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Since then ,for all Jewish baby boys, brit milah (the covenant of circumcision) must be done on the eighth day after birth. It can be done later if medical reasons warrant postponing it, but never earlier. The word "brit" means covenant and "milah" means circumcision. Circumcision establishes a covenant between God and the Jew. (A Jewish female is considered circumcised in a spiritual sense from birth, possessing this holy covenant within herself from the moment she is born). God wanted to permanently affix a symbol on the bodies of the Jewish males since He chose the Jewish nation to be called by His name. Circumcision on the male sexual organ was designated as the symbol of the Covenant because this is the source from which the perpetuation of the species emanates. One might ask why did God not create the human being already circumcised if He desired this Covenant? The reason God did not create the human being complete in the mother’s womb is to indicate that just as the physical aspects of the body can be made better by human deeds, so is it within the human power to perfect the soul by correcting oneself spiritually through the covenant of circumcision. A man must guard the purity of his sexual organ and refine himself constantly in life: this is the biggest test and challenge to the human being. The lifeforce and most positive energy aspect of a human being (the creative power one possesses), must be directed to Godliness at all times and must be used for holiness. No man is immune to the challenges of the sexual urge.

When the Jewish people fulfilled the commandment of circumcision, they were informed of the happy news that the Sanctuary would exist amongst them, as God said, "And they shall make for Me a sanctuary and My Holiness will rest among them."

When Moses was going to Egypt to redeem the Jewish nation, a snake came to swallow him and stop him from traveling because he had not yet circumcised his son. He felt that since he was going to do such a great mitzva and redeem the Jews from Egypt, the circumcision could be done later since it was more important to save the entire Jewish nation. But his wife, Tzipora, realized that not doing the brit on time was a problem and she immediately performed the circumcision for her child, thus saving her husband’s life.

One of the things the Jewish people were commanded to do before leaving Egypt was the act of circumcision: this gave them enough merit to be redeemed. Without performing circumcision they were unable to progress to a higher spiritual level and were not worthy to be taken out of Egypt, just as Avraham was not able to father the Jewish nation before he was circumcised.

It is also said that in the merit of circumcision we will also merit to be redeemed from this present golut with the coming of the Messiah.

A brit milah is performed on the eighth day of a baby’s life. Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, was also circumcised but he was 13 years old at the time. Isaac (Yitzchak in Hebrew) was the first Jew to do the circumcision at eight days.

Ishmael was the father of the arab nations. If done at the age of 13 years, it is up to the intellect of the person to agree to do the brit. At eight days it is an act which is beyond intellect and therefore the person becomes bound to God in a way that transcends the limits of the mind and nature.

The Talmud tells us that King David once went into the bathhouse and saw himself naked. He said to himself, "Woe is to me, for I am naked of all good deeds." He then saw the mark of circumcision on his body and his mind was put at ease. He realized that this mark of circumcision was perhaps his greatest mitzvah because it was done when he was a tiny infant, without any ulterior motivation or thought of reward.

Why is the brit done specifically on the eighth day after birth? The Talmud points out that these eight days always include at least one Shabbat. According to Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticism, Shabbat represents the natural order of the world (there are seven days in a week and God created the world in six days and on the 7th day He rested: Shabbat is the holiest day of the week and thus completes the order of creation of the world).

The brit is on the eighth day, indicating that it is higher than nature. Having attained the level of perfection within nature the first seven days after birth, now on the eighth day the child reaches that power and level of the soul to contact the light that transcends nature. Through circumcision the Jew is given the power throughout life to overcome all obstacles in his service to God and to rise above his own natural limitations. Some people who are not very observant in terms of Judaism, plan to have the brit done on a Sunday because o f convenience, even if Sunday is not yet the eighth day. They fail to understand the importance of the eighth day and fail to understand that they do not fulfill the brit correctly if they do it that way. The Kabbalah explains that there are forces of purity and holiness in the world, and there are also forces of unholiness and impurity. Those unholy forces are called "kelipot". These forces of kelipot do not allow the light of holiness and truth to shine through. In other words, they hide and obscure the light of Godliness in the world. But unholy forces can only take their strength from whatever positive and holy energy they can capture. That is why wherever holiness is found, unholy forces strive to dwell there as well. Before eight days, the soul is not yet fully within the body of the male child, so unholy forces cannot receive anything from that child. But on the eighth day, body and soul unite and total holiness arrives.

The greatest concentration of impurity comes to rest upon the male sex organ at that time (since it has the potential to produce life and wherever there is an opening for holiness and positive energy to flow, the unholy forces attach themselves to that opening). In this case, they become concentrated in the foreskin. The foreskin becomes the embodiment of negativity and unholiness in the child.

Therefore, only by doing the brit milah on the eighth day is the greatest amount of impurity removed from that child forever with the removal of the foreskin.

What if the brit is done before eight days? Well, it basically serves no purpose. Because the body and soul are not yet united and therefore all we end up doing is to remove a useless extra piece of flesh. Then on the eighth day, when body and soul do unite, if there is no longer a vessel (meaning the foreskin) for the unholy forces to rest upon and then be removed, the impurity remains in a potential state and gives negative feedback to that child all the time.

