“You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a mark of a covenant between Me and you” (Genesis 17:11). “You shall circumcise [nemaltem] the flesh of your foreskin” – it is hanging from the body like a mole [nomi].39Nemaltem is an acronym for nomi maltem – you cut off a mole. There was once an incident involving King Monabaz and Izates, sons of King Ptolemy, who were sitting and reading the book of Genesis.
When they reached the verse: “You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin,” one of them turned his face to the wall and began weeping, and the other one [also] turned his face to the wall and began weeping. Both of them [individually] went and became circumcised. Several days later, they were sitting and reading the book of Genesis. When they reached the verse: “You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin,” one said to the other: ‘Woe unto you, my brother.’
He said to him: ‘Woe unto you, there is no woe for me.’40Neither realized that the other had become circumcised. They revealed the matter to one another. When their mother realized what had transpired, she went and said to their father: ‘A mole grew in the flesh of your sons, and the doctor ordered that they be circumcised.’ He said to her: ‘Let them be circumcised.’
How did the Holy One blessed be He repay him [Ptolemy]? Rabbi Pinḥas said: When he went out to war, [his enemies] laid an ambush against him, and an angel descended and rescued him.