin, so the מצוה was done with the body. He says the פעולה, the act of ברית מילה is a פעולה נמשכת, which means every second as if you continue and you do it again and again. As if every second you're performing the מצוה. Not like by תפילין, you put it on, while it's on you, you're wearing תפילין, you're doing a מצוה. When you take the תפילין off, the מצוה is not there anymore. You did the מצוה before, spiritually, it's forever, but physically it's not there. You are not constantly performing the מצוה. But by ברית מילה, he says you are constantly performing the מצוה of מילה. And he brings the proof from a גמרא. The גמרא says that that דוד המלך found himself once realized in middle of the shower, in the מרחץ, he looked around, he saw he's naked, which to him meant, oy, I'm naked from מצות. Like this, he always had תפילין, ציצית, a מלך, a king always had a ספר תורה with him. He had מצות on him. Now he has no מצות. Till, it says, he reminded look, he's reminded, so I have מצות מילה. And he became very happy, and he says, שש אנכי על אמרתך כמוצא שלל רב. I'm so happy about what you told me, like I would find a lot of loot. So the ראגאטשאווער asked, why did he remind himself on the מצות מילה? Why didn't he look at his hand and say, well, this is a hand that puts on תפילין, that put on תפילין this morning? The answer is, because he didn't have תפילין on now. But he wasn't doing the מצוה of מילה either now. The answer is, תפילין, while you're doing it, you're doing it. Any מצוה, while you're doing it, it's being done. When it's finished, the פעולה, the act is over. מצות מילה is an act that's being repeated and repeated and repeated again, as if it's an על פי הלכה. So it's as if every second a person is doing the מצוה of מילה in his body. And therefore, this מצוה of מילה is the מצוה that brings the נשמה into the body. We said that there's a time when the נשמה has to become one with the body, and that is during מצות at a time of מילה, why? Because that is the מצוה in the body that is there forever and is constantly being done, and that's why this was the מצוה.

But now let's go, what is the meaning of the מצוה? What happens when you do the מצוה of מילה? It's a מצוה in the body, therefore it brings the נשמה to the body, but what is the meaning of מצות מילה? So we know that מצות מילה is called ברית מילה. It's interesting. The תורה uses the word ברית concerning other things also. But in the גמרא, the חכמים, and certainly in the way אידן talk, the only מצוה, the only מצוה that has the title ברית is this מצוה of מילה. Now what is the meaning meaning of ברית. ברית is a covenant. What's a covenant? A treaty. What's the meaning of a treaty? When do two people make a treaty? Very simple. When two people want to become friends, they make a treaty that we should always be friends. What's the meaning of this? Let's understand. If they want to be friends, go ahead, be friends. What do you need a treaty for? Be friends, that's what you want! The answer is that what they're doing is, they're afraid. Now, we feel like being friends, but I'm afraid there'll come a time when the relationship will not be so good and maybe the friendship will not be so strong. So, we make a treaty, which means with the treaty, this will make sure that the friendship will always stay. So, a treaty means that even at a time when there is no reason for communication, for relationship, it should still be there. And that's what ברית מילה is. ברית מילה is, השם says that when you do the ברית, when you do the מצוה of מילה, this is a covenant, a treaty with Me, which is beyond levels of where it counts how you behave. Just like with two friends, that in case I will not behave as friends, the friendship should still stay. But the truth is this is much more than what I said concerning two friends, because when we talk about two human beings, as much as they make a treaty, they could change their minds and break the treaty too too, and they could break the ברית, they could break the covenant. Why? Because they're limited. And therefore, as essential that it is beyond behavior or beyond dependent on how they are going to be, still they're limited. But when it's a treaty with השם, השם is unlimited and השם says, \"I am making this treaty that this should be an an everlasting bind bound between us,\" then it is everlasting forever. And I'll add another point here. If the treaty that we get by the ברית would be that we Jews make a treaty with השם, it's still not sure that it'll be everlasting, essential, that it can't change. Because after all, we are making the treaty, we are making this bound, binding with השם, and we are limited. So, today we feel like it, and we make up that it'll have stay forever, but if a time comes and we change our minds, we're still human beings even concerning השם. ברית מילה is not that we make a ברית with השם. That's not the פשט. השם makes the ברית with us. השם says that when you do the ברית of ברית מילה, \"I am making a ברית with you.\" And when השם makes the ברית with us, He is unlimited and beyond time and beyond space. So, when He says it's an everlasting ברית, it is an everlasting ברית. It depends on our action. You see, we do the act of ברית, but השם says, \"When you will do the פעולה, the act of ברית, it's not that you are making a ברית with Me, but I am making a ברית with you.