Commentaire sur La Genèse 17:23

בעצם היום IN THE SELFSAME DAY — on the very day when he received the command of circumcision: by day and not by night — he was afraid neither of the heathens nor of the cynics. And he did it in broad daylight in order that his enemies and other people should not say, “If we had seen him we would never have allowed him to practise circumcision and carry out the commandment of the Omnipresent (Genesis Rabbah 47:9).

בעצם היום הזה, without any delay.

ויקח אברהם את ישמעאל בנו. Abraham took his son Ishmael, etc. Inasmuch as Ishmael had attained maturity, (he was 13 years of age) Abraham had "to take him," i.e. convince him, not merely order him to submit. The same applied to all the other members of his household who were no longer minors. Abraham was anxious that G'd's commandment to become circumcised would be accepted willingly.

ויקח, as soon as G'd had withdrawn Avraham proceeded to make all the preparations necessary to perform the circumcision on all the members of his household who qualified for this, followed by his circumcising himself. He waited with circumcising himself, realizing that if he would circumcise himself first, he would be too weak to perform this operation on all the male member of his household immediately afterwards.

וימל את בשר ערלתם, “he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” Avraham first engaged in circumcising the male members of his household before circumcising himself. We are told immediately afterwards: “on that very day Avraham circumcised himself.” Had he circumcised himself first he would have been sick and it would have been dangerous for him to proceed to circumcise the other members of his household.

This is the ויפעל form. [Rashi is explaining that] even though the yud has a dagesh, it is not the intensified form [called pi’el], but the simple form [called pa’al]. It means he circumcised others.

בעצם, an demselben Tage, es bedurfte bei ihm keiner Überlegung, und wie er voranging, so schlossen sich ihm בעצם היום הזה auch alle seine Hausgenossen an. Nach Auffassung der Weisen heißt בעצם היום הזה überall: in der Macht des Tages, d. h. an hellem Tage. Es wäre dann hier hervorgehoben, wie Abraham diesen Akt, mit welchem er völlig in schneidenden Gegensatz zur ganzen übrigen Menschheit trat, nicht heimlich, sondern offen und offenkundig vollzog. Ohnehin darf ja Mila nicht Nachts vollzogen werden, sondern gehört in den hellen Tag des menschlich wachen Lebens. Sie ist ja nicht eine etwa den dunkelwaltenden Naturmächten der Nachtseite des Lebens weihende "blutige" Opferung, gehört überhaupt nicht hinein in den dunkelgebundenen Kreis der physischen Beziehungen des Menschen. Dem אל שדי, dem über diese von Ihm geschaffenen dunkeln Mächte "frei Waltenden und Gebietenden" weiht sie den Menschen, ruft ihn selbst mit seinen dunkelsten Trieben zu sich hinauf in die lichtige Höhe des bewussten, freien, sittlichen Wollens, ist nicht eine Ergänzung der physischen Geburt, sondern die Oktave derselben, der zweite, höhere Geburtstag, der Eintritt des Menschen in die göttliche Höhe des durch und durch freien, sittlichen Vollbringens. Die physische Geburt gehört der Nacht an — מלאך הממונה על הריון לילה שמו — die jüdische Geburt der Mila dem Tage.

בעצם היום הזה, “on this very day;” According to Rabbi Gamliel, Avraham sent a messenger to Shem, son of Noach, and invited him to circumcise him and his son Ishmael. Not only that, but the date was the tenth of Tishrey, i.e. Yom Kippur which during that year occurred on a Sabbath. He derived this from the use of the expression בעצם היום in Leviticus 23,29. [Presumably Avraham knew that performance of this commandment on the eighth day of a newborn child overrides the prohibitions of the Sabbath and even Yom Kippur. Ed.] This is why every year on the recurrence of that date, G–d reminds Himself of Avraham’s having performed this commandment and it is a factor contributing to atoning for all of our sins on that Day. In B’reshit Rabbah, there is a version describing that after Avraham had already had the knife and his foreskin in his hand to perform the circumcision on himself, he became afraid that he might tremble due to his advanced age. G–d thereupon assisted him and guided his hand; this is why we say in our daily prayers in the morning when relating to this event: וכרות עמו הברית, “He cut the covenant with him (Avraham).” The quotation is based on Nechemyah 9,8. The usual translation of the word, inaccurate is: ”He concluded” Ed.]

וימל AND HE CURCUMCISED — This is a Kal form (active).

כל זכר באנשי בית אברהם, both adults and minors.

כאשר דבר אתו אלוקים, as G'd had told him to. We need to know why the Torah added these last few words. After all, anyone who reads the passage is aware that this is exactly what Abraham did. Perhaps the Torah wanted to tell us that the efforts Abraham made to have all the people concerned be circumcised willingly was what G'd had told him to do.

וימול בשר ערלתם, both the removal of the foreskin and the removal of the membrane underneath it. (פריעה). Some of our sages (Yevamot 71) claim that Avraham had not been commanded to perform פריעה also. The majority opinion is that he had been commanded concerning both these stages of circumcision. This is also the opinion expressed in Bereshit Rabbah (compare Torah Shleymah 157)

Possibly, the Torah testified to the fact that Abraham complied with G'd's instructions immediately, without any delay. The Torah credited Abraham with the manner in which he related to any of G'd's demands upon him.

בעצם היום הזה, on the very day G'd had issued these instructions.

Avodah Zarah 27 understands the repetition of המול ימול in 17,13 to mean that he who circumcises others must himself first have been circumcised. Perhaps this is what is meant by the words: "as He commanded him to do," i.e. Abraham circumcised himself first before he circumcised anyone else. If we accept this explanation we do no longer have to search for a reason why the Torah did not specifically mention that Abraham circumcised himself. There were two reasons why it is assumed that Abraham was the first to circumcise himself. 1) It was his nature to comply with any commandment of G'd immediately. Besides, how could he have persuaded others to do something he himself appeared to be afraid of doing? 2) In order for his circumcision of the members of his household to be halachically valid, he himself had to be circumcised first.

When the Torah told us in verse 24 that Abraham was circumcised, this concerned only the time element. The Torah wanted us to know that just as Ishmael allowed imself to be circumcised at 13 years of age, so Abraham was 99 years of age. [The letter ו in the word ואברהם in that verse was necessary because it interrupts the story of Ishmael's circumcision. The Torah wanted to mention Abraham's circumcision before that of Ishmael; this is why it had to insert verse 24. Ed.]