Hilchot Milah: Timing of the Brit

Topics

• Hilchot Milah and the Timing of a Brit
• The Torah Source
• The Nature of the Mitzvah
• Bris Milah and the Eighth Day
• Lulav, Esrog, and Zrizin Makdimin
• Two Sources for Zrizin Makdimin
• Bris Milah on Shabbat and the Eighth Day
• Clarifying the Order of the Sugya
• Avraham Avinu, the Torah, and the Bris
• The Gra's Chidush
• Back to the Halacha of Bris Milah
• Tzafik Yom, Safek Layla, and the Time of Milah
• What Hatafas Dam Bris Means
• The Clamp and Hatafas Dam Bris
• When Milah Cannot Be Done at Netz Hachamah
• Delaying a Bris for Convenience
• A Child Born in America and Brought to Eretz Yisrael
• The Eighth Day and the Timing of Milah
• Zerizin Makdimin L'Mitzvos
• Ten People and the Question of Delay
• The Seudah After Milah
• Minyan and the Seudas Milah
• Bread, Meat, and Fish at the Seudah
• Where to Hold the Bris Seudah
• The Problem of Drinking and Other Concerns
• Music at a Bris
• Inviting People to the Seudas Milah
• Invitation to a Bris and How It Is Done
• Rabbeinu Tam and the Order of Bris and Shachris
• Bris Milah Before Davening
• A Possible Comparison from Rosh Hashanah
• A Brief Aside and Conclusion

Transcript

# Hilchot Milah and the Timing of a Brit

As always, our custom is to open the sefer and learn whatever halachot come up on our radar. That is what we learn.

Not surprisingly, or perhaps surprisingly, depending on how one looks at it, we have a brit tomorrow from one of our own, one of the chaburah, Yehuda. First, mazal tov to him. He should have much nachat and much happiness. His son should be a tzaddik, a source of light to the entire world. He should also have parnassah, and good parnassah would not be such a bad idea either. He should have happiness, l’orech yamim v’shanim, him, his family, and all his friends.

Hilchot milah—that is what I opened up. I commented and said, “Wow, take a look. I opened up, unbelievable, huh? I can’t believe it.” Moishe said, “Good.” He said, “What do you mean? Of course, that’s it. Of course you believe it.” We have spoken about how Hashem guides us in everything we do. So if I opened up Hilchot milah, there is a reason for it. So let us learn Hilchot milah.

But which halachot of Hilchot milah are we going to learn? We are going to learn when to do a brit milah. When should you do a brit milah—on the eighth day or, in your community, on the ninth day? Eighth day or ninth day? I saw a custom. A lot of people have a custom to do the brit milah on the ninth day. They start two minutes before shkiah. Now, you guys know what it means, two minutes before, right? You know how it works, right? Me’achrim k’tzat. There is a rule: zerizin makdimin lemitzvot. I am not going to finish it. V’yesh me’achrim lemitzvot. Okay, I am not going to finish what I want to say, but you know what I want to bring out.

## The Torah Source

So the question is: when is the right time to do a brit milah? Let us discuss. Neima baTorah. Let us look at the Torah. That is the best first place to look, right? Where would be the first place to look about when, where, and how to do a brit milah? The answer is in the Torah: וביום השמיני ימול בשר ערלתו. So first, it has to be on the eighth day, not the ninth day.

Now, on the eighth day, I have plenty of time. You know how it works. Soon. I will be there soon. I am supposed to be there at a quarter to ten; I show up at 11:30 and come and say, “But I’m on time, right?” When is it called ביום השמיני? Therefore, יש להיזדרז למול ביום השמיני, ולא לדחות המילה לימים שאחריו.

## The Nature of the Mitzvah

What do you mean, להיזדרז? What do you mean, לדחות? What do you mean, supposed to do it on the eighth day? This is a very important rule you have to know. The mitzvah is to do it on the eighth day, but the kiyum of the mitzvah is even after. You could do a brit milah if you did it on the ninth day; it is also bris milah. You have to understand how bris milah works. Bris milah is a continuous mitzvah.

There is a machlokes rishonim. Some rishonim learn that the mitzvah is every second, from the eighth day and on, every second. Do you understand what I just told you? V’yesh omrim, and other rishonim say you are supposed to get it done in your lifetime. A person who did not have a bris milah and, laleinu, passed away, then he is chayav karet. The question is: but then it is not karet, right, because he already passed away. It is a big discussion among the rishonim. The rishonim ask: is it a continuous mitzvah, and every minute that I do not do it is a chiyuv karet? Or is it a one-time obligation at the end of your life—you have to have a bris milah? It is a big discussion among the rishonim.

