Circumcision in Judaism

The first religious commandment, that a jewish child is participating as an active , is the circumcision. The Circumcision is the removal of the foreskin of the penis. The rite of circumcision (brit milah ) is one of the most ancient practices of Judaism. The commandment to circumcise male children was given to Abraham in the Torah, in genesis 17:10-12-

“זֹאת בְּרִיתִי אֲשֶׁר תִּשְׁמְרוּ, בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם, וּבֵין זַרְעֲךָ, אַחֲרֶיךָ: 

 הִמּוֹל לָכֶם, כָּל-זָכָר.  וּנְמַלְתֶּם, אֵת בְּשַׂר עָרְלַתְכֶם; וְהָיָה לְאוֹת בְּרִית, בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם. 

וּבֶן-שְׁמֹנַת יָמִים, יִמּוֹל לָכֶם כָּל-זָכָר—לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם”

“This is My covenant which ye shall keep between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every manchild among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you..”

Today, while doing the circumcision , there is a special chair, symbolically meant for Elijah the prophet. At every circumcision Elijah, “the angel of the covenant,” as he is called in Malachi 3:1, is supposed to be seated at the right hand of the godfather, upon a chair richly carved and ornamented with embroideries. This special chair called the chair of Elijah (“kisse shel Eliyahu”).

Why eliajah ?

Midrashic literature links the custom to Elijah’s plaint to God that “the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant” (I Kings 19:10, 14). According to the homiletic interpretations of this verse, Elijah had complained that the Jewish people had disregarded the commandment of circumcision and God is said to have replied: “Because of excessive zeal for Me you have brought charges against Israel that they have forsaken My covenant; therefore you shall have to be present at every circumcision ceremony”

The Shulhan Arukh , which is the jewish law book written by rabbe Yosef karo in the 16^th century in the city of zefat, prescribes the reservation of a special chair or seat for Elijah, and the mohel (circumciser) refers to it in the opening prayer preceding the circumcision: “This is the chair of Elijah, blessed be his memory”. The godfather of the child is sitting after the circumcision in that chair and bless all the people that are celebrating the circumcision of the child.

The chair in the nature

If you travel today in Israel near the city of Zefat you can find a special place, made up of stones, that called the Chair of Elijha. When the child is born we are saying in Hebrew – בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא! – Welcome . Some religious people are taking their child to the place of the stones and making another welcoming to him there.

main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

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