Halakhah su Levitico 12:3

The commandment to circumcise: [Parshat] Lekh Lekha [has] one positive commandment, and that is the commandment to circumcise; as it is stated (Genesis 17:10), "This is My covenant which you shall keep, between you and I, and with your descendants after you, circumcise all males." And [the commandment] is repeated in the Order of Eesha ki Tazria, as it is stated (Leviticus 12:3), "And on the eighth day circumcise the flesh of his foreskin." There are many commandments which are repeated in many places in the Torah; and all of them are necessary as the sages explained (Shabbat 132a and Shabbat 135a). And the content of this commandment is that we cut the foreskin that covers the head of the member and then tearing the sorting skin which is below it so that the glans of the member will be exposed. As is known to those that understand, the completion of the form of man comes with the removal of this foreskin which is extraneous.

This latter argument is predicated on the assumption that since circumcision can be performed subsequent to the eighth day it is not deemed to be a mizvah overet. Support for Rabbi Breisch's view with regard to this point may be found in Magen Avraham, Oraḥ Hayyim 687:5, who explains a ruling of an earlier authority on the basis of this thesis. It is, however, at variance with the opinion of R. Zevi Benjamin Auerbach, Naḥal Eshkol, II, 40:12 (Halberstadt, 5628), p. 135. A question was posed to Naḥal Eshkol by a mohel who lived in a hamlet in which there was no minyan on Rosh ha-Shanah. Each year this individual was wont to journey to a distant town in order to pray and to hear the blowing of the shofar. One year a birth occurred a week before Rosh ha-Shanah. The mohel was placed in a quandary. Should he forego the opportunity to hear the blowing of the shofar in order to perform the circumcision or should the circumcision be delayed in order that he might hear the blowing of the shofar? Naḥal Eshkol rules that the mohel should remain at home in order to perform the circumcision. This ruling is cited and endorsed by R. Shalom Mordecai Schwadron, Da'at Torah 584:4. Naḥal Eshkol considers the possibility that milah might not be considered a mizvah overet because it may be performed subsequently while the blowing of the shofar is clearly a mizvah overet. He dismisses this contention as "something strange" because the commandment to perform circumcision on the eighth day cannot be delayed. This position is based upon the recognition that Leviticus 12:3 establishes an additional obligation beyond the mizvah of circumcision; viz., an obligation to perform circumcision on the eighth day specifically. Delay of circumcision beyond the eighth day constitutes abrogation of this latter mizvah. Accordingly, argues Naḥal Eshkol, although circumcision itself is not a mizvah overet, circumcision on the eighth day does constitute a mizvah overet.

Of particular moment is a later responsum authored by Rabbi Breisch, Helkat Ya'akov, III, no. 36, in which Rabbi Breisch suggests that circumcision may be performed on the eighth day in a manner which will leave sufficient foreskin for subsequent plastic surgery. The mizvah of milah requires that circumcision be performed in a manner which exposes the entire glans including the corona or crown. Hokhmat Adam, Binat Adam, klal 149, and Hamudei Daniel, cited by Pitḥei Teshuvah, Yoreh De'ah 264:13, rule that the foreskin covering this area must be entirely removed by excision. This is also the opinion of R. Judah Asad, Teshuvot Maharya, no. 250; Teshuvot Yeshu'ot Malko, Yoreh De'ah, no. 42; and R. Abraham Dov Kahana-Shapiro, Dvar Avraham, I, no. 27, sec. 2. Other authorities including Divrei Hayyim, II, nos. 114-118; R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Ẓemaḥ Ẓedek, nos. 101-102; Hatam Sofer, Yoreh De'ah, no. 249; Maharam Schick, Yoreh De'ah, no. 245 and Maharsham, I, no. 27, disagree and maintain that the essence of milah is simply exposure of the glans which may be accomplished by retracting the foreskin in a manner which leaves the glans exposed. R. Mordecai Jaffe, Teshuvot Maharam Yafo, no. 12, discusses both possibilities and states that he is unable to resolve the question definitively. The question hinges primarily upon the meaning of the Hebrew word "yimol—he shall circumcise" (Lev. 12:3), i.e., whether the word means "he shall cut" or whether its connotation is "he shall remove" as is the apparent meaning of the term in Deut. 10:16 and Deut. 30:6.