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A rabbinic colleague, who also served as a mohel, was told by his wife not to accept any assignments as his son was getting married. When his wife called him at work to make sure he had kept his promise, he assured her that he had. In fact, he even turned down an offer to serve as a mohel in a major motion picture. Which of course led to her insisting that he call back and accept said offer as long as it didn’t directly conflict with his son’s wedding. He did, and my colleague Rabbi Gene Katz has on his resume a SAG credit for portraying a mohel in the film “Keeping the Faith,” starring Ben Stiller, Ed Norton and Jenna Elfman.
But a cynic might ask, if G-d created human beings in the Divine image, why weren’t they created circumcised? Now interestingly, the Talmud does discuss cases of an infant born circumcised (nolad mahul), but I personally have never seen such a child (if you have, let me know). And according to the midrash, this question was asked of Rabbi Akiva by the Roman emperor Tinneus Rufus in connection with our portion, Tazria, which mentions the ritual of circumcision in its opening verses:
Tinneus Rufus asked Rabbi Akiva, “Why do you circumcise?”
Rabbi Akiva said to him, “I also knew that you were going to say this to me. I therefore anticipated [your question] when I said to you, ‘A work of flesh and blood is more beautiful than one of the Holy One, blessed be He.’
Rabbi Akiva presented Tinneus Rufus with raw wheat and a loaf of bread. “Which do you prefer?” Rabbi Akiva asked.
When Tinneus Rufus said that of course he preferred the bread, he responded, “The former is the work of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the latter is the work of flesh and blood. Is not the latter more beautiful?”
Tinneus Rufus said to him, “Since G-d finds pleasure in circumcision, why does no one emerge from his mother's belly circumcised?”
R. Akiva said to him, “And why does his umbilical cord come out on him? Does not his mother cut his umbilical cord? So why does he not come out circumcised? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, only gave Israel the commandments in order to purify them.” (Midrash Tanchuma, Tazria chapter 5)
In other words, G-d wants us to be partners in the work of creation. And in a world where baby boys were born circumcised, rabbis would have no way of earning SAG credits.
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
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