Tazria: The Speciality of the Eighth Day "When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be impure for 7 days." In this portion, the Torah teaches us the laws of purity regarding a woman who gives birth. When she gives birth to a boy, she is impure for 7 days, followed by 33 days of purity. In the case of a girl, the amounts of days are doubled.
The portion then continues with a very surprising verse: "And on the eighth day... he shall be circumcised." Why is the Torah "reminding" us about circumcision in the middle of the laws of the mother’s purity, since this is obviously not the source of the mitzvah of circumcision? The commandment of circumcision is found in Genesis, where Hashem commands Abraham to circumcise himself. If so, why mention it again and why specifically here?
From this one can surmise that there must be some special connection between the mother’s impurity and the circumcision. Let us explore what it may be.
Why is the circumcision preformed specifically on the 8th day? Scientific research has proven that on the 8th day of a baby’s life his blood clots at its fastest rate. Until the 8th and from the 9th the clotting is slower, rendering the 8th day the best possible day in a human being’s life to circumcise. Some claim that this is why Hashem commanded us to perform the circumcision on this day, in order to preserve the baby’s health in the best way possible; however can we indeed claim that this is the REASON we circumcise on the 8th day, or the reverse true? Hashem ensured that the clotting reach its peak on this day, because this was the day we would have to circumcise? If so, we are back to square one - what is the reason which binds the circumcision specifically to the 8th day of a baby’s life?
The Talmud states (Shabbos 135A) "Rav Asi says 'any child whose mother is rendered impure following the birth, shall be circumcised on the 8th day, and any child whose mother is not impure shall not” (in our practice of Jewish law, we do not follow this opinion; rather, we follow the opinion that we always wait until at least the 8th day. Nevertheless, it is necessary to understand what Rav Asi’s understanding was). Therefore, it seems, that the reason the child is circumcised on the 8th day is because of his mother’s impurity. What is the connection between these two matters?
In tractate Niddah (31B) it says "why did the torah command circumcision for the 8th day? So that we shouldn't have a situation where everyone is happy, while his (the baby’s) parents are sad", Rashi explains there "so that we shouldn't have a situation where everyone is happy- eating and drinking, and his parents are sad - because they are forbidden to have relations". Rashi is explaining that the circumcision was commanded to be done specifically on the 8th day to ensure that the mother is already pure, because, as we stated, she is impure for the first 7 days, in order to enable the parents of the child to rejoice, at the circumcision party, together with everyone else.
Now we can understand why Rav Asi is of the opinion that the circumcision is directly connected to the mother’s state of purity, and why his opinion is if the mother has not become impure, there is no need to wait till the 8th day to circumcise.
According to this view, we understand why the idea of the circumcision was stated in the middle of the laws of a mother’s purity - because only when the mother is "impure for seven days" do we say "on the eighth day he shall be circumcised." |