However, by removing the foreskin on the eighth day, at the proper time, all unholiness is annihilated and will not be able to have control over that child.

On a metaphysical level, we cut off the potential of negative energy to become actualized in the life of this person, and we give the person extra strength to overcome problems and impurity in life. Kabbalah explains that in this physical world there are many blocks to seeing and experiencing Godliness. A person must remove these blocks and find God. Circumcision is such an act of separating and removing unholiness. By removing the foreskin, spiritually we remove the potential for undesirable character traits, depressive tendencies and so on. We eliminate from the body of the child forces which may try to cultivate overindulgence in physical pleasures etc. In other words, we give the child a head start in fighting life’s battles, a sort of spiritual immunization . Circumcision implies that the foreskin interposed between man and the world outside man is a spiritual defect which has to be removed. This defect is the heightened sensuality of the foreskin on the one hand together with its innate callousness on the other. The presence of the foreskin makes sexual relations more physically exciting but also insulates the individual from his partner's feelings. It is thus at once the physical manifestation of both selfish, sensual desire and innate egocentricity. If left in place it will become the root of all the evils that may plague a person in life. Circumcision is the act of desensitizing a person to his own lust for pleasure and sensitizing him to others feelings.

This is of course not to say that a circumcised man or a woman is immune to ego and lust. A person can, of course, re-acquire his egocentricity and lustfulness, either through external influences or through willful identification with his animal nature. This is called tarnishing or marring the covenant of circumcision. But the fact that the person was circumcised as an infant (or born spiritually on the level of having been circumcised, in the case of a woman) gives him the capacity, throughout his life, to fundamentally rectify and sweeten his subconscious, if only he makes the necessary effort.

I would like to point out that the Jewish people have intrinsic good regardless of their outward spiritual stature. Therefore, even if a brit was not performed as it should have been or at the proper time, this does not mean the person cannot reach a high spiritual level or have a good character.

(Please note: any child who was circumcised before the eighth day (ie. someone perhaps was not religious and the family did not understand and did the circumcision in the hospital on the third or fourth day etc.,) then that family can and should consult a mohel about doing a simple procedure called hatafas hadam, which would correct the spiritual damage which was done.)

Of course if it is not possible to do the brit on the eighth day because of health reasons (ie. Jaundice etc.) it is still necessary to do it as soon as health permits (anytime after the eighth day). One can do a brit milah after eight days, but never before. If it does turn out that the brit must be performed after the eighth day, for reasons which are acceptable by Jewish law, then even if the brit is done a few weeks or even months late, it is still considered as if it was done at the correct time, on the eighth day, and it is also for the good. Everything is determined from Above.

It is of interest to note that in Jewish men, cancer of the penis is almost unheard of. Because of these observations, circumcision has become today a routine practice among many people ,even non-Jews. But for a non- Jew there is no "Mitzvah" (commandment) to do a circumcision and hence there is also no spiritual benefit the way there is for a Jew. Jewish people do not perform circumcision because of health reasons. We do brit milah only because it is a commandment from God. Nevertheless, we know that everything we are commanded to do is for our benefit and will contribute to the physical as well as spiritual health and well being of the person.

There is an extra skin over the membrane of the male organ which is called "periah". By Kabbalah we are required to uncover this skin at the brit after removing the actual foreskin itself (which is called "orlah"). At the time of Adam and Eve there was embodied within the tree of knowledge of good and evil all forms of impurity. Once a person became connected with them, these forces could become actualized. When Adam ate from this tree, he brought into physicality the existence of orlah.

There are three levels of completely unclean and impure "kelipot" (kelipa literally means a shell and is a force which covers over holiness and hides it and reveals evil instead). These three completely unclean kelipot are embodied in the foreskin itself and when it is removed we take away these kelipot from the child. There is a fourth kelipa as well which is called "kelipat nogah": it is not totally evil and has some good in it but it must nevertheless be purified. Uncovering of the extra skin at the brit milah (which is called the act of "orah priah") once the orlah (foreskin) is removed, takes care of this fourth kelipa and gives a man the strength to overcome all obstacles in his service to God and gives him the ability to refine his character more easily. Adam , the first man, was born without orlah but he did require orah priah (to uncover the extra skin). Nevertheless, at that time kelipat nogah was totally good, unlike now (after Adam'’ sin) when there is a mixture of evil within it.

Only after eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil did orlah, or foreskin, come into being, and along with it all kinds of negativity, diseases etc. The knowledge of the tree of good and evil is the knowledge of negativity, doubt, uncertainty,darkness and selfishness. Nevertheless, kelipot are overwhelmed completely by light as we know that a little light dispels a lot of darkness. And the act of brit milah brings with it tremendous light.

A brit milah accomplishes dominion over the evil forces in the world. We take energy and holiness from God and we can either use it positively or negatively. If it is used negatively, we pass this energy to the side of evil . That is why the word for sin in Hebrew is "avera" which actually means to pass over from the side of holiness to the side of unholiness.