Q&A: Sacred Circumcision on the Seventh or the Eighth?
Sacred Circumcision on the Seventh or the Eighth?
Question
He was born on the seventh day, and in principle he is supposed to be circumcised on the eighth, which somehow comes out again on the seventh.
Maybe you need 8 full days and he should be circumcised on Sunday?
Just like 7 clean days is a week,
so maybe 8 is a week and a day?
Answer
Please send riddles to the newspaper. If you want to ask something, ask it like a human being.
Discussion on Answer
There are two kinds of counting in Jewish law: counting calendar days (dates) and counting full 24-hour periods. For circumcision, you count calendar days, including the first and last day (as with the counting of the Omer). For the seven clean days, you count 24-hour periods, and so de facto it comes out to eight. In each context one has to discuss why the counting is done one way or the other, and there are also disputes about this (including regarding circumcision).
Someone born on Sunday is circumcised on Sunday a week later.
A woman who completed her clean determination on Sunday immerses on Monday night.
Why is it that for circumcision you count both the day of birth and the day of circumcision, so that 8 is really 7,
and why does a woman wait a net 7, which is really 8?
Why do you sometimes count 7 and it is really 8,
and when do you count 8 and it is really 7?