\" And the ברית that השם makes, there are no limits there. And that's essential. And this is what the מצוה of ברית מילה is. This is the מצוה with which we make השם connect Himself to us in an unlimited form and in an essential form forever, in a way that's beyond any limitations and beyond any levels. That's what the מצוה of ברית מילה is. And that מצוה is in the body. It's not just He says so. He puts it into the body. If you do this physical act in the body, then in the body it shows that there is an everlasting ברית between השם and the יידן. This is the reason why, and this is something that's very famous, why השם said that we should do the ברית on the eighth day. Because the number eight, we all know, represents this concept of being beyond limitations and being beyond, using the terms of קבלה, beyond סדר השתלשלות, beyond any form of השתלשלות, of levels connected to the creation of the world. It's completely beyond. And that's what happens by a ברית. We know that seven is a complete cycle. There's so many things divided into seven. There's seven days a week. There are seven מדות, seven attributes a person has. There are seven heavens. There are seven weeks, seven days to each week of ספירה, seven weeks of ספירה. There are seven years, seven years to a שמיטה, seven שמיטות to a יובל. The number, seven, seven heavens. The number seven represents a complete cycle. Now, we know that seven, the seventh one is always the one that's complete, that comes to the to the to the completion, to the perfection, that's seven. But still, it's only complete within the cycle, and the cycle represents the cycle of creation. So, you have the completion of creation, which is the highest level, that's why שבת שבת is the seventh day, because שבת is the day when this creation came to its completion. But nevertheless, it's completion of creation. So you have creation, which is not creator, it's the creation. Within the creation, it's the complete, complete is the highest level. And that's why שבת is the highest level, but שבת is also part of creation. Even though we know that השם created the world in six days, and on the seventh day He rested, but we know the famous מדרש, מה היה העולם חסר? What was the world missing? Came שבת, מנוחה, rest. בא שבת בא מנוחה, rest came, and that completed the creation. So, it's the completion of creation. But the number eight, which is the number on top of the seven, that represents, always we know, the level beyond even the complete level of creation. That's why you find so many things were on that level, which are in the number eight. First, we find אז ישיר משה. The שירה that the יידן sang when they crossed the sea, it says אז ישיר. What's אז? Now, אז means then, but אז is אלף זין. So it says in many ספרים that it's the one, the אלף is one, זין is seven, the אלף רוכב על הזין, it's the one on top of the seven, which is the eight, and that's a level completely beyond that cycle of creation, of השתלשלות. We find other things which are eight. It says the harp that they used to use in the בית המקדש had seven strings. The harp that they're going to use when משיח will come is going to have eight strings. That's why it says חנוכה, the light of חנוכה is so strong, much stronger than the light, the spiritual light of the בית המקדש, it's similar, it says, to the light of the time of משיח, so חנוכה is eight days. Eight days, because it's connected to the number eight. And that's why by חנוכה it says, ספרים bring concerning חנוכה, the light of חנוכה, it says a פסוק, והוי' יגיה חשכי, \"And השם will light up my darkness,\" which means a very high level, it says, \"and השם\", be higher than השם, as I'll explain in a moment. And that's concerning חנוכה. We find when they build the משכן, so השם said they should have שבעת ימי המילואים, seven days of preparation, but the שכינה did not come down. ויהי ביום השמיני, it came on the eighth day, that's when the שכינה came down, because it has to be connected to the number eight. Number eight represents that very, very high level of godliness, which is beyond connection to creation, beyond creation. And ברית מילה is such a high level, that high level, that's why it's on the eighth day. And this is what the גמרא means, according to קבלה. It says, why should you have the ברית מילה on the eighth day? So the גמרא says, כדי שיעבור עליו שבת אחת, in order one שבת should pass, because if it's on the eighth day, whichever day the child was born, you have one שבת. But חסידות says a deeper פשט. יעבור עליו שבת אחת means, יעבור means it should go over, because it's higher than the level of שבת. Why is it on the eighth day? Because יעבור עליו שבת. It's higher than שבת. שבת is the seventh day, because it's very holy, but it's still the holiness within the level of creation, and the number eight is beyond it. The כלי יקר in פרשת שמיני says that שבת is called קודש, שבת קודש, holy day, but eight is קודש קדשים, is holy of holies, because even שבת compared to the eighth is considered almost like חול, like secular compared to holiness. This is the high level of ברית מילה. That's how we find that ברית מילה it says is even higher than the level of השם's name called הוי'. We know השם has many names. The main two names are הוי' and אלוקים. And we know between the two, הוי' is called שם העצם, the essential name, שם המפורש, the clear name or whatever the English translation is, שם המיוחד, the name that's connected to Him, it's the highest name. We know אלוקים, שם אלוקים, is lower. שם אלוקים is the גימטריא הטבע, adds up to the same numerical value as the word הטבע, which means a nature, because of the word the שם אלוקים, when we refer to השם with the name אלוקים, we mean the way השם is put into the nature. הוי', שם הוי' represents השם the way He is beyond nature. That's why in the word הוי' we have three words together, היה, הווה ויהיה, which means past, present, and future, and all in one word. How could you have past, present, and future in one? Time is limited to past, present, and future, so obviously it means that this is represents a level which