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Brit mila (circumcision) is an expression of the covenant God entered into with the Jewish nation, the nation destined to repair the world by infusing it with faith and holiness. The ritual is a minor procedure on a baby boy, in which the foreskin is removed from the part of the body, the function of which is to joyfully unite a couple and add life and blessing to the world. The mitzva of brit is also connected to the mitzvot of procreation and settling the Land. Thus, God said to our forefather Abraham, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous. . . I will maintain My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to you and to your offspring to come. I assign the land in which you sojourn to you and your offspring to come, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God. . . 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” (Genesis 17:2-10).
The mitzva of brit teaches us that a Jew must be willing to give up his life and blood for the sake of the covenant with God. As part of the covenant, the Jewish nation accepted a mission – to show there is a Creator and Director even when the world is filled with darkness and heresy; to pursue charity and kindness even when surrounded by corrupt and murderous nations; to make every effort to live a life of purity and morality even in a world filled with dishonesty and hypocrisy. The road to carrying out this great and sublime mission is paved with difficulties and sacrifices. This is symbolized by the blood and pain involved in circumcision; the foreskin represents everything wrong with the world, and the mila represents its repair.
There is no equivalent mitzva for a baby girl. One can learn from this that, by nature, females are less in need of correction than males. Accordingly, girls' education can be gentler than boys'.
It is a father’s responsibility to arrange the brit mila. If he is unable to do so, the responsibility devolves to the mother. If a boy was not circumcised at birth, he must arrange it for himself at the age of thirteen, when he attains Jewish adulthood. Despite the importance of circumcision, if a man is not circumcised it does not mean he is not Jewish. Rather, anyone born to a Jewish mother is automatically Jewish. However, a man who wants to convert to Judaism must undergo circumcision as part of the conversion process.
