[Avodah] Sandakos

[Jonathan Baker]

The origin of the custom not to serve as Sandek for more than one child
in a given immediate family, arises in part from this week's sedra.  At
the end of the parsha, Avraham circomsizes (misspelled deliberately) himself,
his son Ishmael, and his 318 retainers and their sons.  What did he do
with the orlos?  The midrash tells us, he put them in a pile in the sun,
to decompose.  The stench of decomposition rose up to Hashem, who said
it was a sweet savor, a reiach nichoach, like the smell of the incense.
Now, any given kohen cannot offer incense more than once (presumably aside
from the kohen gadol, who deals with it every year at Yom Kippur).  So
too today, any given person does not serve as sandek for two brothers
from the same immediate family.

--
        name: jon baker              web: http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker
     address: jjbaker at panix.com     blog: http://thanbook.blogspot.com