All eyes are on me when we get to the number eight. “Who knows eight? I know eight, eight are the days until a bris milah!” It’s my line at the seder every year because the number eight is every mohel’s favorite number. How could it not be? It’s the number of days we eagerly count along with new parents until we have the special opportunity to bring their newborn son into the bris of Avraham Avinu.
These days, as was the case during many such difficult periods in our long history, doing the bris on the eighth day has taken on new meaning. The Maharal writes that seven represents the completion of the natural world and doing the bris on the eighth day symbolizes our ability to rise above the natural world. Each bris during these moments of suffering and uncertainty reminds me of our innate ability to overcome difficult circumstances and not be controlled by the natural order of things.
This aspect to our identity may or may not be the reason we think we can make flights we are hopelessly late for, get in to that event long after it is sold out, or find that 50% off + free shipping coupon code online that no one else has been able to find. But, as the Shem M’Shmuel writes about the upcoming month of Nissan, it is most certainly an innate quality of the Jewish people to overcome assaults, survive existential threats, and continue to thrive regardless of what we face.
