Why the insertion וביום השמיני ימול בשר ערלתו
"And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be
circumcised" if it has nothing to do with her?
Isaac Fried, Boston University
On Apr 13, 2013, at 10:21 PM, Zalman Romanoff wrote:
Where in this paragraph do you read that circumcision removes any
hindrance to intimacy? From the context?
Noam Eitan,
Brooklyn, NY
On Sat, Apr 13, 2013 at 8:19 PM, Isaac Fried <[email protected]> wrote:
I vaguely recall that a short while ago we had a discussion here on
the enigmatic incident at the inn on the way to Egypt, as described
in Ex. 4:25
ותיקח צפורה צור ותכרות את ערלת בנה
ותגע לרגליו ותאמר כי חתן דמים אתה לי
"Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her
son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art
thou to me"
Reading today Lev. 12:2-4
אשה כי תזריע וילדה זכר וטמאה שבעת
ימים כימי נדת דותה תטמא וביום השמיני
ימול בשר ערלתו ושלשים יום ושלשת ימים
תשב בדמי טהרה בכל קדש לא תגע ואל
המקדש לא תבא עד מלאת ימי טהרה
"If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child then she
shall be unclean seven days according to the days of the separation
for her infirmity shall she be unclean And in the eighth day the
flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised And she shall then
continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days she
shall touch no hallowed thing nor come into the sanctuary until the
days of her purifying be fulfilled"
It occurred to me that this is a possible resolution to the
puzzling חתן דמים XATAN DAMIYM, namely, that a birth giving
woman was prohibited to her husband until the circumcision of her
new born son on day eight. To remove this overdue hindrance at the
hotel, where they were together at leisure, the enterprising, far
from squeamish, Ziporah did what she had to do, threw the foreskin
at her husband's feet (as was the custom?) to remind him of his
conjugal obligations as her XATAN.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
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