But whatever it is, you have to know that the bris could theoretically be a bris even on the ninth day. Okay, I want you to hear this, because no one is going to sit down and tell you exactly what the mitzvah is, and everybody knows bris milah is on the eighth day. Not true. You cannot... Rabbeinu... It is very simple. All I said was—

# Bris Milah and the Eighth Day

All I said was that when you say that bris milah is on the eighth day, that is not quite accurate. Bris milah is on the eighth day, and on the ninth day, and on the tenth day. The mitzvah begins on the eighth day. That is how it starts on the eighth day.

Okay, now you want to, Rabbeinu—okay, what is your question? But you have to listen. I am trying to bring out a point. I am trying to show that when people say bris milah is on the eighth day, that is not true. It begins on the eighth day. Uvayom hashmini yimol. Even though the Torah says the eighth day, it is from the eighth day.

Can I rabbi you a second? Huh? Can I rabbi you a second? You have to say Rabbeinu. Rabbi does not work. Okay, yes.

# Lulav, Esrog, and Zrizin Makdimin

By what do you call lulav and esrog also, it says, uvayom harishon. Is there a concept to wake up early and start shaking my lulav also? Yes. Many gedolim did it. I know a person who told me about his father, who walked around proudly that he was the first person in the world to ever take—the first person in Australia. He used to get up at netz hachamah in Australia, take his lulav and esrog, and say, I am the first one in the whole world to take lulav and esrog. Interesting.

The point being, bayom hashmini means what? Mi—from. Some learn that it is a continuous mitzvah every moment, and some learn that from then on, until the moment a person, lo aleinu, passes away, he has to get it done. He has to do a bris milah.

Now, lemaaseh, it says bayom hashmini. So let us see how to work this out. First of all, if he is choleh, and the rofim are chosheshim, we delay the milah to the next day. So there is no problem to do the bris milah the next day. Why? Because the mitzvah is not only on the eighth. The mitzvah is on the eighth, ninth, and tenth. If he is sick, what do we do? We push it off.

Now the question is: once we push it off, do you have to make sure it is the first possible moment? Ah, that is a good question. Why? Because if you learn that zrizin makdimin, then as soon as the mitzvah is available, you should do it. Or maybe we could say yes.

Question: if a person did not do it on the eighth day, but he had a choice to do it, what is the punishment? Nothing. You are over a mitzvah. That is all. A kiyum mitzvah. People think that because you could always do it on the eighth day, you are not chayav kares. Why do people daven in the morning before bris? It is a mitzvah d'oraisa. All right, we will talk about everything. Everything was slow.

That is why today's shiur, if you paid attention, is a very interesting topic. And you want to know something? All the rules of zrizin makdimin l'mitzvot are here. It is by milah, okay? By Yaakov Avram, ba'boker, it was by where? It was by the Akeidah. Yet the halachos are taught by bris milah. We are going to learn about this, okay?

# Two Sources for Zrizin Makdimin

Actually, there are two mekorot. There is one mekor of zrizin makdimin l'mitzvot, and then there is another one, shelo machmitz, right? U'shmartem et ha-matzot. Even though it says hamatzot, the Gemara says matzot means mitzvot, shelo lachmitz. But we have two pesukim. We have one for zrizin makdimin, and one for shelo lachmitz. Why do we need two pesukim? It is brought down in the Acharonim that there are two halachos. One is on the mitzvah, that the mitzvah has to be done as quickly as possible, and one is on the gavra, zrizin makdimin l'mitzvot, on the person.

You listening? One is the person. So zrizin makdimin l'mitzvot means the person needs to be a hasty person. The same way when you like something, you run to do it right away. Zrizin—it is the person—makdimin l'mitzvot. And then there is another one, that the mitzvah requires shelo lachmitz et ha-mitzvah, that the mitzvah itself should not be delayed. That is the Acharonim.

But in any case, what do we have? We have the halacha that it starts on the eighth, and you can do it on the ninth or tenth if there is no choice. But according to most Acharonim, the first possible moment. Why? Because the pasuk uvayom hashmini seems to say that it is only on the eighth day. Chazal understood, b'mesorah from halacha l'Moshe miSinai, that what does bayom mean? Mi yom hashmini. If the child was sick on the eighth day, we do it on the ninth day.

But here, it is the eighth day in Shabbat, in Yom Kippur, and everything is pushed off, and there is such a chiyuv on the person to do it on the eighth day.

