“And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will make the pesach-offering for Hashem, each of his maes shall be circumcised, and then he may draw near to perform it…” (Shemos 12:48)

The grandson of Rabbi Akiva Eiger (1761–1837), Reb Leibel Eiger (Rabbi Yehuda Leib Eiger 1817–1888), became the head of the Lublin Hasidic dynasty. This strained his relationship with his father, Reb Shlomo Eiger (1785-1852), who was litvish; however, he maintained a very warm relationship with his grandfather.

One issue that people had with Reb Leibel was that as a mohel he would often perform a bris right before sunset. We know that the principle of zerizim makdimim lemitzvos – being alacritous to perform a mitzvah at the first possible opportunity – is learned from the first bris milah in the Torah. Some townspeople were upset by this behavior, and complained to the Kesav Sofer (Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer 1815–1871), a gadol who had family ties to Reb Leibel.

The Kesav Sofer immediately responded with two letters:

  • One to Reb Leibel urging him to do brisim as early as possible.
  • The other to the community, reminding them that in Shulchan Aruch it says the mohel should be a Talmid Chacham and a yarei shomayim (See YD 264:1). Since Reb Leibel clearly met those qualifications, they must bear his shortcoming of doing the bris close to sunset.

This story carries a very important lesson for us. Not everyone needs to react the same way to a given behavior. The Kesav Sofer admonished both sides: Reb Leibel for his timing, and the community for their lack of respect for their Rav. As a related insight, I once attended a bris which had been delayed due to illness. The Sandak was a prominent rosh yeshiva, who in his speech discussed Reb Leibel Eiger’s lateness, and shared what he heard in his name: “The litvaks understand zerizim makdimim… as doing a mitzvah such as bris milah as early as possible. We chasidim also value alacrity, but with just a different emphasis: A true zariz, prepares himself properly for the mitzvah. Therefore, I take as much time as needed preparing, and as a result the bris can only take place later in the day – but that is the earliest time that I can perform it properly.”

This story about the Kesav Sofer and Reb Leibel comes from Reb Elyakim Schlesinger (1921-present) of London. He also pointed out that on the night of the korbon pesach, Moshe Rabbeinu personally performed a bris milah on every male in Bnei Yisrael, followed by Yehoshua performing the priah. It must have taken quite a while to circumcise everyone. He proves from here that when a righteous mohel or a sandak is involved, it is worthwhile delaying the bris if necessary.

As a side note, there is a great discussion with Reb Aharon Leib Steinman (1914-2017) and others of the previous generation, regarding whether it is preferable to make a bris in the morning, maximizing alacrity, even if it causes bitul torah and draws a larger crowd, or in the afternoon when it avoids bitul Torah.

I am not going to take a side on this halachic issue, but I will share a personal story: In my kollel, one of the avreichim had a wife due to give birth between Yom Kippur and Sukkos. His parents had booked flights to arrive in Israel the afternoon after Yom Kippur. However, the baby was born early, and the bris was scheduled to take place on the day after Yom Kippur. I asked the avreich if he would now hold the bris in the afternoon so that his parents would be able to attend. He answered firmly, “No. My father said that we should do the bris at the preferred time in the morning.” I told him plainly, “If you do it in the morning without the grandfather present, I will not attend!” Hashem worked it out that the baby was yellow, the bris was postponed, and the grandfather was able to attend and be the sandak.

There are certainly reasons to delay a mitzvah beyond the earliest possible time. But anyone who does so, must be sure it is for a genuine and worthy reason.