is beyond time, which is beyond creation. That's the level of הוי', so it's a very high level. But nevertheless, even שם הוי', even שם הוי', the name of השם, הוי', has to do with creation. It's the top top level that creates. What does the word הויה mean? And I don't really pronounce it properly because you're not allowed to, but the שם, י-, the name of השם, י-ק-ו-ק. Where does the word come from? It comes from the word מהווה, which means to create. So it's the level from where creation comes. So it's not within the creation, it's on top of the creation, but it's the one that creates. So it's still connected to creation. ברית מילה, we said, is connected to השם in a level which is beyond even the level of הויה. That's why we find an interesting פסוק. The פסוק says, מי יעלה לנו השמימה. Now if you look at the four words, מי יעלה לנו השמימה, look at the first four letters, and look at the last four letters. The first four letters, the ראשי תיבות are מ, י, ל, ה, which is מילה. מי יעלה לנו השמימה. Look at the last four letters. מי ends with a י, יעלה ends with a ה, לנו ends with a ו, and השמימה ends with a ה, which is י-ק-ו-ק, השם's name. So here we see that מילה is the beginning of the words, and הויה at the end. We always know that the beginning of the words, the ראשי תיבות are in a higher level than the סופי תיבות at the end of the words. So here we see that מילה is higher even than the level of הויה. Which is similar to what it says concerning יום כיפור. Only on יום כיפור, it says יום כיפור that on יום כיפור, לפני הויה תטהרו, in front of הויה you will become clean. And חסידות and קבלה says that לפני doesn't only mean in front, in front of השם, לפני means before, higher. יום כיפור is a level, a time when a איד reaches a level which is higher even than שם הויה. And that's why on יום כיפור you do תשובה, because תשובה is higher than הויה. We'll explain it. When you do תשובה, you reach a level higher than הויה, why? And it must be that way, because what is תשובה? תשובה is when a person does an עבירה, and when you do an עבירה, there is a פגם, there is a blemish. Where is the blemish? In your נשמה, and unfortunately, we also cause a blemish in השם. In which level do we cause the blemish? So there's a פסוק that says, ונוקב שם הויה, which means when the person in the story in חומש, when the person cursed השם, so the פסוק says ונוקב, he expressed שם הויה, השם's name, and he cursed. The word ונוקב has another meaning, from the word נקב, a hole, that he made a hole in שם הויה. That means by doing an עבירה, you make a hole, a blemish in שם הויה. When you do תשובה, תשובה is supposed to cause the forgiveness. Well obviously, תשובה can't come from שם הויה, because שם הויה is the level where you have the problem, it's the level where you have the blemish. In order to fix that blemish, you got to reach into a level beyond it. So תשובה reaches the level higher than הויה. And that's what יום כיפור is. And here we see that the מצוה of מילה also reaches the level higher than הויה. מילה is the first are the first four letters, and הויה are the last four letters, so מילה is higher than שם הויה. Which is connected to the number eight, we said, because הויה is the highest level, but still part of the creation like seven. That's why שבת is called קודש להויה, the שבת is called holiness to הויה. The weekdays are called אלוקים. The weekdays are days which are connected to אלוקים. חומש starts with בראשית ברא אלוקים, אלוקים created. Then when it comes to שבת, it says ויכל אלוקים את מלאכתו. Now simple פשט means אלוקים finished working. But קבלה says ויכל אלוקים, אלוקים is over, and שבת is קודש להויה. So הויה is like the completion, the holiness of the creation, the highest level. But לפני הויה, higher than הויה, that's even higher than that, that's like the number eight. And this is a level where we cannot reach because of our service, but it's something that השם does. So השם says, all I want you to do is do the physical ברית מילה. And when you do that, you reach this level that's within me, which is so high that's beyond any reach, and I, from that level, will connect myself to you beyond any limitations, and therefore it stays forever. This is the reason why the מצוה of ברית מילה is done with a child when he's still a baby at eight days. Wouldn't it make more sense that when a child gets older and you understand, you know what you're doing, that's when you should do a מצוה? You should do a מצוה consciously, knowing what you're doing. Why do a מצוה, this מצוה of ברית מילה to a child? That's the only מצוה that you do to a child and he doesn't know what's happening to him and you do it to him. And the answer is very simple: it's to show that the connection you get to השם is not limited to your under- understanding, not limited to your feeling, and it's not dependent on that. It's a connection that's there essentially. The act has to be done, that's what השם wants. And that's why if you do the ברית מילה when you're older, and you agree to it, and you understand what you're doing, it would seem as if this is a connection that comes as a result of your understanding. So השם said, \"No, I want this to be done as soon as possible.\" Really it should have been done on the first day. But what we know, it says, the רמב״ם says that the day that the child feels the least pain is on the eighth day of of birth. And I think nowadays, just lately, I think a year or two ago, that doctors figured this out. They said that in medical research that they figured out that the day that the child feels the least pain of any day is the eighth day from birth. He feels less than on the seventh and the sixth, and less than in the days later, for some reason, I don't know why. So השם said, \"Do it on that day.