THE EIGHTH DAY — WHY AVRAHAM WAITED 99 YEARS

 It began with
three seemingly simple questions from my friend Elliot. Why does the Torah
command us to wait eight days before performing a Brit Milah? Why did Hashem
wait until Avraham Avinu was 99 years old to command him, when Avraham had
already spent decades serving Hashem? And why didn’t Noaḥ receive the covenant
of circumcision, especially when the Midrash tells us that he was born
circumcised? I was going to text Elliot a few short answers, but the more I
thought about his questions, the more I realized they were deeply connected.
Drawing on the fascinating exchange between Rabbi Akiva and the Roman governor
Turnus Rufus, together with the teachings of the Maharal, Abarbanel, and the
Gemara, we discover that Brit Milah is about far more than a physical act. It
represents our responsibility to complete what Hashem began, to transcend the
limitations of nature, and to recognize that spiritual growth is a lifelong
journey. 

But
the most intriguing question may be why Avraham waited at all. The Gemara
teaches that Avraham observed the entire Torah centuries before it was given at
Sinai. If so, why didn’t he perform Brit Milah on his own? The answer takes us
to one of Judaism’s most profound principles: Gadol hametzuvveh ve’oseh
— greater is the one who fulfills a commandment than one who acts voluntarily.
There is a fundamental difference between serving Hashem according to our own
understanding and submitting ourselves to His will. In this edition of Breakfast and a Class,
we explore why Noaḥ could be born complete while Avraham was commanded to
become complete, why the covenant had to precede Yitzḥak’s birth, and what
Avraham’s extraordinary transformation at 99 teaches us about our own lives.
Because no matter how old we are or how much we have accomplished, Hashem is
never finished asking us to grow. And perhaps the greatest question we can ask is
not, “What do I want to do for Hashem?” but rather, “What does Hashem want me to do?”