Setting: Genesis 17:23-27
Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 46:1,4
I remember it pretty clearly. It’s not the kind of thing a boy would forget.
Eliezer is the largest man in the household, with rippling muscles, and in his old age his hair has receded far enough to reveal the terrible scar he received in Sodom. It was this figure who sat in the center of camp during the heat of the day and carefully sharpened his black obsidian knife.
Abram came before him first. He lifted his arms to the sky and sang great hallelujahs to Adonai. Then he lifted his robes and in the blink of an eye Eliezer had expertly removed a ring of skin which he cast onto a beautiful rug which was apparently consecrated for this purpose.
I watched my father’s face closely, and I am certain that he did not wince at all. He walked calmly to Olabisi who applied some salve, helpful to stop the bleeding, which she had prepared in abundance for these proceedings.
I was called forth next and Abram stood beside me, with pride and with calm in his eyes, as he instructed me to lift my robes for Eliezer. I still remember those robes. They were the color of the desert, perfect for hiding among the rocks on hunting expeditions.
I lifted my robes, focusing all of my attention on the anticipation of the pain, so that, if I expected it fully, I might not wince or cry when it was done. I confess my body jolted ever so slightly when the knife pierced my skin, but my face remained as calm as my father’s. The rest of the day was worse than the event itself, but I have experienced many more painful injuries since.
I stood with my father and watched as this procedure was conducted by Eliezer again and again on all the men of our household. After each man was circumcised he would dip the knife quickly in a pot of hot beer, then wipe it with a cloth and invite the next man to step forward. After a few men had gone, he would pause for a moment to inspect his blade and to hone it as needed. There was a running joke in the camp, repeated with nervous laughter, that it was better to go immediately after the sharpening, and not four or five men later.
I remember that something went wrong during the circumcision of Zahavi. I did not see what it was, but I heard him cry out, and I saw an unusual amount of blood, and he was whisked away so that Olabisi could help him.
The sun was nearing the horizon when the last man was circumcised, and a great mound of foreskins lay heaped on the rug. They were taken outside of the camp and burned.
I asked my father that night why Adonai wanted us to cut off our foreskins. He looked at me with kindness for a long moment and then he explained it to me.
“Suppose there was a noble lady whom a king commanded, ‘Walk before me.’ She walked before him and her face went pale, for, she thought, who knows what defect may have been found in me? And the king, knowing her thoughts, said to her, 'You have no defect, but that the nail of your little finger is slightly too long; pare it and the defect will be gone.”
“Circumcision,” he said, “is the purest manifestation of divine wisdom, for our lives are determined not by what we keep for ourselves but by what we cast off. It has ever been that Adonai blesses those who will cut off from themselves that which they do not need. Even as a fig contains nothing inedible save its stalk, and with its removal even this defect ceases, so did God tell us to remove this unworthiness, that we might walk before Him, and be perfect.”
He paused, and looked at me intently to make sure I was listening carefully before proceeding. “If a man would cling to what he has, he himself will be cut off from the land of the living. So we cut off the foreskin because He is a God who loves those who will part with even the most precious parts of themselves when the moment requires it.”
I have tried every day to be that man, who cuts off what is in not needed without fear.