Circumspect about Circumcision

(2) And Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Put your hand under my thigh (3) and I will make you swear by ה', the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell,

“Put your hand under my thigh" This custom is not found anywhere else besides here and with regard to Joseph (Genesis 47:29) and our Rabbis of Blessed Memory explained (Babylonian Talmud Shavuot 38b) that it is the taking of an object of a Mitzvah, like a Sefer Torah, or Tefilin to swear an oath on. And the opinion of the Rashbam, the Ri'iva, and the Ra'az is that it is the way of subjugation, and also this was the way of a slave to his master and a father to his son.

And when the time approached for Israel to die, he summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “Do me this favor, place your hand under my thigh as a pledge of your steadfast loyalty: please do not bury me in Egypt.

PUT YOUR HAND UNDER MY THIGH. And similarly with Yosef when he swore to Ya'akov. The making of a covenant or an oath of a son, or of a slave to his master was in this fashion, for they shared the aspect of subjugation, and it is thus written (Mal. 1:6), "A son should honor his father, and a slave his master." However, handshaking or cutting an object in two for a covenant and passing between the pieces is found with other persons.

(9) God further said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring to come throughout the ages shall keep My covenant. (10) Such shall be the covenant between Me and you and your offspring to follow which you shall keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. (11) You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. (12) And throughout the generations, every male among you shall be circumcised at the age of eight days. As for the homeborn slave and the one bought from an outsider who is not of your offspring, (13) they must be circumcised, homeborn and purchased alike. Thus shall My covenant be marked in your flesh as an everlasting pact. (14) And if any male who is uncircumcised fails to circumcise the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from kin; he has broken My covenant.”

(24) At a night encampment on the way, ה' encountered him and sought to kill him. (25) So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his legs with it, saying, “You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!” (26) And when [God] let him alone, she added, “A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.”

ויבקש המיתו AND HE SOUGHT TO PUT HIM TO DEATH — the angel sought etc., because he had not circumcised his son Eliezer; and because he had showed himself remiss in this, he brought upon himself the punishment of death. It has been taught in a Boraitha (Nedarim 31b): Rabbi José said: God forbid that this was so; Moses had not been remiss in this duty; but he thought, “If I circumcise him and immediately proceed on the journey, the child’s life will be in danger for three days. If, on the other hand, I circumcise him and wait three days — the Holy One, blessed be He, has commanded me, “Go return to Egypt!” Consequently, he obeyed His command, intending to circumcise the child as soon as the opportunity presented itself. There was therefore no remissness on his part; why, then, was he threatened with punishment? Because he busied himself with the affairs of the lodging place first, (i. e. because when he arrived at the inn he troubled himself first about eating and drinking. He should first have circumcised his son. Being now so much nearer Egypt, the danger that follows upon the circumcision was not so great, since the interval of time between the operation and his arrival in Egypt was now shorter than if he had circumcised him before he set out on the journey). See this in Treatise Nedarim. — The angel became a kind of serpent and swallowed him (Moses) from his head to his thigh, spued him forth, and then again swallowed him from his legs to that place (the membrum). Zipporah thus understood that this had happened on account of the delay in the circumcision of her son (Nedarim 32a; cf. Exodus Rabbah 5:8).

"Moses was ransomed by the blood of his son’s circumcision” Jewish Encyclopedia

(2) At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and proceed with a second circumcision of the Israelites.” (3) So Joshua had flint knives made, and the Israelites were circumcised at Gibeath-haaraloth.

The second time. For there had already been a circumcision— on the night of their departure from Egypt a large assembly were collectively circumcised, and this was the second time; because during the entire forty years that they were in the wilderness the north wind did not blow for them, and they did not have a suitable day to circumcise themselves, as we learned in Maseches Yevamos. Our Sages said, “The second time refers to exposing the corona at circumcision. [This particular aspect of circumcision] was not commanded to our Patriarch, Avrohom.

'ותכרות וגו, performance of the circumcision of Moses’ son by Tzipporah was a lifesaver for Moses, much as a sacrifice offered by Gideon or by Manoach when they were confronted by an angel (Judges 6,24 and 13,19). [Manoach had been afraid he would die having seen a vision of G’d. Ed.]

(26) Behold, I am prepared and ready

(27) to fulfill the positive commandment

(28) commanded me by the Creator, blessed is He,

(29) to circumcise my son.