# Bris Milah on Shabbat and the Eighth Day

Who pushes off on Shabbat? Nobody pushes off. You make a bris on Shabbos, because the Torah says, "Bayom hashmini." The Torah says when to do it. And the answer is because that is what the topa wanted. I do not argue with what the topa wants. The topa—you ever see the Bucharian Chumash, the Russian Chumash? It does not say Torah; it says topa. So whatever the topa wants, that is what the topa gets.

Okay, now, let us move on.

The only issue is that sometimes: is he fully recovered? Is he fully recovered? There is also another point: sometimes one must wait seven days from when the baby becomes well. It depends on what the issue is. And likewise, one does not perform milah shelo bizmanah on Thursday and Friday. Here is a chiddush: you do not do it on Thursday and Friday. Why not? Because then perhaps you will have to come and be mechalel Shabbos, because you have to take care of him on Shabbos. He might need medical attention. We will learn this later.

So when is Shabbos more than milah? When it is a milah bizmanah. Milah shelo bizmanah is not doche Shabbos.

# Clarifying the Order of the Sugya

Now—what, what, what? We are talking slowly. You have to go in order. The way everything becomes clear is that it becomes clear by itself. So let us start from the beginning.

What did we learn today? When a person says that bris milah is on the eighth day, it means it begins on the eighth day. It begins. So at least we got that.

What else did we learn? That it is possible that it is a continuous mitzvah every minute, or that it is a mitzvah to get bris milah done in your lifetime, from the eighth day and on.

When do we do the bris milah? Let us go to the pasuk: "uva yom." Normally we could say that "bayom" just means the day, night and day, right? And if it is night and day, maybe you should do it the night before. "Bayom"—when does the day start? Chazal understood "bayom" to mean "bayom": "ein malin ela bayom." Even a milah shelo bizmanah—what about a milah shelo bizmanah? You want to get it done as quickly as possible, during the day, right? The child is nine or ten, or three months old. "Bayom." Everything has to be done "bayom." Later we are going to learn a big chiddush, that even when the mohel comes to fix, he should do it "bayom." That is how strict this "bayom" is.

So it depends when. Did he do it the night before? The night after? The night before does not work. That is why I want to talk to you. See, that is why I said, if you pay attention, this is going to open up a whole new understanding of bris milah on the eighth day.

Theoretically, if a person did a bris milah after the eighth day, b'diavad it is okay. You are not supposed to do it, but it is a bris milah, and you do not have to do a tafat dam brit after that. Nobody cares, right? It is done, finished.

If you did it before the eighth day, it is nothing. It is nothing. It is as if he did not do a brit milah. Why? Because there is a very famous rule: you have to be an arel to have a brit. Let me explain. Arel means you need orlah to cut off the orlah.

The Rav of Brisk was mechadesh, and this became accepted—a yesod in all the chugim, in the yeshivot, Ashkenazim, Sefardim, everybody followed this yesod from the Brisker Rav—and that is that the only time a person has a chiyuv mitzvah is when he is an arel, and he is not an arel until the eighth day.

Where did he get this from? It says in the Gemara that Avraham Avinu kept all the mitzvot, even eruv tavshilin. The question is: why did he not do a bris milah? Why did Avraham Avinu wait until Hashem told him? He should have done it. He kept the entire Torah. He knew the Torah, so he knew "bayom hashmini yimol." So why did he not do a bris milah?

One answer given is a halachic answer, and the poskim are very busy with this: as long as Hashem had not commanded him to do it, he had no right, chovel.

# Avraham Avinu, the Torah, and the Bris

Wasn't allowed to make damage to his body. As long as he didn't have the tzivui, he had an issur to be chovel b'atzmo. That's one pshat.

Rabbi, I never understood, though, when you said that Avraham Avinu knew the whole Torah. That means he knew the pasuk that Avraham made a bris?

Okay, so let me tell you, it's a big machlokes. Let me give you a good answer to this question. Many learn that there was this: we had the Torah, we had the books, Shem v'Ever. What do you think Shem v'Ever gave shiur on, right? Many learn that he learned it from the briah. Avraham never got the actual physical copy. But what happened was that from the briah, like the Gemara says, leich el nemalah atzel, re'eh deracheha v'chachem. Look at the nemalah—we learned zrizus. Where did we learn tznius from? The cat. They learned the entire Torah from the briah. That's how many learn it.

L'maaseh, you have to ask a great question. If they knew the Torah, then they knew what was going to happen next, right? Akeidah. So they knew that the Akeidah will... Yeah, and that answers your question also, why he didn't do it, because he knew Hashem, right? Right? It's a good question, Yehuda.

