The Zohar on Ishmael and the Brit Milah — signpost 1 | Rav Ziegler zatsal
Signpost 1 · Rav Haim Ziegler זצ״ל

The Zohar on Ishmael and the Brit Milah

A mitzvah performed without obligation, and the reward claimed
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Zohar on Ishmael and the Brit Milah
A mitzvah performed without obligation, and the reward claimed

The Zohar, on Vayera, reports that the sons of Ishmael perform the brit milah and claim reward for it.

Circumcision is not among the seven commandments given to the sons of Noah: they perform it without being bound to.

The reward they ask for is that of the world to come.

On the Rav’s reading, it is not that world that is given them, but a portion in the land.

📖 Read the lesson
1 The Zohar passage
“G-d complains that the sons of Ishmael perform the brit milah. Because they perform it, they ask for great reward.” — Zohar, Vayera

Circumcision is not one of the seven commandments given to the sons of Noah. They perform it, then, without obligation — and it is exactly on that basis that the claim rests.

2 The reward claimed

The Rav taught that what is claimed is not a reward in this world, but the world to come.

In his lesson he remarked that those who expect everything from the world above take little care to build one here. The remark is his own; it describes what he saw in his time, not a judgement on persons.
3 What falls to them

A mitzvah performed calls for a response: the Rav read that, so as not to grant the world to come in exchange for a commandment performed without obligation, a portion is given in the land.

Hence his conclusion: for two thousand years it could be known who would be standing on that land on the day Israel returned to it.

This is a reading of the Zohar, handed on by the Rav — not a verse. It should be received as such.

Did you follow the lesson?

Four questions on the first signpost.

1
From which portion is the Zohar passage taken?
The Zohar on Vayera.
2
Why does the brit milah of Ishmael’s sons raise a question?
It is not among the seven commandments of the sons of Noah.
3
What reward is claimed, according to the lesson?
Not this world, but the one above.
4
What status should this teaching be given?
It is received as a reading, not as text.

Result