We are now studying the second mitzvah (positive commandment) in the Torah: mitzvah bet (second mitzvah), which is the mitzvah of brit milah (circumcision). There are two sources for brit milah. One is in Bereshit, in perek (chapter) Yud-Zayin (seventeen), pasuk (verse) Yud (ten), where Borei Olam is speaking to Abraham and says... The second source is: “That on the eighth day you should circumcise.”
The Sefer HaChinuch explains the two parts of this mitzvah. He says, and I quote, “First we cut the orlah, which is the upper skin, the foreskin as they call it, and then they reveal a membrane, a very thin membrane that’s called peri'ah, that is beneath it.”
The question, of course, is what is the reason behind this mitzvah? Although the Torah does not give us reasons, the Sefer HaChinuch explains, and I quote, “First God gave us a sign, almost as if we’re branded on our bodies in order to make a separation, a physical separation between us and the nations of the world.” Furthermore, behind the law there is an ethical lesson that we learn. We were created imperfect, after all. The idea is that just as we have the ability to fix ourselves and bring ourselves to physical perfection through our own actions, so too we have the ability, through our good deeds and mitzvot, to bring ourselves to spiritual perfection. The point is that just as we were created physically imperfect and were able to overcome that impairment through our actions, so too Borei Olam says, “You have spiritual defects,” and therefore it is in our ability to fix them. So that is a motivation: now that you have fixed the physical, continue and fix the spiritual.
This mitzvah is noheget bechol makom uvechol zeman, it does not have any limitations in place or in time. Ladies are not obligated to circumcise their children. The mitzvah falls squarely on the father. If a person, chas v'shalom (God forbid), dies while he is arel and remains arel, meaning uncircumcised on purpose, which means intentionally, he did not circumcise himself, then according to the Rambam and the Chinuch, that boy or man is chayav karet (liable to excision). A father can never be chayav karet for not circumcising his son. This is a very rare type of mitzvah: a positive commandment that is punishable by karet (excision). There is only one other positive commandment that, if one does not fulfill it, carries karet, and that, of course, is korban pesach (Passover offering). Therefore, brit milah is one of two mitzvot.
The question the Minchat Chinuch asks is: We say that the mitzvah is on the father; what if the child now becomes a gadol, let's say that a child is 13 years old? Does the mitzvah transfer from the father to the son, or, as long as there is a father, does the mitzvah remain on him? What would the nafka minah (practical difference) be? There would be three nafka minot regarding who the mitzvah is on. Nafka minah number one: We have a rule that says that if somebody steals a mitzvah from somebody else, he must compensate him for the Beracha (blessing), ten zehuvim (gold coins). So therefore, if the mitzvah is on the son now, after 13 years old, and the father grabs the mitzvah, then he would have to compensate 10 zehuvim. Furthermore, can the father make the Beracha after 13 years old, Lehachniso bivrito shel Avraham Avinu (to bring him into Abraham's covenant)? Furthermore, if, let's say, the only way to do the brit milah would be to pay—it would cost money. If the father is still responsible, then he has to pay money to get the mitzvah done. However, if the mitzvah is not on him anymore, then he is no different from anybody else, and he would not necessarily have to shell out the money to do the mitzvah. That would be on the son.
The question again is: Who does the mitzvah fall on after the child becomes a gadol? The Minchat Chinuch brings a ra'ayah (proof) from Tosafot in masechet Kiddushin. The Gemara there says, “How do we know that ladies are not obligated to circumcise their children?” The pasuk says, “oto (him),” oto. The Gemara says, “velo ota (and not her).” The Gemara has a biblical source to exempt ladies. Tosafot asks, “What do you need a biblical source for?” After all, brit milah is a mitzvah. It is bound by time; you can’t do it until the 8th day. So anyway, ladies should be exempt because it’s a mitzvah. Tosafot answers, “It’s not a mitzvah because once it gets to the eighth day, from the eighth day on, the mitzvah is done from here on in. Once the mitzvah starts, it has no end, so that’s not called the mitzvah.”
So the Minchat Chinuch says, “Wait. If you tell me that the mitzvah on the father ends at 13 years old, then that’s a mitzvah that has a time period. What’s the difference if it’s a Lulav (palm branch) that only has 7 days or a mitzvah that has 13 years? Might or might not. After 13 years, that mitzvah is finished; now the mitzvah moves to somebody else. Although the milah (circumcision) might last forever after 8 days, the mitzvah that we’re talking about on the father or the mother—that mitzvah on the father stops at 13—that the mitzvah doesn’t stop on the father even after 13. Therefore, it’s one mitzvah on the father, which is a mitzvah, and therefore the Gemara needed a proof from oto velo ota to prove why ladies are exempt.”
Nonetheless, that would just be a hakira (analytical inquiry). But regardless, if we explain it, it’s on the father or the son; clearly, one of them has to get the mitzvah milah done as long as the child is still alive.