# The Gra's Chidush

Okay, so let me give you the answer that the Gra says, and the truth is, once you understand it, it's fascinating. First of all, you have to understand that the Torah was created before the world. So actually, whatever happens in this world is just so that it should come to fruition. In other words, the script is already written. We're just playing out the script.

You know, Reb Chaim Brisk used to say: we think we eat matzah because we left Mitzrayim. It's the other way around. We went to Mitzrayim so we should be able to eat matzah. And he says that's pshat al shum mah. What do you mean, matzah al shum mah? It means we eat the matzah because lo hispik b'tzeikam. It means, how did we come? We went to Mitzrayim so we could eat matzah. Hashem set up the whole thing that we should be able to do these mitzvahs.

So the question is, then we know the results, right? So the Gra says a very big chidush, and for you Sefardim this should be a real classic, and I'll explain to you why. You guys love the codes, right? You love it. It's a big thing. You know, in the yeshiva world they're not so interested, right? They don't care that Trump is merumaz in the Torah and that ... and Avjanijan and whatever, ... Iranian presidents merumaz. They don't care about that. But you guys have a whole fixation with all that stuff. Where does it come from?

The Torah wasn't given in words. It's not true. According to the Gra, the Torah was given otiyot, rambling otiyot on and on and on. As the stories of the Torah happened, Moshe Rabbeinu put punctuation, stops, to make out the story. So the whole bunch of letters was scrambled. That's a good question. Many say that that doesn't come from ... Some say even the samachs and the peh, meaning the shishi, shlishi. I don't know these things. I'll be honest with you, I don't know. Meaning, I heard all this information. I have never studied it. What do I know?

One thing I could tell you: this Gra is saying a tremendous chidush, that the words were not words. Moshe Rabbeinu went as the stories happened—ah, the story of Pinchas, for example, this week's parsha, that he killed Zimri. Oh, now I can figure it out as codes. So who was the first person to put out a book of codes? You guys have a different rabbi that comes around. What's his name? Rabbi Glat—what's his name? Who? Glazerson. You have Rabbi Glazerson, I have Rabbi Moshe Rabbeinu, okay? Rabbi Moshe Rabbeinu was the author. He has the copyright, okay? I hope he's not going to get angry at me. He's a good book, he's a good man. I don't know Rabbi Glazerson. I hope he's a good guy. I don't have any issue with him, all right?

So please understand, all I'm trying to bring out is you're doing what Moshe Rabbeinu did. Moshe Rabbeinu sat there and said, Oh, 9/11 happened. Okay, let's put it together in the Torah, okay? Got it?

# Back to the Halacha of Bris Milah

Now let's go back to the halacha, yeah, that it has to be by day. Now, ein malin ela mishitanetz hachamah. You have to wait for netz hachamah, which is a big issue. Why? Not by you, because you guys need the shkiah issue. By you it's the other way around, right? Hayom achar ha... laila, laila achar hayom. But for those that wake up early in the morning and want to do it real early, so there's two things: there's amud hashachar, and then there's forty-something minutes later, whatever, netz hachamah, right? So the question becomes, could I do the bris milah from amud hashachar, or should I wait till netz hachamah? And the answer is since—

# Tzafik Yom, Safek Layla, and the Time of Milah

Tzafik yom and safek layla — what do we do? Better to do it at netz hachamah. If it was done from amud hashachar, yotzei. Why? Because, l’maaseh, what does he say? Shishah v’chomesh, b’shaos zmaniyos kodem hazrichah. And there is no need to do hatafas dam bris. You do not even have to go back and do hatafas dam bris.

# What Hatafas Dam Bris Means

What is that about? Every bris has many parts to it. Maybe tomorrow that will be the shiur. Well, I don’t know what—you guys are going to a bris. I’ll probably see you the next time on Monday, huh? He caught on to the words, you guys. Okay, I’m not part of the guys? Okay, yeah.

Hatafas dam bris means that when you have a bris milah, there are a few parts to the bris. One is the chituch, and the other is the bleeding. Hatafas dam bris, the blood itself, b’damayich chayi, is part of the bris. There is even a whole discussion of the metzitzah. The fact that you draw the blood, metzitzah, is that part of the mitzvah? The Gemara seems to say that it is a health issue: you draw the blood so it will not cause a blood clot or some other problem in the blood. Medically, it is a problem. Others learn that it is part of the bris. The bris is metzitzah, drawing the blood, because you need blood in the bris.

Every time you ever see people making a treaty between themselves, they take a little blood, a blood pact. They draw a little blood. The point is that, according to many, hatafas dam bris is the mitzvah. So sometimes when the bris is not, ay, ay, ay—when it is not a proper bris—they will tell you: just do hatafas dam bris. Just do that.

