The brit-milah tag has no wiki summary.
16
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2answers
181 views
Why Not Eight Days Until a Convert's Circumcision?
Why doesn't a convert dip in the mikveh and then wait eight days until he gets his circumcision? The gemara (Yevamot 97b) says ger shnitgayeir kekatan shenolad dami (A convert is like a newly-born ...
15
votes
1answer
173 views
Is there any source for not sharing a baby's name before the bris?
For some reason, I have it ingrained in me that a baby boy's name before the bris is a secret and should not be shared. Are there any sources for this, or is it something made up?
14
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3answers
144 views
Why did Avraham name his son before the Bris (circumcision)?
Why does the Torah seem to imply that Avraham named his son before the bris?
First:
וַיִּקְרָא אַבְרָהָם אֶת שֶׁם בְּנוֹ הַנּוֹלַד לוֹ אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה לּוֹ שָׂרָה יִצְחָק
And Abraham called ...
12
votes
1answer
239 views
In case of diphallia, how is brit-milah affected?
Diphallia is a rare medical condition in which a male infant is born with two penises.
Does brit-milah requires both penises to be circumcised? Is there any reference in the litterature about such ...
12
votes
3answers
575 views
Is Metzitzah B'peh a must?
There is a lot of talk in the news, etc., about Metzitzah B'peh that employs direct oral contact being dangerous.
First: If it is dangerous, shouldn't pikuach nefesh push it off?
Second: How ...
10
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1answer
178 views
Bar Mitzvah before Circumcision?
If one was never circumcised can they be called up to the Torah for their bar-mitzvah?
9
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1answer
127 views
Why did Hashem not tell Avraham to have a Bris earlier?
Avraham Avinu was told to have a Bris at 99 years of age. Why didn't Hashem have him do a Bris earlier?
8
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4answers
274 views
How does paying a Mohel work?
I have heard - do not know the source - that a Mohel is not supposed to charge an official price - however you are supposed to pay him.
1: Is it true that a Mohel is not supposed to charge an ...
8
votes
1answer
514 views
Shower or Mikvah on a Fast Day
Are you allowed to take a shower on a fast day, and is it suggested?
Once we are talking about bathing, what about going to the Mikvah on a fast day?
Does it make a difference if one goes daily, ...
8
votes
2answers
100 views
V'Al Brischa SheChasamta Bivsoreinu - ועל בריתך שחתמת בבשרנו - does a lady say this?
In Bentching (grace after meals) - both in the Ashkenazic and in the Sefardic version - we say V'Al Brischa SheChasamta Bivsoreinu - ועל בריתך שחתמת בבשרנו - "and for Your covenant, which you sealed ...
8
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3answers
159 views
Why is there a ה in “מוהל”?
The Hebrew word for the act performed at a circumcision is "לימול". The root appears to be נ.מ.ל. Following the exceptional rules for roots whose first letter is נ, the causative participle and ...
8
votes
1answer
179 views
How did Yosef showing his circumcision prove anything?
Rashi to 45:4 says that when Yosef told his brothers to approach him, it was to show them his circumcision (presumably to prove he was Jewish). But how would that prove anything? All of Egypt had been ...
7
votes
3answers
113 views
K'shaim Shenichnas L'Bris Kain Yikones L'Torah L'Chupa U'Lmaasim Tovim: why that order?
When a baby boy has his Bris we wish him "K'shaim Shenichnas L'Bris Kain Yikones L'Torah L'Chupa U'Lmaasim Tovim" - just like you entered the covenant so to should you enter into Torah, marriage, and ...
7
votes
1answer
77 views
Is it necessary to use only the same Mohel?
Recently I was told that when one makes a Bris they should use the same Mohel they used for the older child. Is there a source for this? What is the reason?
6
votes
3answers
366 views
Baby boy's MOTHER as the sandek(et)
I have recently come upon historical evidence of the mothers of baby boys serving as the sandek(et) during the brit milah.
From page 18 of The Orthodox Jewish Woman and Ritual: Options and ...
6
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6answers
267 views
Are tefillin supposed to be removed before a bris (circumcision)? If so, why?