\" But really it means in the beginning when the child is just born, has no שכל, doesn't understand, because it has nothing to do with understanding. It's not like you reach a level because you understand, so you connect yourself. This is something that comes directly from השם, from such a high level, so it's done to a child when he's small. This explains the מדרש, an interesting מדרש. The מדרש says that ישמעאל had an argument with יצחק. ישמעאל said to יצחק, \"I was 13, I could have stopped it, so I get a lot of credit. So I'm greater than you. You were circumcised to eight days, what did you know?\" So יצחק tells him, \"I'm greater than you, cause I was circumcised on the eighth day.\" And the question is, we understand ישמעאל's argument, because at 13 years old, and you couldn't just tell him what to do, you couldn't force him, and he agreed, that's something special. What was יצחק's answer? \"I'm greater than you because I was eight days old.\" So what's so great about it? The answer is, as I just explained, he told him that the ברית מילה that I got is much higher level than what you got. You got because you worked, so to speak, on it. You liked it, you were happy, you agreed to do it. Mine shows that it comes from השם beyond any understanding and has nothing to do with us, it's directly from השם. And that's what's special in doing it on the day, on the time when you're still small. This explains another מדרש. In a מדרש it says It goes on the stages of how the מצות came about to be. It says אדם הראשון got seven מצות. Then it says by נח השם gave another מצוה, the מצוה of אבר מן החי. אברהם אבינו was given another מצוה to be circumcised. And then it says יצחק was the first one to be circumcised when he was the eight days old. And the question that comes up here, the מדרש is going in stages. We understand from seven מצות to eight, that's another stage. From eight to a nine. But what kind of stage is there from being circumcised when he was older and יצחק was the first one that circumcised when he was eight days old? Why is that a different stage? The answer is very simple. When אברהם was circumcised when he was 99 years old or anybody else who was old like ישמעאל 13 years old, that level of circumcision was not yet the same level as by יצחק. It's a different level. It was a level that came because he understood, he knew what he was doing, so it showed that the connection that came to השם is still limited to his understanding. יצחק was the first one that was circumcised to eight days. That was when the the beginning of another stage of a different type of ברית מילה, the ברית מילה that showed that he's connected completely without any limitations of his understanding or any other reason, completely because of השם. And that could only be come from the level higher than הויה, because אלקים is still limited to the world, הויה is not as limited, but still connected to the world. But from the level beyond הויה, as it's on יום כיפור, that's the level that comes when the child is circumcised when he's just born. This explains another מדרש. It says in a פסוק השם said to משה, \"Tell אהרן, ׳בזאת יבא אהרן אל הקדש׳.\" אהרן should not, which means the כהן, should not enter the holy of holies whenever he wants. He could just enter it on יום כיפור, and he could just enter it with certain קרבנות. But the expression of the פסוק is, ׳בזאת יבא אהרן׳, with this, אהרן shall come into the קדש הקדשים on יום כיפור, and the פסוק goes on to tell us what he should do. So the מדרש says, with which זכות did the כהן גדול will go into the בית המקדש, into the קדש הקדשים, I mean, on יום כיפור? So it says, \"In the זכות of ברית מילה.\" And it's hinted in the word ׳בזאת׳, because by ברית it says, ׳זאת בריתי׳, this is my ברית. So when it says here, ׳בזאת יבא אהרן׳, אהרן goes in with זאת, that means with the זכות of ברית מילה, אהרן would so the כהן גדול would go into the קדש הקדשים. What is the פשט in this מדרש? מדרש. What is the connection between אהרן הכהן going into the קדש הקדשים with the מצוה of ברית מילה, that in the זכות of ברית מילה he would go into the קדש הקדשים? The answer is, we said before, on יום כיפור, and especially when the כהן גדול would go into the Holy of Holies, he would connect himself at that time to the highest level. What זכות did he have, how was he able to do it? Because he had this ברית מילה, which is that level. That high level of לפני הוי׳ is ברית מילה, and that's why he was able to reach that level again on יום כיפור. And it was done through the כהן גדול, and the כהן גדול usually would wear eight בגדים, eight garments, which shows the number eight again, that the כהן גדול is connected in the number eight. True, when he would enter the קדש הקדשים he couldn't wear the eight, but that was for a side reason because it had gold on it and השם didn't want that he should bring in gold in the קדש הקדשים, it would remind השם of the עגל, of the golden calf, but essentially the כהן גדול wore eight בגדים, eight. So anyway, the כהן גדול had a connection to such a level of eight, but through the מצוה of ברית מילה he had this connection even stronger. And that's what the מדרש says, he could go into the קדש הקדשים, which זכות? The זכות of ברית מילה, which is the level of מילה, the level of יום כיפור, which is, as I said before, the level of תשובה. תשובה is also higher than הוי׳. And the truth is, מילה is even higher than תשובה, because תשובה, as much as it reaches the very high level higher than הוי׳, but it's not connected to the body. תשובה is the לב, תשובה is in the heart. It's more in the emotions, the feelings, but not to the physical body. Which means that this high level doesn't actually penetrate into the physical body, but ברית מילה is actually in in the physical body.