# The Clamp and Hatafas Dam Bris

For example, the biggest question was the clamp that many mohalim used to use. What was the clamp? It would clamp the orlah back, and this would make the chituch, the cutting, an easier cut and a cleaner cut. Rav Moshe deals with this, and Rav Moshe says not to use it. Rav Moshe was very against it because he said that it is the beginning of the cutting, and then when you cut, you are not doing the bris milah. Rav Moshe was very against this whole thing. It was called the magen, the Barnstein magen. That was the name. Barnstein—it was a shield, a clamp, a type of clamp.

I can’t get involved. It is a very political issue. It is a different type of—there are two types of clamps. That one does not cut; it is a different clamp. This one pulls back the orlah and holds it down. In any case, to make a long story short, many acharonim said that if someone had his bris milah done by this mohel who used this clamp, he would need hatafas dam bris. What you would have to do is come back and take some blood in order to be mekayem. So there is a b’dieved type of bris. And what is that? In case the first one was not a proper bris, what do we do? Hatafas dam bris.

I would rather hear from Rav David Feinstein that you do not have to, that if you used this clamp, you do not even need hatafas dam bris. Rav Moshe said it is no good. Maybe he only meant not to use it l’chatchilah. It is a big discussion for a different time.

You do need a—100%, we can do this now. Same case as a person born without an orlah.

# When Milah Cannot Be Done at Netz Hachamah

V’lachein, if it is impossible to do the milah after netz hachamah, let’s say for whatever reason you cannot do the bris after netz hachamah, sha’as hadchak k’dieved dami, and it is permitted to do the milah from misheyakir.

Now, if his eighth day passed and he did not fulfill the mitzvah of milah, what happens? He did not do the mitzvah of milah. Ein alav onesh nidui, aval ibeitza mitzvah bizmanah ba’olam haba. You see, you missed it, this chashivus of mitzvah b’zmanah. You did not get the right time. Shehu onesh kashah yoser min nidui, which, by the way, everyone is afraid of nidui—this is worse than nidui. This is worse.

# Delaying a Bris for Convenience

In the olden days, today it is less common, they would set up the bris on a day that was comfortable for them, on a holiday. Let’s take a day—today is Tuesday, it is a holiday. You know what? Let’s push off the bris until Tuesday. And they should be told—do they do it today also? No, I do not know. It is something that—until today they still do it. They are making it on Sunday so it is comfortable for everybody. Oy vey. Yesh she’ulam asimchas panui, or sometimes you need the restaurant, so you have to work it out with the restaurant, right?

# A Child Born in America and Brought to Eretz Yisrael

What happens if a child is born in America and he is taken to Eretz Yisrael? When is his bris? Do you say it is the eighth day now in Eretz Yisrael, or do you say this kid does not have eight days yet? So that is a very nice shaila. Why?

# The Eighth Day and the Timing of Milah

Is it his eighth day, or is it eight days? Halachah: matirin ... la'aretz ... v'gi'a la'aretz l'maalah b'Yom HaShemini kan, u'viglal ... Yom HaShemini. He didn't have eight days yet, right? Lefi ha-shoresh ... b'risah daynu b'lel shemini. Af al pi kein, ma'alin osa b'Yom HaShemini. It goes after where? The place here.

# Zerizin Makdimin L'Mitzvos

Now we have to talk mussar for you guys. You ready? Please put away your phones. I'm talking to you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you. Okay, you ready? Af al pi shekol hayom kasher l'mitzvas milah. You can do milah all day. Mikol makom, zerizin makdimin l'mitzvos, u'ma'alin miyad lifnei hashkiyah—I'm sorry, read right—u'ma'alin miyad lifnei baboker, the first chance in the morning, yeah? V'lachein, ein lishos mitzvas milah ad chatzos hayom. You don't even wait till after chatzos. Don't do it in the afternoon. Do it in the morning. What is the reason they do it after chatzos? So people should come. ... Rabbi ... Shari, mitzvahs, zerizin makdimin l'mitzvos. Chashuv yoser mitzvahs b'reiv am hadras melech.

Okay, I've heard poskim here in your community, for example, Moshe and others, they pasken that ... b'reiv am hadras melech is more important. No, no, I never said—okay, didn't say. Moshe's ta'ina is it was really zerizin makdimin l'mitzvos. That was as quick as he was able to do it. Okay. V'roi l'hakdim ha'milah kechol ha'efshar. What does it keep saying over there? V'roi l'hakdim ha'milah kechol ha'efshar, u'lishtadel l'aroch ha'milah kodem chamesh sha'os ba'yom, before the fifth hour, v'lo lishos ad achar chamesh min ha'yom, shenirah ki mitzvas milah b'zuyah alav, chas v'shalom. But today, the way they make parties, it doesn't look bizuyon on anyone, okay?

