The Eternal Covenant

By George:
(Published at www.unmitigated-truth.com)

I know that it's not in good taste to congratulate one's self, but in this case I would like to congratulate myself and my wife on the birth of a new grandson. The blessed event took place in Las Vegas, and since we of the Hebrew Faith take our Covenant with God seriously, all male children have a "Bris" (are circumcised) on the eight day after birth, as part of our side of the Covenant (assuming a healthy child, or as soon after as possible).

So this past week I took a remaining vacation day from my regular job (you didn't really think that I was making a living off this blog, did you?), and flew to the city of triple digit temperatures to celebrate my grandson's "Bris" with the family. Needless to say, I enjoyed the very short time available to me, by basking in the glow of all three grandkids (and I must add, parents). The Mohel's performance was a cut above the rest, and in no time our little Zechariah Menashe (Zachary) joined the 4000 year long chain of Jews who have bonded into the mosaic of the Eternal Covenant established between God and our patriarch Abraham.

But no matter how much you try to cram into 23 hours, it is never enough time to speed-bond with long distance grandchildren. When departure time rolled around, it was difficult to maintain my usual public facade, so I decided to occupy my mind with memories of the day as I started my trek homeward.

As I settled into the uncomfortable Economy Coach seat, I smiled as I recalled how after waking at 6am that morning I took a shower while the rest of the house still slept, but heard noises in my room as I stepped out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around me, I confronted my two older grandsons who have already liberated their presents from my carry-on. After some wet hugs and kisses, I quickly got dressed, said my morning prayers, and we bonded while waiting for the others to awake. Not long after, my daughter made her appearance with the star of the upcoming event, and I really had my hands full. At 9lbs +, he was still as light as a feather, and I quickly got used to holding a baby again.

Fighting the weariness encroaching on my thoughts, I recalled taking the two boys to the crafts store in the afternoon for some additional mementos, while still later we spent time building the models that they had picked out. And as we roared down the runway for liftoff, my thoughts returned to the ceremony of the Bris. The Mohel flew in from Los Angeles just for this occasion, and returned home shortly after the conclusion of the rite. He was highly skilled, and I mentally compared his 45 second perfect procedure with the half hour procedure used by doctors at a hospital I once worked at. Experience will always win out.  I smiled at the striking contrast, before weariness gently caressed my eyelids into oblivion.

At the Friday night Sabbath meal later that evening, I was reading some articles that I had printed off the web concerning the weekly Torah portion and current events. As I perused the weekly article written by Rabbi Berel Wein for publication in the Jerusalem Post, I realized that it was no coincidence that he was highlighting the Covenant of "circumcision". And although I have just returned from Vegas, I realized that God does not roll the dice of coincidence, and this was meant to remind me and focus my thoughts on the Biblio-Historical events encroaching on the idyllic news of the day.

Whether you are Jewish or not, it would behoove you to read the arguments presented by Rabbi Wein in his article (linked to in the previous paragraph, and here), since that will save me from having to express the exact thoughts he so eloquently penned. And while he brings up the impending ballot initiative in San Francisco to BAN circumcision of infants and ties it into the resurgence of ancient Greek debauch lifestyles, he stops short of closing the loop. I, on the other hand, will not be so gentle.

In his treatise Rabbi Wein states:

In my opinion there is another aspect to the Greek problem that has seeped into Western and Jewish society over the past few decades. And that is that all of the negative facets of ancient Greek culture and lifestyle have returned with a vengeance after having lain dormant for millennia.

Hedonism, uninhibited sexual activity, pornography, child abuse, glorification of the body, sanctioned euthanasia for the “misfits” of society, terrible intolerance of “others,” rampant public glorification of homosexuality, and a hatred of Judaism and Jews with their “quaint” rituals, are all recognizable and even dominant aspects of current society.

Well, if all that sounds like today, then you got his point. And as I mentioned in previous articles, this kind of behavior preceded the downfall and disappearance of the Greek and Roman Empires, and most recently the Nazi Regime in Germany. Would you believe that today's society has rediscovered the secret to societal destruction?

Do you think that it is a coincidence that the city hell bent on outlawing Circumcision is none other than San Francisco? The city where homosexuals are celebrated, where they are considering criminalizing pet sales, but where it's fine to kill unborn children and there are more abortions than births. They will now attempt to "protect" the children that managed to avoid abortion, by banning Circumcision. Of course they are also Atheists, or they would realize that they might be at God's tipping point. I wouldn't be surprised if He tried to "shake" some sense into them very soon.

I sincerely hope that the decent citizens of San Francisco will vote a resounding NO on the ballot proposal if it does show up on election day. But should they enact the ban, they will soon realize that the Covenant that they are attempting to annul is protected by a much Higher Power.