Thirteen covenants of bris milah

ואיתא גדולה מילה שנכרתו עליה י"ג בריתות.

And it is taught: "Great is milah, for thirteen covenants were forged over it."

Chazal (Nedarim 31b) teach that the mitzvah of bris milah is so great that the word "bris" appears thirteen times in the passage of its commandment, signifying thirteen covenants.

דהשלמת ברית מילה הוא בי"ב שבטים כמ"ש וצאצאיו חתם באות ברית קודש.

For the completion of bris milah is in the twelve shevatim, as it says, "And He sealed their offspring with the sign of the holy covenant."

The full perfection of the bris is realized only through the twelve tribes, as expressed in the bris milah blessing that Hashem "sealed their descendants" with this holy sign.

וכ' וזכרתי להם ברית ראשונים.

And it is written, "And I will remember for them the covenant of the first ones" (Vayikra 26:45).

The pasuk speaks of a "covenant of the first ones," which Chazal interpret in a specific way.

פי' חז"ל ברית השבטים.

Chazal explain this to mean the covenant of the shevatim.

The "first ones" refers to the tribes, each of whom carries the bris.

דכל שבט יש לו ברית.

For each tribe has its own covenant.

Every one of the twelve shevatim possesses its own distinct portion of the bris.

ויוסף הוא הכולל ומאחד כל הי"ג בריתות ואברהם אע"ה הי' הראשון שזכה אל הברית.

And Yosef is the one who includes and unifies all thirteen covenants, while Avraham Avinu was the first to merit the covenant.

Avraham Avinu began the bris, but Yosef HaTzaddik gathers all thirteen covenants together into one.

אבל התפשטות הברית היא בזרע יעקב ז"ש ואעשך לגוי גדול אלקי אברהם.

But the spreading-out of the covenant is in the seed of Yaakov; this is the meaning of "And I will make you into a great nation" — "the God of Avraham."

Although Avraham received the bris, its full expansion happens through Yaakov's descendants. The Sefas Emes maps the threefold blessing to the three Avos, beginning with Avraham.

ואברכך אלקי יצחק ואגדלה שמך אלקי יעקב.

"And I will bless you" — the God of Yitzchak; "and I will make your name great" — the God of Yaakov.

Continuing the blessing of "Lech Lecha" (Bereishis 12:2), each phrase corresponds to one of the Avos, mirroring the order recited in Shemoneh Esrei.

והי' ברכה הוא יוסף כלי מחזיק ברכה בצירוף השבטים.

"And you shall be a blessing" — this is Yosef, the vessel that holds the blessing together with the shevatim.

The final phrase, "be a blessing," points to Yosef, who serves as the vessel that contains and preserves all the blessing when joined with the tribes. Chazal teach that an empty vessel can hold a blessing.

וזה שרמזו חז"ל בך חותמין.

And this is what Chazal hinted: "with you they seal."

Chazal say of Avraham "with you they seal" (the blessing of "Magen" in Shemoneh Esrei concludes with him), and the Sefas Emes links this idea of sealing to Yosef.

כי יוסף הוא החותם והי"ב שבטים י"ב גבולין שיהי' גן נעול.

For Yosef is the seal, and the twelve shevatim are twelve borders, so that it shall be "a locked garden."

Yosef is the sealing point that closes the bris, and the twelve tribes form twelve protective boundaries, making Klal Yisrael like a "gan na'ul" (Shir HaShirim 4:12) — a garden sealed from any foreign intrusion.

כדאיתא מאברהם ויצחק יצא פסולת ויעקב הי' מטתו שלימה.

As it is taught: from Avraham and Yitzchak there issued some refuse, but Yaakov's bed was complete.

Avraham produced Yishmael and Yitzchak produced Eisav (the "pesoles," the unworthy chaff), but all of Yaakov's children were wholly righteous — "mitaso sheleimah" (Pesachim 56a).

וכן סדר הברכה קידש ידיד יצחק מבטן יתכן לרמוז על אברהם.

So too the order of the blessing: "He sanctified the beloved from the womb" — Yitzchak — may be read as hinting at Avraham.

The Sefas Emes reads the bris milah blessing as tracing the same progression through the Avos: "the beloved sanctified from the womb" alludes to the chain beginning with Avraham.

וחק בשארו יעקב.

"And He placed a statute in his flesh" — Yaakov.

The next phrase of the blessing corresponds to Yaakov, in whom the bris is fixed as a permanent law in the flesh.

וצאצאיו חתם הוא הגמר בשבטים.

"And He sealed their offspring" — this is the completion in the shevatim.

The closing phrase, "He sealed their offspring," is the final stage of the bris, fully realized in the twelve tribes.

וע"ז רמזו חז"ל אל בית יעקב אשר פדה את אברהם.

And to this Chazal alluded: "to the house of Yaakov who redeemed Avraham" (Yeshayahu 29:22).

The Sefas Emes brings the pasuk in which it is Yaakov's house that "redeemed Avraham," a striking phrase he now explains.

כי הגם שזכה אברהם אע"ה אל הברית.

For although Avraham Avinu merited the covenant —

Avraham was the one who originally received the bris.

מ"מ גמר הברית בכל תיקונו והתפשטותו בי"ג בריתות הוא בבית יעקב.

nevertheless the completion of the covenant, in all its perfection and expansion into thirteen covenants, is in the house of Yaakov.

The bris reaches its full tikkun and spreads into all thirteen covenants only through Yaakov's household, the twelve shevatim unified by Yosef.

ולכן פדה את אברהם.

And therefore "he redeemed Avraham."

Because Yaakov's house brought the bris to completion, it is as though Yaakov "redeemed" Avraham by fulfilling what Avraham had begun.

וז"ש בך חותמין שכן אומרים להכניסו בבריתו של אברהם ומייחסין הברית דיוסף לאברהם שהוא גמר התפשטות החסד בכלי מחזיק ברכה והבן:

And this is the meaning of "with you they seal": for at a bris we say, "to bring him into the covenant of Avraham," attributing the covenant of Yosef back to Avraham — for he is the completion of the spreading-out of chesed in the vessel that holds the blessing; understand this.

At every bris milah we declare that the child enters "the covenant of Avraham Avinu," even though the bris reaches its fullness only through Yosef and the shevatim. We attribute it all to Avraham because he was the root, while Yosef is the vessel in which Avraham's chesed fully spreads out and is preserved.

Summary: The greatness of bris milah lies in its thirteen covenants, which begin with Avraham Avinu but reach their full perfection and expansion only through Yaakov's house — the twelve shevatim, unified and sealed by Yosef HaTzaddik, the "vessel that holds the blessing." The twelve tribes form protective borders making Klal Yisrael a "locked garden," and though the bris is completed through Yosef, we still attribute it to Avraham, its original root and source of chesed.