(30) The Mohel takes the child and proclaims:

(31) The Holy One, blessed is He, said

(32) to our father, Abraham,

(33) Walk before me and be perfect.

(34) Behold, I am prepared and ready

(35) to fulfill the positive commandment

(36) that the Creator, blessed is He,

(37) commanded us to circumcise.

(56) Blessed are You, Adonoy

(57) our God, King of the Universe,

(58) Who creates the fruit of the vine.

(59) Blessed are You, Adonoy

(60) our God, King of the Universe,

(61) Who sanctified [Isaac] the beloved one,

(62) from birth,

(63) and set Your statute in his flesh,

(64) and sealed his offspring

(65) with the sign of the holy covenant.

(66) Therefore, on this account,

(67) living Almighty, our Portion, our Rock,

(68) give the command to rescue

(69) the beloved soul within our flesh

(70) from destruction,

(71) for the sake of His covenant

(72) that He has set in our flesh.

(73) Blessed are You, Adonoy,

(74) Maker of the covenant.

(86) Let your father and your mother rejoice,

(87) and let her who gave birth to you exult.

(88) And it is said:

(89) And I passed by you

(90) and saw you staggering in your blood,

(91) ‘and I said to you, In your blood live!'

(92) ‘And I said to you, in your blood live!'

(93) And it is said:

(94) He remembered His covenant forever,

(95) the word which He commanded

(96) to a thousand generations.

(97) Which He made as a treaty with Abraham,

(98) and which was His oath to Isaac.

(99) And He established it for Jacob as a statute,

(100) for Israel as an everlasting covenant.

(101) And it is said:

(102) Abraham circumcised his son Isaac

(103) when he was eight days old,

(104) as God had commanded him.

(105) Thank Adonoy for He is good,

(106) for His kindness endures forever.

(107) Thank Adonoy, for He is good,

(108) for His kindness endures forever.

(109) This little child—

(110) (child's Hebrew name)

(111) son of (father's Hebrew name)

(112) may he become great.

(113) Even as he entered into the covenant,

(114) so may he enter into the [study of] Torah,

(115) chupah [the nuptial canopy] and good deeds.

(116) The person who recited the Berachos drinks some wine, and the Mohel blesses the child:

(117) He who blessed our fathers,

(118) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

(119) may He bless

(120) this tender, circumcised child

(121) (child's Hebrew name)

(122) son of (father's Hebrew name)

(123) and grant him a complete recovery,

(124) because he has entered into the covenant.

(125) And even as he has entered into the covenant,

(126) so may he enter into the [study of] Torah,

(127) chupah [the nuptial canopy] and good deeds.

(128) And let us [all] say Amein.

(129) The Mohel and the father of the child recite this prayer:

(130) Master of the Universe,

(131) may it be Your will

(132) that he be

(133) considered and regarded favorably,

(134) and accepted before You,

(135) as though I had offered him

(136) before the Throne of Your Glory.

When Ravin came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Even when it is not a time of religious persecution, the Sages said that one is permitted to transgress a prohibition in the face of mortal danger only when he was ordered to do so in private. But if he was ordered to commit a transgression in public, even if they threaten him with death if he does not transgress a minor mitzva, he must be killed and not transgress. The Gemara asks: What is a minor mitzva for this purpose? Rava bar Yitzḥak says that Rav says:

HE HATH BROKEN MY COVENANT. This refers to one whose circumcision is disguised.7 It was taught: He whose circumcision is disguised must re-circumcise. R. Judah said: He does not re-circumcise, because it is a suppressed foreskin.8 Said they to R. Judab: Yet there were many in the days of the son of Kosiba (Bar Kochba) who re-
circumcised and yet gave birth to children after that. 2 Hence it is written, HE SHALL SURELY BE CIRCUMCISED even four or five times: HE HATH BROKEN MY COVENANT–viz. he whose circumcision is disguised.

7. Lit. 'drawn'-the skin over the prepuce. Under the Hellenising influence of the pre-Maccabean period, when Greek games were introduced into Judea, in which the competitors appeared naked, many
underwent operations (epiplasm) to hide the fact that they were circumcised.

8. In Yeb. 72a the reading is: because it endangers his life. On the present reading the meaning is that it is indeed circumcised, notwithstanding that it is hidden.

2. They survived it. Th.'s text probably requires emendation. On the historical fact v. Graetz, Geschichte (fourth edition), IV; 73.

trans and notes Midrash Rabbah Soncino