Chapter 43

Let us return to our subject. On that Shabbos, Parashas Kedoshim, we studied together in my home for several hours, and they delighted in their study, and so forth. Afterward, together with my son, may his light shine, I engaged in hitbodedus concerning what we had studied, and we recited Tehillim until we prayed Minchah, as on every Shabbos. In particular, we labored and served concerning Sefirah and preparation for receiving the Torah, and so forth. Thus the holy Shabbos passed.

Then, on Tuesday, Erev Rosh Chodesh Iyar, I traveled early to Rachel’s Tomb, because I remembered that on Erev Rosh Chodesh Nisan I had been unable to enter due to the crowding, as stated above, since I had traveled late. I therefore hurried to travel and entered without crowding. For several hours I performed my service by reciting the Tikun Haklali, prayers concerning the Omer and Lag BaOmer, other prayers, and Tehillim; I poured out my conversation and pleaded with tears.

After completing my service, I went outside. I had to wait some time for the bus, and, as always, I sat upon a stone ledge opposite the building of Rachel’s Tomb and waited there for a while. When I stood up, I saw that the entire part of my garment upon which I had been sitting was blackened by thick tar that adhered to it. They had been making the road and had apparently smeared tar on the ledges upon which we sat. The garment was new; this was the first time I had worn it. This caused me great distress and suffering, for only after several years and much toil and exertion had I merited to have a new chalat [outer robe] made for myself to wear when I went to the market. Now I had ruined it. In what could I go to the market, and in what could I travel to Meron, and so forth?

In the meantime the bus arrived, and I boarded it to travel home. I was very afraid that I would soil the bus and the people sitting beside me and that this would create an incident for me. I was also deeply ashamed to walk about in a garment so dirty and blackened with thick, adhering tar. At home too I was very afraid that my wife would soundly scold me for this, for she had labored greatly until she sewed the garment for me, and so forth. In sum, I was compelled to tell her and show it to her. She devised means to remedy it and also washed it several times with bleach until the tar peeled away from the garment.

That night was Rosh Chodesh Iyar, and it was also the night preceding the bris milah. In our neighborhood one could see the people going there. The son of my friend Yaakov Zev came and said that his father had invited me to the meal on the night before the bris. I went promptly and offered him the blessing of mazal tov.

There we ate cakes and seeds, as is customary on the night before a bris, and drank wine and spirits, saying lechaim. We also recited the Zohar passages of Lech Lecha that discuss matters of circumcision, as printed in the siddur of Rabbi Yaakov Emden, of blessed memory. We also recited Shema, Vihi Noam, and Shir LaMaalos, Esa Einai for the protection of the infant and the mother, as is customary, and so forth. We also sang melodies and danced, and spent several hours in this manner. Afterward we took leave with the customary blessing: that he should grow to Torah, the wedding canopy, and good deeds.

He specifically requested that I attend the bris milah. Members of our fellowship were also present with the new mother near our bais midrash. On Wednesday morning, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Iyar, we prayed in our bais midrash and sang “Vechoros Imo HaBris.” The proceedings were delayed for several hours, and people began coming to the bais midrash in Batei Machseh—both the people of Batei Machseh and the Old City, and all the members of our fellowship from outside the city as well.

The bais midrash was already filled with people. They waited a little, brought in the infant, and everyone said “Baruch haba,” as is customary. The father received the infant from the person who brought him in, known as the kvatter, and recited the verses “Shema Yisrael,” and so forth, “Ana Hashem hoshiah na,” “Ana Hashem hatzlichah na,” and so forth. Rabbi Avraham, may his light shine, was the sandak; the father of the infant placed him upon the sandak’s knees. I was honored to take the infant from the sandak and place him in the hands of Rabbi Nosson, the grandson of Rabbainu, of blessed memory, who held the infant during the blessings. Rabbi Yonasan Binyamin Horowitz, director of Batei Machseh, was honored with reciting the blessings, and so forth.

The mohel was the shochet from Zibenbergen, an elderly and God-fearing man, a Torah scholar, and a craftsman of extraordinary skill; he also believed in and was attached to Rabbainu, of blessed memory. I had been the first to engage him to circumcise my son. (At that time he had also told me that he had a claim against me: since I had merited to be at the tziyun of Rabbainu, of blessed memory, who promised that he would take out of the lowest depths those who came to his grave, and so forth, he wanted me to do him a favor as well, and so forth. He now spoke similarly to Yaakov Zev, and so forth.) From that time onward he became the sole mohel for all the members of our fellowship and for the entire Old City.