Now, this is the reason why the מצוה that was given to אברהם אבינו, the first מצוה that was given to אברהם אבינו was the מצוה of ברית מילה, because ברית מילה is so important that this is the foundation of everything. And this answers another question, the famous question: אברהם אבינו, we know, and יצחק and יעקב, but אברהם אבינו also did all the מצות before he was commanded. אברהם put on תפילין, אברהם ate מצה. Why didn't he do the מצוה of ברית מילה? השם told him, so for 99 years he didn't do this מצוה. He did every other מצוה in the תורה, so he did even מצות which דרבנן added years later, he knew about it and he did it. Why didn't he do the מצוה of ברית מילה, why did he wait? Now, there are simple answers. One simple answer is very simple: Every other מצוה, by doing it, didn't lose anything, because he always could think in his mind, \"What would be if השם will command me to do it? So from then on, I'll do it with the command.\" Let's say he ate מצה. \"What will be השם will decide to give me the מצוה of מצה? So from then on, I will eat מצה on פסח being commanded,\" or any other מצוה. But if he would do the מצוה of ברית מילה and then later on השם would command him to do it, he couldn't do it. So he would lose out this opportunity of doing it being commanded. That's why he didn't do it; he waited. Then there's another reason that the רבי gives, that he wasn't allowed to do it, because אברהם אבינו, when he kept all the מצות, he didn't have to, it was all a הידור, he was extra careful. Now, we know a rule that if a person has a conflict between two things: One thing is an obligation that he must do, and one thing is something that he would like to do, it's very nice to do, but he doesn't have to do, but it's a contradiction, what should he do? So obviously, you have to keep the one that you're obligated and not keep the one that is a הידור, which is extra careful. By אברהם אבינו, the same. One of the מצות that אברהם had was from the seven מצות that a גוי must keep is you're not allowed to cut yourself, you're not allowed to let blood out. That's a commandment to to all of all humanity. So אברהם אבינו was forbidden to let blood out. Now if he would want to do the מצוה of מילה, which he wasn't commanded, that means he would do it as a הידור, as an extra. But in order to do that extra, he would have to transgress something that he was obligated. He couldn't do it; therefore, he couldn't cut himself. But that's again a simple answer. But the the the deeper answer is אברהם אבינו wanted to have the מצוה of מילה in a way that this would bring that true connection to השם from that high level. And that cannot be done on your own, as we said before, it's not something that comes from us. It's not a ברית, a connection that we make with השם. When we do this מצוה, השם makes the connection with us. So if השם didn't tell him to do it, he wouldn't have that connection. So that's why he didn't want to do the ברית מילה. He wanted to have the what מילה stands for. So he waited till he was commanded, and then if השם told him, that's what השם said, \"By you doing it, I will connect myself to you.\" And he was still not a baby, he was old. And that was the beginning, and later on יצחק did it when he was eight days old, and he passed it on to all of us. But all this is because of what the מצות מילה stands for. And this is also why the מצוה of ברית מילה is the one מצוה which is the source within the אבות of all other מצות. And I'll explain what I mean. We know that it says מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, that whatever the אבות, אברהם, יצחק, and יעקב did, that was a sign to the children, meaning that was a sign to all the יידן later on. But it doesn't mean just a sign. It means that whatever happened to the אבות, that gave a כח, a strength, a power that we יידן, later generations, should be able to perform all the מצות. Now, even though we draw our strength from the אבות, our מצות are commanded. The אבות מצות were not commanded. So in order for us to be able to draw our strength from the אבות, there had to be at least one מצוה where the אבות were also commanded. Because if they wouldn't be commanded in any מצוה, then as much as we draw our strength from them, but ours is different than theirs. So השם gave them one מצוה. But out of all מצות, which would be the one מצוה which they did which would be the source of strength for us, which מצוה did השם choose? Obviously, he would choose the most important מצוה, the one מצוה which is the foundation of all the מצות. And which מצוה did he choose? The מצוה of ברית מילה. Because the מצוה of ברית מילה is the foundation, that is the מצוה that shows the true connection of השם to a ייד. And that's why he chose the מצוה of מילה. And then there's another reason why he chose the מצוה of מילה, I'll explain that. We know that the difference between the מצות that the the אבות did and the מצות that we do is this: that we were were commanded and they weren't. But what it really means is that the מצות that we do penetrate into the גשמיות, which didn't happen at the time of the אבות. When we have a pair of תפילין, the pair of תפילין is holy. The קדושה, the holiness of the מצוה goes into the גשמיות. In the time of the אבות, that didn't happen. There was no connection between spirituality and גשמיות, and it didn't penetrate into the גשמיות. That's what the מדרש says, that on the פסוק לריח שמניך טובים שמן תורק שמך, which means, the מדרש says a משל, there are two types of smells. Sometimes you have a smell that comes, when you get the smell you only get a whiff of it, but then it evaporates, it