# Ten People and the Question of Delay

Okay, we got that taken care of, and— It's unbelievable. He knows about Peh. He knows about Peh, yeah. He knows how to change the halachos very well. He's like a guy who wakes up in the morning, goes to work, and comes, you know, and he's like, Oh, okay. Right, you know, I think that's the problem. The problem is he didn't realize the meat. It's a meat. Okay, we'll soon see. That could be part of a discussion. Do you need meat at a bris? Oh. Oh, and who's going to eat meat for breakfast? I've seen you guys do that also.

Heicha, that's right. Heicha de'efshar, yesh lachash sheya'asar anashim meisah milah. Okay. You have to have at least ten people. Okay, aval heicha de'efshar, where you can't, you don't even need ten people. So should you push off a bris for ten people? Probably not. Yes. V'lachein, im acher ma'ariches ha'bris l'sha'as achar tzohorayim, bigdei sheyuchal l'kayem mitzvas asarah, shem yakdim la'harzah milah b'sha'as ha'boker, me'atzarayim, yitztarech levatel al kiyum mitzvah. Efshar l'hatir. Efshar l'hatir. So you hear? So even your thing is that you need all the people, your chaveirim, and you need the, what do you call your friends, gambinos, gambinos, right? All your buddies have to come. I don't know. All right. U'vifrat sheyodea shekulam mashgichim leleches l'teirasam. Why are they not coming? It's not because they're lazy. It's because they have to go to work. Still, maybe what? Possibly you should do the bris early, but b'di'eved you could be meikel.

Efshar shelo yizdamen lo mitzvas asiyas ha'bris, in order you should have what? In order you should have a—where are you going? It's finished. Two more minutes, two more minutes, huh? You go to camp still? It's nice. What camp accepted you? It's very interesting, huh? Just like you wake up, you send the kids to camp, the same way you should do the bris. Okay. Now let's talk. Okay, so go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, yeah. Now. Yay, simchas. You hear? Okay, let's see.

# The Seudah After Milah

Ah, nohagim la'asos seudah b'yom shezachah lamul b'no. There's a custom to make a seudah. V'hadavar barur, ein seudah zu mitzvah min haTorah. Ooh. Ooh. I don't know, you know, not that. Okay. Nohagu, nohagu, nohagu la'kachas, meaning l'seudas milah. You know, a lot of people, they don't come for the bris, and they come for the seudah. They show up. The seudah is not the story of the bris. What's the story of the bris? The bris! And the ten people should be by the bris. It's not about the seudah. By the seudah it's only nohagu. Repeat after me. Don't make a joke out of this, but nohagu. Don't make any jokes either. Just say it over. Nohagu.

# Minyan and the Seudas Milah

Minyan l’sudas milah, v’hi nikras seudas mitzvah. It is called a seudas mitzvah. V’af al pi kein, im choshesh shelo yehei lo minyan l’sudah, should he push off the bris? Ein lo litchos bishvil zeh bilvad es hamilah. If you do not have ten people by the milah, all right, you can still proceed.

I read somewhere, I believe it was Rav Elyashiv, that he brought down from somewhere that if a person does not partake in the mitzvah seudah, the bris, he was not like the whole yotzei in the whole thing. Okay, I have to show it to you. You have to show it to me.

# Bread, Meat, and Fish at the Seudah

Seudas zu tzarich la’asosah l’chatchilah b’pas. You definitely need bread. U’l’chatchilah yochlu basar beheima. You need to eat shishka babs, you hear? Beheima b’seudah zu.

What happens if the guy says, “Listen, I have to eat, and I can’t eat for breakfast, I can’t eat meat, so of course we have to do it at night, right?” No. V’im אי אפשר, yotzin b’dei chovah b’basar of uv’dagim. Fish is also good. You hear, Moshe? Fish is also good. Those live fishes that were on the table at your bris, those live things that were still flopping around, you’re still yotzei with those things too, right? You can be yotzei, you hear?

# Where to Hold the Bris Seudah

Hanohagim la’aroch seudas bris milah b’veis knesses o b’veis medrash. I know that some people pushed it off because they needed to do it in a hall with valet parking. Okay, valet parking. Hanohagim la’aroch seudas bris milah b’veis haknesses.

What about making it in the shul? No, who’s going to make it a shul? Beis hamakom hu mirvach, yesh sham ma sheyismachu. You can make a bris in a shul, uvilvad sheyesh sham kedushas hamakom, as long as—yes.

