S

omething remarkable happens 
in this week’s parshah, almost 
without our noticing it, that 
changed the very terms of Jewish 
existence and has life-changing 
implications for all of us. 
Moses renewed the covenant. 
This may not sound 
dramatic, but it was.
Thus far, in the history 
of humanity as told by 
the Torah, God had made 
three covenants. The 
first, in Genesis 9, was 
with Noah, and through him, with all 
humanity. I call this the covenant of 
human solidarity. According to the 
Sages, it contains seven commands, the 
sheva mitzvot bnei Noach, most famous of 
which is the sanctity of human life: “He 
who sheds the blood of man, by man 
shall his blood be shed, for in the image 
of God did God make man.” Gen. 9:6
The second, in 17, was with 
Abraham and his descendants: “When 
Abram was 99 years old, the Lord 

appeared to him and said, ‘I am God 
Almighty. Walk before Me and have 
integrity, and I will grant My covenant 
between Me and you… I will establish 
My covenant between Me and you and 
your descendants after you throughout 
the generations as an eternal covenant.’”
That made Abraham the father of a 
new faith that would not be the faith 
of all humanity but would strive to be 
a blessing to all humanity: “Through 
you all the families of the Earth will be 
blessed.”
The third was with the Israelites in 
the days of Moses, when the people 
stood at Mount Sinai, heard the Ten 
Commandments and accepted the 
terms of their destiny as “a kingdom of 
priests and a holy nation.”
Who, though, initiated these three 
covenants? God. It was not Noah or 
Abraham or Moses or the Israelites who 
sought a covenant with God. It was God 
who sought a covenant with humanity.
There is, though, a discernible 
change as we trace the trajectory of 

these three events. From Noah, God 
asked no specific response. There was 
nothing Noah had to do to show that 
he accepted the terms of covenant. He 
now knew that there are seven rules 
governing acceptable human behavior, 
but God asked for no positive covenant-
ratifying gesture. Throughout the 
process, Noah was passive.
From Abraham, God did ask for a 
response — a painful one. 
“This is My covenant which you shall 
keep between Me and you and your 
descendants after you: Every male 
among you shall be circumcised. You 
must circumcise the flesh of your 
foreskin. This shall be the sign of the 
covenant between Me and you.” Gen. 
17:10-11
The Hebrew word for circumcision is 
milah, but to this day we call it brit milah 
or even, simply, brit — which is, of 
course, the Hebrew word for covenant. 
God asks, at least of Jewish males, 
something very demanding: an initiation 
ceremony.

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

83 | SEPTEMBER 22 • 2022 
 
 
 
 

The World is Waiting for You

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

continued on page 84