goes away. But if you really want to have it, take the perfume, don't just let the perfume smell come to you, take a little bit of it and pour it out into a bottle and have your bottle, then you have the the real thing, you'll have it for always. So it says what the אבות did, their מצות was like a smell. Which means it came, they did a מצוה, and every time they did a מצוה there was קדושה, but it didn't stay. It didn't come into the גשמיות. But we, it says, it's like when you take the perfume from one vessel to another, and we have the real thing. So when we do a מצוה, it penetrates into the גשמיות. Which is, by the way, the reason that when and the only one that they had which was like ours is the מצוה of מילה, because they were commanded to do it. So מצות מילה penetrated to גשמיות. That's why when when אברהם אבינו wanted אליעזר to swear, and the same thing יעקב wanted יוסף to swear, he told him, שים נא ידך תחת ירכי, put your hand on my thigh, which is the מצוה of מילה. Why did he do it? Because it says when you swear, you should hold an object, a holy object. You should hold תפילין, you should hold a ספר תורה. אברהם wanted to do that too. He wanted him to swear, he wanted him to hold a holy object. But there was no such thing as a holy object. Why not? אברהם had a ספר תורה, אברהם had a pair of תפילין, אברהם had ציצית, because he did all the מצות. But they weren't holy, because the קדושה didn't penetrate, because השם didn't command him to do it. The only מצוה that even by אברהם אבינו penetrated into the גשמיות was the מצוה of מילה because he was commanded to do it. And why did he pick this מצוה? Because this מצוה is in the גשמיות, as we said before. השם picked this מצוה specifically. So this is the מצוה that השם gave אברהם אבינו as a foundation of all the מצות from all the generations later on. And this is the מצוה that brings the connection of השם in such a high level beyond any limitations. Because it's not connected, dependent on our level, but it comes from השם. Which answers another question, I'm almost finished, answers another question. The ברכה that you make, one of the ברכות you make by the ברית is להכניסו בבריתו של אברהם אבינו. We make a ברכה אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו, you thank השם for commanding us the מצות, and he gave us the מצוה of bringing the child into the covenant of אברהם אבינו. Why mention אברהם אבינו? It's a covenant with השם. Why the covenant of אברהם? What do we mean to stress when we say אברהם? Especially that there's a different problem here. The רמב״ם says clearly in the פירוש המשניות that any מצוה that we do is because השם commanded it to us by סיני, by הר סיני, by מתן תורה, not because He told the אבות to do it. For instance, all the seven מצות which are also part of our מצות, we have the seven within our מצות, we don't do it because השם told אדם הראשון or told נח, we do it because השם told it by הר סיני. And any מצוה השם gave to אברהם, or יצחק, or יעקב, and we do it, we don't do it because He told אברהם to do it, we do we do it because He said it by הר סיני. So when we do the ברית מילה, we don't do it because השם told אברהם, we do it because by הר סיני השם told us to do it. So then certainly the question is, why do we mention in the ברית, by the ברכה, that it's the ברית of אברהם אבינו? So obviously we're trying to show something, and the answer is one of the answers many answers, but one of the answers is like this. Usually we know that the first one is always the hardest. We know even בגשמיות there are certain things that are records, and you can't break the record! The record in climbing, a record in running, for some reason you can't break it. The moment one person breaks it, all of a sudden, this guy did it and this guy did it and that guy does it, for some reason it happens. There has to be the breakthrough, and when you break it through, the second one is already easier because he already heard from before and he got already the information and he already has the there's an experience already there and he gets all kinds of a little hints, it's done already, a second time is different. But that's only things which are made logically, things which are dependent on certain behaviors, so as soon as it's done already, you could follow. ברית מילה doesn't depend on our understanding at all, it's something that comes from השם. And therefore, the first and the tenth and the twentieth are all the same. There's no such thing to say that אברהם אבינו broke through the barrier, so now it's easier for us. Easier only fits if you're talking about something that depends on how we do, how we behave. So then it's easier like this. This has nothing to do with us! We have to just do the fact, the act, and השם does it. And that's what we try to say by the ברכה, that when this child gets the ברית מילה, he's the same like אברהם אבינו, he's like the first. Why? Because this is a connection to השם, it's not dependent on him at all. So we're all the same. That's why we mention one of the reasons we mention so the רבי explains, one of the reasons we mention here אברהם אבינו, because this is the covenant, the same that we come with אברהם. This is why it says on ברית מילה, this is a מצוה that the אידן accepted and kept with שמחה. Quotes the פסוק, שש אנכי על אמרתך כמוצא שלל רב, I'm happy, דוד המלך said, like I found שלל, a lot of loot. Why is he so happy? Why is the מצוה of ברית מילה with such a joy? So the answer is, like we said before, because this is the foundation, so when when we think of the מצוה of מילה, this really reminds us of the essence of our essential connection to השם, and that's why this brings such great joy. But let's just, while we're at this