Good question. When you say shkiah, you have until shkiah to do the first eight-day. Is it the father’s shkiah? Is it the mohel’s shkiah? Whose shkiah is it? That’s great. That is so good. We’ll talk about that. Moish, you’re on a roll today. You’re very good. I mean, you just had a roll also, but you’re also on a roll. Listen carefully. Moish had a breakfast already, yeah.

# The Problem of Drinking and Other Concerns

Now, the problem is, v’lo yishtu yayin. Ooh, that’s the problem. If you’re in the shul, yeah, you can’t make a hasha, you can’t make havdalah. Ah, so then of course it has to be doicheh, of course. How can you make a bris milah without drinking?

V’chol shekein she’asur b’issur chamur, like beis haknesses, beged shatnez, pritzus. Sometimes the clothing is not appropriate, ofing plili. It’s a tremendous aveirah to come to shul that way. So then we could start saying, you know what, better you make it in a restaurant. Okay.

# Music at a Bris

Could you bring music to a bris? Mutar l’havi klei shir to this bris milah. Now Ashkenaz never heard of this. I don’t know, but Sefardim, they do. Right, Moish, you brought music, right? They bring music.

Now, the truth is, I don’t see why not. Meaning, if it’s a seudas mitzvah and it’s a big thing, it’s a good question. So maybe it has to do with the reason why we don’t have music by a bar mitzvah or do have music. What is the—l’maaseh, you’re not supposed to have music. You’re not supposed to have music. According to Rema, you can’t have any music, period. But live music, live music is not permitted, really. So when do we permit it? Simchas chasan v’kallah. So this is why it’s a seudas mitzvah.

According to Rema, Rema was machmir on this. You can’t have music at the bar mitzvahs of his grandchildren, no music. There was no music at a bar mitzvah, okay? Bris milah, I understand it’s a seudas mitzvah, but I guess obviously Sefardim have the custom, so go with it, that why do you bring music to the seudas milah?

V’loy ba areizeh bichlal hamenudim. One second, no, I’m sorry, I missed something. V’kol shekein shemutar lashmia b’seudas habris psukei d’zimra v’tanach, taklitei hagramofon, okay? Af shemuklaf bhem shem Shamayim, right? There’s a whole issue. It’s a different— you know, I see the time. It’s a whole issue. You’re allowed to listen to a tape if it has shemos Hashem in it. All right, it’s not for now, okay.

# Inviting People to the Seudas Milah

Mi shezimnu l’seudas milah—this is the big one. How can I invite my friends to the bris? Ooh, how do I invite my friends? Okay. Mi shezimnu l’seudas milah v’loy ba, harei ze bichlal hamenudim l’Shamayim. It’s a serious thing.

Someone asked me recently, hint hint, yesterday, how serious is it, this whole thing, and if I don’t invite— it’s a serious thing, because if the guy doesn’t show up when he was invited, he’s a menudah l’Shamayim. He’s a menudah l’Shamayim. This communicates from Heaven. Hashem’s angry at him.

# Invitation to a Bris and How It Is Done

Yes, that is what I am talking about. I am discussing that topic. So what do you do? This is how they do it in the Olam HaTorah. You want to be modia; you are just giving out, informing. Lo yazmin befeirush l’seudah, u’mi kol makom nachon lelech l’seudah zu. Either way, even if you were not invited, you should go anyway, because shekol ochel b’seudas milah nitzol mi’dina shel Gehenom. That is what you were afraid of? No.

Now here is the question. A lot of times people send out a text. It is very dry to say, “By the way, I am making a bris.” So I will tell you what I was matir yesterday, wink wink, to somebody, and I told him as follows: write, “Hoping we could share simchas together.” Because since you are not inviting him directly, all you are saying is, we hope that we could meet together on simchas. That is another way of really inviting without using the words, “I invite you.”

When I personally invite him, when I am saying, “There is a bris tomorrow,” I just said that. You are allowed to say, “There is a bris tomorrow,” but you cannot write the words, “Please come.” Is a father yachol invite? Let us say I know there is a bris tomorrow, and I go, “I am inviting you to this guy’s bris tomorrow.” You should not invite anyone to any bris. I am saying, is that chal?

Okay, so let me tell you. If you are inviting someone to someone else’s house, right, the guy is usually probably not invited. No, what I am trying to say is: “Hey, there is a bris tomorrow. By the way, I am inviting everyone to Moshe’s house tonight for supper. Come. Come.” I did not hear the excitement in that “come.” That “come” sounded very much like, please do not come.

