Rabbeinu Bachya writes that the world custom is to celebrate the day of child’s birth with a seudah, festive meal, or do the same on the day of a son’s Bris Milah.
However, Avraham Avinu waited until Yitzchak was weaned. Why? He suggests that it was at this point that the Patriarch felt the time had come for his son to commence his Torah studies. This was the day of true joy. Pikudei Hashem yesharim mesamchei lev, “The orders of Hashem are upright, gladdening the heart” (Tehillim 19:9). Avraham celebrated his son’s birth and his entrance into the Covenant of Milah simultaneously, at the time of his most joyous and momentous occasion: when the child began to study Torah.
A father’s greatest moment is when his son begins his Torah studies. It is the realization of a priceless dream: the anticipation and yearning are coupled together with the feeling that this is the moment of true fatherhood. The torch is being passed. The legacy continues. While there is undoubtedly much joy felt and exuded during all of life’s milestones, they do not compare to the inner joy a parent feels when he sees his life’s purpose achieve fruition. The spiritual joy emanating from such a sublime moment captivates the parent as nothing else does. Indeed, this is the primary and enduring sense of joy that a parent experiences with regard to his son.
