Why do we perform the Brit Milah ceremony on the Eighth Day?
Because it is written in the Torah. The first time Brit Milah is mentioned in the Torah is in Genesis 17: 9-12: “And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised…” It is mentioned again in Leviticus 12:3: “And on the eighth day he shall be circumcised.” There is no reason given as to why the eighth day was chosen. Dr. J.H. Hertz, in his commentary on the verses in Genesis, writes: “The meaning is not that the Covenant is to consist in the rite of circumcision, but that circumcision is to be the external sign of the Covenant. As the following verse declares, ‘ it shall be a token of a covenant,’ just as the rainbow was the token of the covenant with Noah. And even as the rainbow had existed before Noah, this rite had been practised among other peoples before Israel.
