There are some terms that get thrown around but many of us have little understanding of what they actually mean. One such term that appears quite often in the Book of Genesis is the “Bris” – usually translated as a covenant. Let’s examine two of these covenants.
In this week’s Parshah we have the covenant with all of mankind – the ‘Noahic covenant’. After bringing a flood upon the world and destroying all but eight people, Hashem makes a covenant never to wipe out the world again. Hashem then appoints the rainbow as a sign of this covenant.
Next week’s Parshah sees a second covenant, one pertaining particularly to us Jews – ‘the Abrahamic covenant’. This covenant involves all males to be circumcised.
In light of these two monumental covenants – what does a covenant mean? The first covenant seems to be a promise from Hashem not to do something. But the instruction for us to do Bris Milah has seemingly nothing to do with promises. Secondly if a covenant is just a promise why does Hashem need to designate the rainbow as a sign of the covenant? Is His word not enough?
Perhaps a better way to accurately define a covenant is to contrast it to another similar concept – a contract. Do you know the difference between a contract or a covenant?
While the dictionary definition (and the ‘synonyms’ button on Microsoft Word!) equates contract and covenant – they are anything but the same. In a contract, two parties, each focused on personal interest, come together for a specific purpose from which both benefit, for limited time. In a covenant, two or more people come together with a moral commitment to stay together in good and bad times, for the greater good, and, by doing so, are transformed.
As the Emeritus Chief Rabbi Sacks put it “Contracts are about interest; covenants are about identity. Contracts benefit; covenants transform”.
Family life, communal shul life, are examples where ‘members’ work for the good of the group, they thrive under covenants, but are destroyed by the competition and contract thinking. For instance, as we have put marriage into rights and terms, we have made it a battleground of women’s rights, children’s rights and father’s rights, with everyone demanding their rights rather than giving up things for the greater good of the marriage and family.
Having hopefully accurately defined a covenant let us now examine the two aforementioned covenants, to see how they are both covenants and how we are transformed by being part of these covenants.
Reb Isaac Chaver [1789-1852] observes that in the section describing the covenant of the rainbow, the word “bris” is used seven times. Furthermore the sign of the covenant is a rainbow that is made up of seven colours.
We asked why a sign was needed. The answer is that the covenant that Hashem made with mankind not to bring another flood was dependant on another side of the deal. The sign of the rainbow is to remind man of his commitment to the covenant. What then was man’s commitment?
Man must keep the seven Noahide laws. These seven laws are incumbent upon all mankind. It’s quite clear how this covenant achieves a transformation and identity of mankind. As humans, we are charged with the basic Mitzvah’s that Hashem has commanded to ensure normal societal living. We have sustainability on this world and are assured of no Great Flood so long as we keep our part of the deal.
The covenant of Bris Milah coming up in next week’s Parshah continues Reb Isaac, contains the word ‘Bris’ thirteen times. The covenant with Avraham which was passed down to the Jewish Nation meant that we have to commit to the Torah which is understood only through the thirteen principles of analysis. We must also believe in the thirteen principles of our faith as codified by the RaMBaM. It should be self explanatory that this covenant identifies us and transforms us!
So in summary we have two covenants (7 and 13!), one with all mankind to keep the seven Noahide laws, and one with the Jews to keep the Torah. But now let’s take a look at the commitment from Hashem. When the ‘seven-covenant’ is upheld by mankind Hashem in turn takes care of the world through seven. Seven is the number that represents nature – this world was created in seven days. Furthermore the sign is a rainbow – a natural occurrence. And so Hashem says when you keep your seven I keep My seven – I will run the world through nature and not bring a flood.
However when Jews keep the ‘thirteen-covenant’ then Hashem in turn deals with us not though nature but through the ‘thirteen attributes of mercy’. The continued existence of the Jewish Nation is itself a proof of the fact that we are dealt with through supernatural events. According to the natural course of things, statistically the Jewish nation should have long disappeared from the face of this world.
I’d like to finish with an observation. If we look at the world events I think we can notice this pattern of Divine intervention. Major calamites befall this world, but there are two types of disasters. There are the natural disasters, earthquakes, tsunami’s and the like that wreck havoc killing hundreds of thousands of people. On the whole it can be said that these disasters have very little impact on the Jewish Nation. Another type of event is one that is not at all natural – the events of 9/11, the Holocaust, the Middle East conflict and all that it entails – these events are very intrinsically linked to the Jews. Perhaps we can observe two distinct methods of divine retribution. The natural and the un-natural, 7 and 13 – one for mankind as a whole and one for the Jewish Nation.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov