Yaakov Hibbert Presents… Enjoy It!

One winter afternoon several years ago my father receives a phone call from a Jewish woman in Bradford who has had a baby and would like a Bris. After asking all the standard questions and discovering that the baby is already six weeks old, my father suggests that the Bris be performed in the morning. “No, Doctor! It must be performed today, if it’s not done today then it will never get done” she says.

A Bris must be done during daylight hours. Daytime in Manchester at the height of the winter ends at around 4.30. My father glances at his watch and reckons that if she were to leave Bradford immediately and make the trip over the Pennines then there would still be just enough time to perform the Bris. But before he can do the Bris my father needs to speak to the father of this baby, he must at least get verbal consent from him. After some badgering, the woman agrees to let my father speak to the father of the baby – unfortunately not a Jewish father – who after ascertaining that my father is not a Rabbi consents for him to perform a circumcision on his baby.

At my parents home my mother sets up for a Bris; the emergency cakes come rolling out the freezer, the on-street-Bris-team are invited – a Sandek, some godparents, and just before sunset the bris is performed, pictures are taken and cakes and l’chaims are had by all present.

Mother and baby hang around for some hours to be monitored before returning home during which time we discover that the baby –  a firstborn, needs a Pidyon Haben. The local Cohen is called up, more cakes are brought out from the freezer, a small rent-a-crowd gather for the ceremony, and of course pictures are taken!

Later that evening the woman is set to go. At the door she thanks my mother for everything and throws in, “by the way, the pictures, please don’t send them, pretend that this whole episode never happened”, and off she returns to her non-Jewish house. I always imagine how that afternoon was literally a ‘bubble of Judaism’ in her life, a Jewish experience that she probably won’t have many of in her lifetime.

Several days later my mother receives a phone call from a very irate screaming husband, “Your husband told me that he wasn’t a Rabbi! How dare he perform a religious ceremony on my child? That’s not what I gave consent for”. My mother was lost for words [believe it or not!]. There really was nothing to be said, yes, several blessings, a couple of gasses of wine and some l’chaims’ had been performed at the circumcision, and what could the poor father do about it except shout and scream.

The husband eventually gets through to my father who gets to hear the whole tirade while holding the phone some distance from his ear. Then the father says to my father, “You know Dr Hibbert, the only reason that I let my wife go ahead with this was because every night since the baby was born she has gone to bed crying, begging me to let him have a circumcision”.

WOW! Here was a woman who had virtually no connection to her Jewish roots, was living like a non-Jew with no connection to any local Jewish facilities and was crying for six weeks solid that her child should have a Jewish Bris. My father was so taken aback by what he had heard; he curtailed the phone call and just sat there mesmerised. This was a piece of inspiration that kept my father inspired for several months.

When relating this story over my father always adds, “Children, never forgot what an oasis of Judaism we live in. We are constantly bombarded by opportunities to do Mitzvah’s. We don’t need to cry to do them like this woman. Never forget how privileged you are!

For the last several years, I say over this story in my Succoh and then add the following Succos connection: We know that Succos is, “z’man simcha’sai’nu” – “the time of our happiness” – a time specially designated for happiness, more than any other Yom Tov. What role though does ‘simcha’ play in our lives?

We read recently about the terrible calamities that will befall the Jews in Parshas Ki Savo, “because you did not serve Hashem your G-d, amid gladness and goodness of the heart” (Devorim 28:47).

Many commentators are bothered by the fact that mere lack of ‘simcha’ and zest at the time of Mitzvah performance should cause such a hefty punishment. But it has been pointed out the verse is often quoted with the last two words missing, ‘me’rov kol’ – “when everything was abundant”. This answers everything.

There have been times when it is hard to be Jewish – food was expensive, kosher shechita was under threat, and Jews were prosecuted. Sometimes however it is relatively easy to be Jewish. When things are hard then just by still remaining committed to Jewish life we have shown our commitment. But at times when it is easy  how do we show our decision to be Jewish? The only way now is in how we do our Mitzvah’s. Do we do them because “why not?” Shabbos is pretty easy to keep so “why not?” Who has heard of someone losing a job because he won’t work on Shabbos?

In a situation of “when everything was abundant” the test is not whether you perform Mitzvahs or not – the crucial question is HOW you perform the Mitzvahs. Only the attitude towards the Mitzvah is showing the connection that you have to Judaism. Joy and excitement is not merely an added bonus to the Mitzvah – it is the essence of it. If we perform with simcha then we will be spared the continuation of the verse which describes a situation of ‘choser kol’ – “lacking everything” – when it is made hard for us to remain Jews.

We don’t need to cry to perform our Mitzvah’s like the lady from Bradford; we are blessed with opportunities to do Mitzvahs all day long. We must remember this and make sure we generate simcha in our Judaism. Enjoy Succos!

Good Shabbos, Yaakov