I remember in yeshiva one day as a bris was about to start after minyan, someone came around and told everybody, "take off your tefilin!"
Recently I saw R' Moshe Feinstein explaining why we leave ...
6
votes
2answers
67 views
How did Avraham save Terach?
The gemarah (eiruvin 19a) states that Avraham Avinu sits at the entrance to gehinom and doesn't allowed anyone circumcised to enter there. The Ariz'l (Sefer Likkutim, Parsha Vayera) states that the ...
6
votes
4answers
131 views
Does one need to perform a delayed brit milah at the first possible time?
If a baby is sick on the 8th day, the brit is pushed off until the baby is healthy. Once the mohel and doctor determine that the baby is healthy, does the brit need to be performed right away (on that ...
6
votes
1answer
250 views
If no one else was available, could a mohel ride a bicycle on shabbos to perform a circumcision?
If a healthy baby boy's eighth day of life is on a Saturday, that's the day his bris milah / circumcision should be performed if at all possible. While elective surgeries are prohibited on Shabbos, ...
6
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3answers
349 views
Segulah of Kvatar: Source
Is there a source for the claim that being a Kvater (person who carries a baby to/from his Bris) helps cure infertility?
6
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1answer
84 views
Hadas at weddings and Brit Milah
Why do Sefardim place Hadas by the Huppah and Kise Eliyahu by weddings and brit milah respectively?
6
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2answers
73 views
Why did Avraham ask Eliezer to swear in the way he did?
Avraham asks his servant Eliezer to place his hand under his thigh to swear an oath regarding finding a daughter for his son. Chazal explain that he asked him to hold his (Avraham's) milah (male ...
6
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1answer
100 views
Why were the Israelites not circumcised in the desert?
Genesis 21:4 (JPS) And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
Starting with Abraham, the Israelite men were circumcised and a boy at the eighth ...
5
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1answer
400 views
Is metzitzah b'peh required when an adult is circumcised or in the case of hatafas dam bris?
As we've discussed in a general question regarding the requirements for metzitzah b'peh (MBP), the direct-oral-contact technique to draw blood from the penis of an 8-day old infant at his bris milah ...
5
votes
1answer
72 views
Why did Yaakov ask Yosef to swear in the way he did?
Inspired by this question
In Bereshis 47:29 Yaakov asks Yosef to "put his hand under his thigh" (a euphemism) and swear not to bury him in Egypt. Here, unlike by Avraham, there is no indication that ...
5
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1answer
73 views
Definition of Beit Hakneset area [with respect to tachanun]
Shulchan Aruch O"CH 131:4 says that we don't say Tachanun where there is a Chatan in the syagogue: (see also this related question) (Note: I mention here Chatan because it's clearly mentioned, but ...
5
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1answer
246 views
Circumcision when danger to life, born Jews and potential gerim
In this post, Skylar refers to teshuvos from the Seride Esh and R. AY Kook which rule that a male non-Jew may not convert if he is unable to undergo milah.
Does pikuach nefesh completely push off the ...
5
votes
1answer
62 views
Can a Brit Milah double as a Seudah for Purim?
Can a Brit Milah, on the morning of Purim, cover you for the Seudah or does it need to be distinct?
5
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0answers
95 views
Abrahamic covenant and Brit Milah - how is the covenant passed down?
Why is it so that if a Jew has a male child with a non-Jewish woman the child is not circumcised, even though, like Ishmail, the child is under Abrahamic (but not Mosaic) covenant, since the father is ...
4
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4answers
301 views
Why is the foreskin removed?
Why is the foreskin removed? God gave it men, did God also tell them to have it removed?
4
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7answers
147 views
Why did Avraham wait to have a bris?
Chazal tells us (Midrash Rabbah Bereishis 64:4 and 95:3; Yoma 28b, based on. Gen. 26:5; Kiddushin 82a) that the Patriarchs observed the mitzvahs before they were given. But Avraham did not circumcize ...
4
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2answers
220 views
Etymology of the word “Kvater”
What is the etymology of the word "Kvater"? Kvater is what we call the person that carries the baby boy into a Bris.