Everyone was then called to go taste lekech [cake] and wine in the father’s home. We all went, and the aforementioned Rabbi Horowitz walked with Rabbi Avraham. It was beautiful to see how these two elderly men (with the requisite distinction between one living person and another) walked the entire way arm in arm and in great friendship. They sat together to eat; we ate lekech there and drank wine, and so forth, and performed a short dance. It was announced that the meal would take place several hours later.

In the meantime we all went to our bais midrash to attend the second bris milah. We had to wait further until the father arrived from Tel Aviv. He honored the member of our fellowship in whose home the mother was staying with serving as kvatter and also as sandak. Rabbi Naftali Kohen was honored with the chair [of Eliyahu], and Rabbi Avraham had the honor of the blessings, and so forth. The same mohel, who had known me from earlier, and so forth, was likewise the mohel. He swaddled the infant, but saw that the mother was a first-time mother and did not know how to care for the infant, particularly after the circumcision. When he saw my wife there in the house—she too had attended both circumcisions—he asked her to swaddle the infant whenever necessary and to supervise him. She did so, going there several times during that twenty-four-hour period and attending to the infant’s needs.

After the bris in our bais midrash, this father wanted his meal to be held immediately in our bais midrash, after which everyone would go to the meal at Yaakov Zev HaKohen’s home. Yaakov Zev, who had also attended this bris milah, insisted that they first go to his meal and then return to the other meal. Some proposed dividing the group: a few people would remain at this meal and a few would go to the meal at Yaakov Zev’s home.

We, together with Yaakov Zev, urged that everyone go to Yaakov Zev’s meal and then all return to this meal, rather than divide the rejoicing. This was accepted. We all went to Yaakov Zev’s home, entered, and the tables were arranged in his house. It was, “Ben Poras Yosef” [“Yosef is a fruitful son,” a conventional invocation against the evil eye], filled with people—from all the members of our fellowship in the city and outside the city, and also from Shaarei Chessed. We ate the bris milah meal there: fish and challos, and drank wine and spirits.

Rabbi Avraham, may his light shine, delivered teaching 63 in Likutay Moharan, “Sod Kavanas HaMilah” [“The Secret of the Intention of Circumcision”]. All the rabbis of Batei Machseh and other distinguished men were seated there, and all listened attentively. It took some time until he finished. Wine was distributed to all those gathered, and they also sang “Yom Layabashah,” and so forth, and other melodies, and danced. Wine and beer were also distributed (the beer being of his own making). They spent further time there, and a sweet cooked dish called tzimmes was brought. They sang and danced a great deal. They wished to hurry so that they could go to the meal of the second bris milah; we were then informed, however, that the father, his host, and several other people—more than a minyan—had remained and had eaten the bris milah meal there in the bais midrash. We therefore had no need to hurry.

Thus we spent time there with stirring melodies filled with yearning and longing. We spoke about bris milah and [then recited] Birkas HaMazon; afterward we danced anew, and the people went home. Several people went to the second meal, but everything there was already over.

I went upstairs to my home. My wife told me to go to the mother near our bais midrash, for perhaps the infant needed to be swaddled and his clothing changed. She told me how she had assisted there throughout, and how the mohel had asked her to exert herself and supervise the infant (which pleased me). She therefore told me to go see whether they needed her. I did so and went there. The meal had already ended completely; only a few select people were sitting there in the mother’s home and refreshing themselves. They invited me to join them as well, and I acceded to them, drank lechaim, and tasted something there.

In the meantime I saw that the infant was crying without cease. The dressing over the circumcision had to be changed, but they were unable to do so; it therefore pained him, and he cried and screamed. I immediately went to call my wife, may she live, so that she would go. She went at once, remained there for a while, did all that was necessary, and returned home. I went to pray Minchah and Maariv at the Western Wall. After we had eaten our evening meal, she went there once more to attend to the infant. The following day the mohel also came. My wife likewise went several times a day on the second and third days after the circumcision (when the infant suffers most). Blessed be Hashem, the infant recovered, and his mother returned with him to Tel Aviv in peace and tranquility. Blessed be Hashem that we have merited to reach this point.