פסוק, the פסוק says the joy is there כמוצא שלל רב, like you find loot. What's the connection to loot? So this this touches another point. The רמב״ם says that one of the reasons for the מצוה of מילה, the reason for it is because by doing the מצוה of מילה, it weakens the תאוה, the desire the person has in connection to this part of the body. It weakens it. Weakening the תאוה is really taking loot away from the יצר הרע. The יצר הרע wants us to have the greater תאוה. When we take away the תאוה, that desire, then מוצא שלל רב, we take away the שלל. And that's why it's connected the פסוק says by מצוה of ברית מילה מוצא שלל רב, we take away this great this great שלל. And there's another interesting thing here we see. This shows the difference between a איד and a גוי. A איד everyone knows that by doing this you take away the תאוה, and a איד is happy about it, and a גוי is definitely unhappy. A איד is happy to less have less תאוות and be closer to השם, and that's why שש אנכי, and a גוי not. So even though גוים do the מצוה of מילה, besides the fact they're not commanded to do it, if they would know, or those that do know are unhappy, but if certainly they would know that this takes away the תאוות, they wouldn't want to do it! And we know and we do it anyway, and we're happy that this takes away the תאוות. That again shows the greatness of a איד. But besides, the main thing of מילה is not this side point that takes away the תאוה, that's all true, but the main thing is that this is the essential connection between a איד and השם, which is in the body, different than any other מצוה, that's why this is the first מצוה that was given to אברהם. This is a מצוה that makes a איד, a גוי into a איד, in order to become a איד, This is the מצוה that was that child the child right in the beginning is supposed to do. Now, I just want to add one more point, and that is that concerning women, might ask, \"Well, we're missing this מצוה.\" But the גמרא says that אשה כמאן דמהילא דמיא. A woman is as if she's circumcised even without doing the act of circumcision, in הלכה. That's why in בענטשינג we say ועל בריתך שחתמת בבשרנו. We thank השם, נודה לך, we thank השם for different things: the land, etc. etc., and for the ברית that you sealed into our body. The גמרא asks, \"How could women say that?\" And the גמרא answers, אשה כמאן דמהילא דמיא. They are as if it's done to them. But the question is, but it's not ניכר. We said before that it's one of the מצוות that you could see in the body. You can't see, so where do they get? But the truth is that this concept of ברית מילה, that the woman, so to speak, is lacking, when she marries, and there is a shared, the husband and the wife share one, they become one unit, so the greatness of the מצוה of מילה, even in the physical sense, is also carried over to the wife, and she also has that מצוה, like we find by other things, by learning תורה, that when they share, the מצוה of תורה is transferred over to her, even though she's not commanded, but she gets the reward as if she was commanded, and by other things too, by מצוה of מילה also. So the women don't lose and don't have a loss of the מצוה of מילה, but where do we see it with our physical eyes? That's by the man, and this is the essential connection of יידן and השם. Yes.

You said that the punishment for not having a ברית מילה is כרת. What age? Right. But you also said the ברכה says commanded us to have this מצוה performed. But obviously you're doing this for a child, hey So my question basically is if a ברית is not done The child has to No, no, no, no, no, no. He has to do it when he becomes 13 years old. Okay, what if the ברית is done improperly, you know, the actual physical aspect is done, but it's not done על פי הלכה? So you have to do הטפת דם ברית. You have to the blood, a drop of blood, right. It have to be done And not על פי הלכה could be in many ways: could be done by a גוי, for instance, or even by a non-שומר שבת, which is a problem, or if it was done before the eighth day, then it doesn't count. So it has to be according to the הלכה. And if it was done properly physically, but not time or the person, so then you have to do הטפת דם ברית. You said that the נשמה that that's the point where the נשמה and the body connect. Now is that But what if the ברית is not done? So then there is a lack in that connection, yeah. No It's not the same way. Not the same way, exactly. Yeah. Can you explain the Yes. Well, the ברית, explain, the ברית has two parts to it, actually three parts, but two parts of cutting. There's מילה, פריעה, and then we have מציצה. מילה is when they have the cut the skin off, and then there is a thinner skin that behind it that they tear apart afterwards with the nails, and then they have the מציצה when they draw the blood. Now, when we do the מילה, what we do is we cut off the skin. The skin represents the cover. That represents the blockade, the blockage of אלקות, of godliness, to come into the person. So that's why we have to get rid of the skin, and that represents getting rid of that blocking thing that blocks. There are two types: the skin that we cut is called the ערלה הגסה, the thick ערלה, the thick skin, and the one that we cut with our hands is the ערלה הדקה. There are two levels in block blockades or whatever, blockade that blocks the spiritually from השם, from אלקות, godliness, coming into the person. And we have to get rid of both. So we have to first cut the skin, the ערלה הגסה, and we have to cut the second one, and it to represent that with people should remember that there are certain things which are very obvious that they're against השם, and you have to fight that, and then there are things which are not so, they're