I will tell you, remind me of a great story. You guys earned the good story. My ninth-grade rebbi, who is going to be your rebbi, you are going to Staten Island, so Rabbi Shein was my rebbi. I learned by Rabbi Shein. I loved him. One of the greatest rabbeim I ever had was Rabbi Yitzchok Shein, tzaddik, malach. He once said over a great story.

He said, you know, let me tell you how people are. A guy once met a friend of his he had not seen in years, in years. “David! Wow, I have not seen you in years. Vos machst? Vos hert zich? How are you doing?” “Baruch Hashem. Married, of course. Yeah, children. Kinahora, twelve children. Brooklyn, twelve, fourteen, whatever it is.” He thinks to himself, I have to give him an invite, right? I have to be... “David, why do you not come to me for Shabbos? Why do you not come?” The guy is thinking to himself, of course he will say no, right? He has fifteen children, right? But you have to be courteous. You have to invite him even though you do not mean it.

So the guy answers back. He says, “I cannot come for Shabbos. I got the fifteen children. It is too much, it is...” The guy thinks to himself, he is not coming anyway. Let me show him that I really mean it. I will say it again. “Come on, David, please, you have to come to me for Shabbos. We will enjoy.” And in his mind, you hear? The guy says, “I cannot. You know, the children, it is such a hassle. You are going to put us up.” He thinks to himself, if I say it a third time, chazakah, then that is really, that is going to put the cherry on top, like I really mean it. And he is not going to say yes anyway. What is the point?

Okay, what? What did you— He jumps out of his chair. What? Your shirt is not too hot for you. Your shirt is not too difficult. I would like to invite everyone to Moshe’s house tonight for supper. For supper.

## Rabbeinu Tam and the Order of Bris and Shachris

Okay, let us do one more. Rabbeinu Tam over here. Rabbeinu Tam, you hear? Okay, let us see the Rabbeinu Tam. Eh, eh, eh, he has a Rabbeinu Tam thing here. Where did I see the Rabbeinu Tam? Where did I see it? He spoke about Rabbeinu Tam and shekiah. Oh, where is it? Where is it? He spoke about the Rabbeinu Tam. One minute, one minute, one minute. Maybe I saw it over here. One second, give me one more minute. Where was the Rabbeinu Tam?

Why not bris first and then Shachris? Okay, so the answer: today davening is only instead of korbanos, the derabanan. You have a mitzvah d’Oraisa, derabanan, but tanya shana tanya does not apply. Okay, so I am going to answer you. The Shachris has to do with the tzibur. They do not have the mitzvah. It is not their mitzvah. So what? It is not their mitzvah. They do not have to have the bris before.

# Bris Milah Before Davening

Davening, if they have the chiyuv to daven. Huh? It’s only the father who has the mitzvah. Is there an efsher to wait for ten people to do a bris later in the day? Right, efsher. But it sounds like it’s better to do it even earlier, without ten people.

So maybe, as a father, I have a mitzvah to do the bris first thing in the morning. Shekiah, six o’clock, 6 a.m. — I have to come first thing, 6 a.m. That’s it. Yeah, but who do you do the bris with? You mean between you and the mohel and everything? That’s my mitzvah; I have to do it. That’s it. Meaning, fine, you want to say that everybody else’s mitzvah is not, they have to daven first — I hear. But this maybe not.

# A Possible Comparison from Rosh Hashanah

Okay, so I’ll tell you the truth: I never addressed this question by myself. I never thought about it. I’ll give you one answer that’s going through my mind, okay? I’ll give you one answer. You know, when you have a bris milah on Rosh Hashanah, the time for the bris is before tekias shofar. It’s done before tekias shofar. Why? In order that when you blow the shofar, you should have the dam milah together with the shofar. All right? Yeah, you’re supposed to do it before tekias shofar. It’s brought down in halachah, okay?

Could be. At the end of the day, it’s a mitzvah. Shacharis is the first thing in the morning. I think the way I— you know, there are certain things— right. And most people, it’s in the morning. Some people, it’s in the afternoon, vamevin yavin, okay? Shacharis is probably the first thing in the morning, and then mitzvos begin.

# A Brief Aside and Conclusion

Yeah, and then mitzvos begin. Not that way by the little veneshr? Huh? Not that way by the little veneshr? I don’t know. We notice that we take the little veneshr, taka, by davening afterwards. A lot of people don’t take it before davening. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a good topic.

Okay, we’ll stop over here anyway because we have to stop. The Rabbeinu Tam — is that the whole problem? The whole problem is Rabbeinu Tam? Machar, machar we’ll talk about the Rabbeinu Tam, Baruch Hashem, l’olam. Amen, amen.