4
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1answer
161 views
Is a male considered Jewish if his dad is Jewish and his mom is not jewish but the dad had his male child have a brit-millah
I have uncles and cousins who married non-Jewish women but had their boys have brit-millah when they were babies. Are they considered Jewish under orthodox Judaism?
4
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3answers
115 views
Where and when is the earliest attestation of the word “mohel”?
Where is the earliest attestation of the word mohel for one who performs the act associated with a ritual circumcision?
When was it written?
What language is it?
[Inspired by Why is there a ה in ...
4
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1answer
152 views
Shehechiyanu at Bris
Why is it that some make a Shehechiyanu at a Bris and some don't? And an identification of those who do and do not would be appreciated.
4
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1answer
67 views
Does the status “mal v'lo taval” apply to women?
In a number of circumstances, the halachic status of מל ולא טבל ("circumcized but not immersed in a mikveh") takes on significance.
For instance, regarding a nochri touching wine, the Shulchan Aruch ...
4
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2answers
88 views
Sheva Brachos at a Bris
If a Chosson & Kallah during the first week they got married attended a Bris, should the assembled recite Sheva Brachos after Bentching?
4
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2answers
145 views
When a Bechor's Bris is delayed beyond the day of the Pidyon HaBen
If a baby who is a Bechor had his Bris delayed beyond the 31st day - should the Pidyon HaBen be pushed off until the Bris is ready to be done? On one side you do not want to delay a Mitzva in its ...
3
votes
1answer
203 views
Traditions what to do with removed foreskin
In Germany we recently started a debate, whether foreskin-amputation of children (not only Jews, but Muslims as well) has to be forbidden according to our fundamental laws.
Some magazine illustrated ...
3
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3answers
98 views
Does a Late Bris Necessitate Teffilin?
When one makes a Bris after Shacharis, he wears Tefilin. If a Bris is made later on in the day, does he wear Tefilin? Why or why not? And if he does, does it require a second Bracha?
3
votes
1answer
300 views
C-Section Different for Bris
Why is it that a baby born on Shabbos via C-Section cannot have a bris 8 days later [on Shabbos]?
Source: http://mi.yodeya.com/questions/5763/twin-bris-conundrum/5765#5765
3
votes
1answer
115 views
What is the origin on metziztah b'peh?
Is metzitzah b'peh of biblical origin or was it instituted by the rabbis? What is the source for this practice?
3
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1answer
134 views
What is the origin of the custom to say Shema to a baby on the day before his Brit Milah?
I have seen a custom among Ashkenazic Jews that on the day before the Brit Milah of a baby boy, a group of children will come and all say the Shema to the baby. What is the origin and reason for the ...
3
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1answer
86 views
Converting a baby - When to do Circumcision
I know that one can convert an infant (and if he doesn't recant when he becomes of age, the conversion is retractively chal) but what about milah? For a Jewish child, milah before the 8th day isn't a ...
3
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1answer
144 views
Twin Bris conundrum [closed]
Twin brothers are born from the same mother on the very same morning. Both are perfectly healthy. Yet, the proper day for one’s bris mila is 8 days later, while the proper day
for the other one’s bris ...
3
votes
2answers
109 views
Why is a bris performed after death?
Why does an infant baby boy who dies before he can be circumcised have a circumcision performed after death? If, as the article states it is to prepare the body for the next world why is this ritual ...
3
votes
1answer
56 views
Is the name of God associated with bris milah?
I recall learning, but have no source for, the fact that part of what is achieved by the bris milah process is a form of etching (part of?) the name of God into the makom ha'milah.
What is the ...
3
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0answers
111 views
Maimonides on Circumcision
These are not questions about circumcision. They are about what Maimonides said about the practice.
I would to know if the following things do, or do not, in fact represent things Maimonides said ...
2
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2answers
155 views
When a Bris is being done for a baby at the same time as his Pidyon HaBen
If a baby who is a Bechor had his Bris delayed to the 31st day, and now on the 31st day he is ready to have his Bris and it is also the day of his Pidyon HaBen - which Mitzva should be done first? Do ...
2
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1answer
50 views
Naming an orphan
In light of the recent story in the news of a baby born an orphan. :(
Who names him (and performs the bris)? I assume the grandparents, but is there any tradition of which side has priority?
(I am ...