very thin, but they're also against השם, and you have to fight that too, and that's much harder, because you don't always know what it is. So the מילה the רוחניותדיקע meaning of מילה is that you have to cut off the the גסות קליפה the גסות הקליפה, the thickness of קליפה, and then the קליפה דקה, the small one. And without it, the גמרא says הלכה is מל ולא פרע כאלו לא מל. If you did the מילה, you cut off the first skin and didn't cut off the second, it's as if you didn't do the מצוה of מילה at all. Huh? A doctor would do both? Yeah, yeah, they cut it They cut it off directly, though. They cut them both off together. That there are two skins, yeah, and they cut off both, but they really should do it It's כשר if you cut them off with a knife also, but לכתחילה you should do that with a knife and this with the hand. But when the person the doctors do it, they cut off both. Yes. It's all recorded, if he does. That's good. That's not a that's a מדרש. There's a מדרש, yes, there is a מדרש that says that asked רב עקיבא, if השם doesn't like that skin, that foreskin, then why didn't he create us לכתחילה without it? Why did he create since he created it with it, obviously he wants it. Because השם would create it perfect, right? So he said to him, do you ever eat he gave the name of a certain food. He said, yeah. He says, how do you make it? Well, you got to cook it, does it. He says, השם wants you to eat it, why didn't he make it לכתחילה cooked? Why did he make you have to cook it? Obviously he want He does and he wants us to add and become partners in creation to add things. It's the same thing here. He created it with the skin and he gave us opportunity, he wants us to finish off, perfect the creation. It says actually, it says that we say it in every שבת, in the חומש it says, אשר ברא אלקים לעשות. השם created the world לעשות. I I wonder how people translate these words. השם created the world, לעשות means to do. What does that mean? He created to do. So רש״י says, not in the חומש, רש״י מדרש, לעשות means לתקן, to fix. He created the world fully, but he left לעשות that we should fix certain things. He wants us to perfect it in order for us to be partners in creation. Yeah. And where do we see it? In actuality, in ברית מילה. Yes. You can't eat the קרבן פסח. You can't eat the קרבן פסח. Not only his מילה, the מילה of his children, the מילה of his עבדים are מעכב. If anything else that is מעכב, It's the first because you could have a person not נימול according to הלכה, If two brothers died from מילה, then the third one you don't have to circumcise. But he still has all He's still lacking all those things that you have to have a מילה. For instance, he can't eat the קרבן פסח. He didn't do anything wrong, but he still can't eat the קרבן פסח. Huh? No, it doesn't help. Drawing blood only helps if there is no skin. Either but if there is skin, then drawing blood doesn't help. Couldn't do the עבודה, I don't think so. Not as בעל מום, I don't think it's as בעל מום, I think it's as as ערל. הערל can't do עבודה. Not as מום, as ערל there's a special דין, ערל can't do the עבודה. Because The connection is circumcision means to take away the foreskin that blocks. The heart could have a skin, a spiritual skin that blocks the heart from feeling what you're supposed to feel. So the פסוק says, ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם more or less. That's I will circumcise your heart means I will take away that skin, and you will be able to feel what you're supposed to. Because like this, there is a blockade and you don't feel the spirituality, you don't feel השם, and this will make you feel it. Yeah? What? Oh, that's a good question. When does the נשמה come into a female? If here it comes in by the eighth day, very good question. So the רבי writes that it comes in when you name the baby. And that's the reason that the רבי says that when a girl is born, don't wait naming. Some people wait till שבת, uh some people wait till they get a big crowd. Do it at the first first opportunity, which means the first קריאת התורה. Why, and he writes this, because by a girl it comes in at that time, so by a boy where the הלכה is that you have to wait eight days, you have to wait eight days. Where there's no הלכה to wait, then why wait? So he says you should name right away, and that's when the נשמה comes in. Learn תורה. From the גמרא it seems that yes. Seems so. The question is why, if they are not obligated to learn, but the מפרשים talk about it. But seems like, yeah, the גמרא doesn't make a difference between a boy and a girl. Huh? Sure they do. That's That's not the גמרא. It doesn't say that. The מלאך gives a patch. He gives him a patch, it says. By the boy By the girl it does, by the boy I guess it's part of it. That's why the naming is done by the ברית. If they didn't, by the ברית is fine, right? The main thing is the ברית. But by a girl, there is no No ברית, so then the main thing is the name. But I'm sure there is something with the name by the boy also, even though I didn't see it written. That's different opinions. If the ברית is pushed off, some hold that you should after thirty days. It's a question. And some people don't name till later. That's why I know a case of they had a פדיון הבן without a name. So they had a פדיון הבן of thirty days, and the child wasn't circumcised because he wasn't able. יצר טוב, is that the נשמה? That's the נשמה. The יצר הרע is older. Why? Because it comes in completely in the beginning. But this finishes by the בר מצוה. So by the ברית is תחילת כניסת, it's the beginning, but it's not finished till the בר מצוה. And the יצר הרע is finished right away, comes in completely, which is the נפש הבהמית. Thank you.