{"id":35824,"date":"2018-07-24T17:07:01","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T14:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=35824"},"modified":"2022-02-15T14:52:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T12:52:24","slug":"milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-9\/","title":{"rendered":"MiliMilim -The Hebrew Corner Gen 9"},"content":{"rendered":"
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People who think that the word \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea, brit<\/em> (or in common Ashkenazi parlance, bris<\/em>) means “circumcision” can be forgiven. It’s an honest mistake. When you attend the ceremony known as a “brit” (“bris”), what you see, if you’re standing close enough, is indeed a circumcision. The full name of the ceremony is brit milah<\/em>, which literally means “the covenant of the circumcision.” The brit,<\/em> part, then, means “covenant.” The name of the organization B’nai Brith means “the children of the covenant.”<\/p>\n

A covenant is a pact or a treaty, entered into willingly by two bodies, creating a relationship based on trust and loyalty, with attending rights and responsibilities.<\/p>\n

The first Biblical covenant is here in chapter 9, with Noah and all the survivors of the Ark (9:9-17). Indeed, it is framed as an everlasting pact between God and humanity, and strikingly, between God and every living thing (v. 10), the entire natural world. This covenant has a sign \u2013 this one a lot less painful than circumcision \u2013 the rainbow.<\/p>\n

The next big covenant is between Abram and Sarai and God. The word \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea, brit<\/em>, covenant, appears in this chapter seven times, there (Gen 17:1-14) 10 times. See also Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ piece in in this chapter about covenant.<\/p>\n

The idea of \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea, brit<\/em>, is central to Jewish existence. The fact that Biblical religion is a covenantal<\/em> religion, a reciprocal relationship, is fundamental to understanding the nature of the Jewish tradition, the Jewish people and our struggle with our own sources and identity over the millennia. The covenant is what binds us one to the other, and all of us together to a common fate, destiny or mission.<\/p>\n

The Tanakh itself is the story of that covenantal relationship, played out over time, and is a testament to it. Indeed, the way the Christian term New Testament is translated is with this word: \u05d4\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05d7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d4, habrit hachadashah<\/em>, using a term from Jeremiah 31:31, referring to a new covenant that will replace the old. Jews obviously don’t endorse that idea, known as “supersessionism,” and there are a number of possible Jewish ways to refer to the fact that there is another Bible out there in addition to ours: Jewish and Christian Bible, or Hebrew and Greek Scripture are the two leading candidates.<\/p>\n

Finally, there’s another important modern use of the word, and idea, of \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea, brit.<\/em> Since the mid-19th<\/sup> century (that is, before the revival of spoken Hebrew, but as part of the literary revival of Hebrew journalism) the United States has been referred to in Hebrew as \u05d0\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea, artzot ha-brit<\/em>, literally “the lands of the covenant.” It’s not known why this somewhat poetic turn of phrase was chosen, rather than, say, \u05d4\u05de\u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05d7\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea, ha-medinot ha-meuchadot<\/em>, which would be closer to the literal “United States.” But it does give an almost Biblical flavor to the name of the nation whose Constitution, a sort of \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea, brit<\/em>, and constitutionally protected rights are central to its identity and character.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":102075,"id":102075,"title":"-620ba1a4863c4--620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim covenant brit.jpg","filename":"620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-9\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":35824,"date":"2022-02-15 12:50:44","modified":"2023-11-21 22:45:38","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":960,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/620ba1a4863c4-620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim-covenant-brit.jpg-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"MiliMiliM - 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