{"id":36901,"date":"2018-08-05T18:36:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-05T15:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=36901"},"modified":"2022-02-28T00:13:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T22:13:36","slug":"circumcision-repudiating-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/circumcision-repudiating-fate\/","title":{"rendered":"Circumcision: Repudiating Fate"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[395,448],"acf":{"old_id":"36901","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33692,"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Abraham and Sarah begin a journey of transformation: their names are changed, and their bodies are transformed ","content":"

In a modern context, brit milah, <\/em>circumcision, appears wrong to many . Why mutilate a small baby? We need to ask why this is the eternal covenant of the Jewish people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Midrash records a fascinating exchange the great Rabbi Akiva, and his Roman torturer, Turnus-Rufus:<\/span><\/p>\n

Turnus Rufus: \u201cWhose works are superior? Those of the Holy One or those of flesh and blood?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Akiva: \u201cThose of flesh and blood are superior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turnus Rufus: \u201cWhy are you circumcised?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Akiva brought him sheaves of wheat and white bread and said to him: \u201cThese are the works of the Holy One, and these are the works of flesh and blood. Are the latter not superior?\u201d<\/p>\n

Turnus Rufus: \u201cWhy then is a male born uncircumcised?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Akiva said to him: \u201cWhy is the umbilical cord attached? Does his mother not sever it? And why is born uncircumcised? Because the Holy One only gave us the commandments in order to refine us through them\u2026\u201d (Midrash Tanhuma) <\/span><\/p>\n

Hellenistic society did not approve of bodily mutilation. At the Olympics, it celebrated the beauty of nature exhibiting the naked body and its athletic abilities. Similarly, the Hellenists believed in fate, in the role of social class that God had assigned humans. This is the mindset of Turnus Rufus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Akiva responds: Wheat or bread? Flax or linen? In other words, the human role is not to accept fate and celebrate nature, but rather to transform and refine nature. \u00a0The example of the umbilical cord takes this further: If anything, altering creation does not<\/span> violate the laws of nature, but is in fact a basic obligation of existence, a critical element, perhaps, of nature itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Ido Hevroni comments on this Midrash:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2026 severance of the foreskin, the most impulsive organ of the human body, makes a clear statement: Man shares with God the ability to stand outside of and apart from nature. Man is a creation whose horizon of aspirations lies far beyond the satisfaction of his natural impulses. Man wants to change\u2026 the world.\u201d (Circumcision as Rebellion. Azure 28)<\/span><\/p>\n

The legacy of Abraham is to refine that which nature gives us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abraham and Sarah start their journey childless. Theirs is a journey of transformation: their names are changed, and their bodies are transformed – Abraham is circumcised and Sarah becomes fertile. Life is not about acceptance of fate, but rather transforming and refining the natural reality. 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