2. The covenant of Abraham (‏ברית מילה‎ “the covenant of circumcision”). God made a covenant with Abraham, and said, “Thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee: Every male child among you shall be circumcised when eight days old” (Gen. xvii. 9, 10, 12). If the eighth day happens to be on a Sabbath, the circumcision takes place on that day; but if, because of illness, or from any other cause, the rite has not been performed on the eighth day, it must be done on some other day, but not on a Sabbath or Festival. Notes.—1. In reference to the importance of these mitsvoth, Maimonides, in Mishneh-torah, says as follows:— “Although we are not commanded to get a talith, and to put it on in order to join the tsitsith (“fringes”) to it, a religious person will not consider himself free from this duty, but will always endeavour to wear a garment to which fringes must be affixed. During prayer we must be especially careful to provide ourselves with a talith. It is a disgrace for a scholar (Talmid chacham) to say the prayer without the talith. We must be particularly anxious to perform this mitsvah; it is of great importance with regard to all the precepts, according to the words, ‘And ye shall look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord’” (2nd Book, Ahabhah, Hilchoth tsitsith iii. 12). “The holiness of the tefillin is great, for so long as the tefillin are upon the head and the arm of a man, he is humble and God-fearing, keeps away from levity and idle talk, does not conceive evil thoughts, but turns his heart exclusively to words of truth and justice. We ought therefore to wear them all day long; this would be the proper way. It is said of Rab, the pupil of Rabbi Jehudah, the Holy, that he was never seen otherwise than with torah or tsitsith or tefillin. “Although we ought to wear tefillin all day long, it is our special duty to wear them during prayer. Our Sages said, ‘He who reads Shema without tefillin rejects, as it were, his evidence concerning the Almighty as false’” (ibid., Hilchoth tefillin iv. 26).