Bris Milah and Bnei Ketura

It is interesting that the Chinese nation (possibly many Orientals but lets call them "Chinese" for the sake of this discourse) does not seem to play a major role in the future world revealed in the Torah. There are many prophecies regarding the end of days throughout Tanach. Many nations are mentioned including Edom, Persia, etc. but there is no mention of the far-eastern/Chinese nations. These nations play a very prominent role on today's world stage but seemingly will have no significance towards the final days. They will not be players going forward. Who are they? Where do they come from?

Another point of note is that the Chinese have almost no Jews mixed in with their population. Although ever since Jews have gone into exile over two thousand years ago they have mixed with almost every population group, the Chinese were never one of those. Seems like fate has always somehow kept the Jews separate from the Chinese. Even Jews who ended up in China for various reasons over the centuries seemed to only have been there for short periods of time and kept mainly to themselves and never integrating as they have with almost every other world culture. 

Avraham Avinu was commanded to perform a Bris Milah. The first time that the Bris Milah is mentioned the Pasuk says as follows:

אֲנִ֕י הִנֵּ֥ה בְרִיתִ֖י אִתָּ֑ךְ וְהָיִ֕יתָ לְאַ֖ב הֲמ֥וֹן גּוֹיִֽם

"Behold My Covenant is with you and you shall become a father of a multitude of nations"

 

 The Pasuk continues :

וְלֹא-יִקָּרֵא עוֹד אֶת-שִׁמְךָ אַבְרָם וְהָיָה שִׁמְךָ אַבְרָהָם כִּי אַב-הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם נְתַתִּיךָ:

"And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations".

Chaza'l say " Until now you were considered the father of Aram but now you will be the father of a multitude of nations"

This concept is a bit perplexing. We know in Jewish literature the commandment of Bris Milah is a uniquely Jewish concept. The Bris Milah is probably one of the most defining Jewish acts. We have been killed for Bris Milah, we have been persecuted over it, Our ancestors have been Moser Nefesh for Bris Milah throughout history. When nations have come to destroy the Jews the Bris Milah is usually one of the first acts that is banned. The Ramban goes so far as to say that Avraham was  commanded to to a Bris so that Sarah would become pregnant with Yitzchak only after the Bris so he would retain a full Jewish conception. The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim basically calls the Bris Milah the "Jewish Tattoo". (The Rambam actually says that it is done in that specific place to hopefully prevent the gentiles from wanting to copy it). 

That's all on the one hand, but on the other hand the concept of Avraham being a father to "a multitude of nations" would imply that the Bris is somehow an inclusive rite of passage which gives Avraham a larger degree of inclusivity to the "multitudes of nations". Not only does in include Avraham in the "Multitude of Nations" but it gives him "Father" status. This seems to contradict the concept of the Bris being a very "Exclusive" and only Jewish act. 

The Gemara in סנהדרין נט states that the children of Avraham, the בני קטורה are also obligated in Bris Milah. Rashi says that it only applies to the children of that generation but not future generations. The Ramba'm however, says in Hilchos Melachim 10.4 that this commandment applies to all בני קטורה to all generations. (The Rambam actually goes further to say that since Bnei Yishmael have gotten mixed in with Bnei Ketura, today, that obligation extends to all Bnei Yishmael too). The Gemara in Sanhedrin continues by stating that the Mitzvah of Bris Milah was only given to Bnei Yisrael even though Avraham was first commanded it was only passed down from Avraham to Yitzchak excluding Yishmael and then passed to Yaakov excluding Esav. However, as we mentioned, בני קטורה, are also commanded in this mitzva because of a different Pasuk that says אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֖י הֵפַֽר this applies to בני קטורה. There are two commandments to perform the Bris Milah one to Yitzchak as it states: וְאַתָּ֖ה אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֣י תִשְׁמֹ֑ר אַתָּ֛ה וְזַרְעֲךָ֥ אַֽחֲרֶ֖יךָ לְדֹֽרֹתָֽם this only applies to Yitzchak and his decendents. The second commandment which is learnt from the Pasuk  אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֖י הֵפַֽר which applies to בני קטורה.

At the end of his life, the Pasuk tells us about two things that Avraham did. 

 

הוַיִּתֵּ֧ן אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־ל֖וֹ לְיִצְחָֽק

ווְלִבְנֵ֤י הַפִּֽילַגְשִׁים֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְאַבְרָהָ֔ם נָתַ֥ן אַבְרָהָ֖ם מַתָּנֹ֑ת וַיְשַׁלְּחֵ֞ם מֵעַ֨ל יִצְחָ֤ק בְּנוֹ֙ בְּעוֹדֶ֣נּוּ חַ֔י קֵ֖דְמָה אֶל־אֶ֥רֶץ קֶֽדֶם:

Avraham Bequeathed all that he had to his son Yitzchak. Yitzchak was going to be the continuation of Avraham's legacy and all the blessings that Avraham received were to continue through his son Yitzchak. Avraham also gave "presents" to the sons of his mistresses and sent them away to the "Land of the East". Avraham's mistress as we know from the pasuk was Ketura. 

Avraham's children who we call בני קטורה were sent to the far east. They were given "Presents" possibly as a bribe to convince them to move far away from Yitzchak. Avraham did not want the sons of Yitzchak to have to fight on two fronts, against Bnei Yishmael on one side, and against Bnei Keturah on the other hand. 

These children of Avraham left with a very special commandment which was the Mitzvah of Bris Milah given to Avraham. However, there were really two different Bris Milah commandments. Lets call them the "Chinese" Bris Milah and the "Jewish" Bris Milah. The "Chinese" Bris Milah was given to Avraham as we stated earlier as Avraham was an אַ֖ב הֲמ֥וֹן גּוֹיִֽם. This was a reward to Avraham. The reward was that Avraham will be the father of multitudes. That is why the Chinese are such a large and populous nation. That is a direct reward to Avraham that his children will fill the world. This quantitative reward was fulfilled through children with his mistress Keturah. This reward had nothing to do with the future Jewish people but was a distinct reward to Avraham.  Avraham had multitudes of nations as his offspring. They were given the commandment of Bris Milah as a sign of their being offspring of Avraham. However that was not the real purpose of the Bris Milah or Avraham's ultimate reward. Avraham's ultimate reward and the real purpose of the Bris Milah was saved for his son Yitzchak. Yitzchak was Avraham's qualitative reward. The Bris Milah of Yitzchak was to qualitatively separate him from the other nation's of the world and to remind him of his status of "Ben Avraham".

Yitzchak inherited  the covenant with God initiated by Avraham. כי ביצחק, the Pasuk says, this I will only give to Yitzchak. The Bris Milah separates Yitzchak from all the other nations of the world. The only other nation that has Bris Milah are the בני קטורה but they have a whole different Bris Milah. Yitzchak and his decendents can never mingling with the Bnei Ketura as then the uniqueness of the Bris Milah would not be evident. History has always kept these two nations apart as the uniqueness of the Jew might get lost in the Orient.