13
votes
Accepted
Circumcision for conversion of someone whose male genitalia have been removed
The Shulchan Arukh (YD 268:1) rules (like the Tur, quoting a Gaon; see too Tosfot Yevamot 46b) that a male whose genitals have been removed ("Nikhrat haGid") doesn't need Milah or Hatafat Dam Berit, ...
- 96.9k
13
votes
Does a transgender male convert require a Hatafas Dam Bris?
Here is an excerpt from Encyclopedia Halachit Refuit from Dr. Avraham Steinberg.
Translation (my own): A women who underwent surgery to appear like a man, even if they formed for her a male limb, ...
- 1,183
13
votes
Accepted
Hypothetical, what should a wife do if she discovers her husband is uncircumcised?
Being circumcised does not affect one's status as a Jew. His wedding is valid, and he can continue living with his wife.
There are certain males who are not allowed to be circumcised, including those ...
- 42.7k
10
votes
Accepted
If I wanted to convert to Judaism, would I need to have my circumcision repeated?
Normally the circumcision preformed by a physician is sufficient to meet the physical requirements of "milah" (circumcision), nevertheless a process known as "hatafas dam bris" (הטפת דם ברית) is ...
- 13.2k
9
votes
Is it okay to do a Brit Shalom instead of Brit milah?
No. Halacha requires Jewish males to be circumcised. The Shulchan Aruch states this with unusual strength in Yoreh Deya' 260-261:
מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה לָאָב לָמוּל אֶת בְּנוֹ, וּגְדוֹלָה מִצְוָה זוֹ ...
- 47.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Source for not being a Shochet and Mohel
This custom couldn't have been popular in times of the Amoraim since it is brought (BT Chullin 9a):
ואמר רב יהודה אמר רב
תלמיד חכם צריך שילמוד ג' דברים
כתב שחיטה ומילה
Trans. (Soncino):
...
- 11.9k
8
votes
May a Mohel who accepted Shabbos early circumcise a child who turned 8 days old on Friday?
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Yalkut Yosef 1:388:27:
מוהל שנקרא למול מילה בזמנה בערב שבת אחר פלג המנחה, והוא כבר קיבל עליו את השבת, ויש שם עוד מוהלים אחרים שלא קיבלו עליהם שבת, יש להסתפק אם מותר לו למול, ...
- 41.3k
7
votes
Accepted
What happens at an adult brit?
I have a friend who became religious through Operation Open Curtain, an organization whose goal is to bring Russian Jews in the Moscow area to Jewish observance. He received his bris when he was ...
- 1,348
7
votes
What things are done differently for an adult circumcision?
THe Gemmorah (Kiddushin 29 I think) says: "If father didn't Ccized him he's obligated to Ccze himself when he grows up" (it is not clear who's Mitzvah it is in the first place - חפצא or גברא).
It's ...
- 25.7k
7
votes
Milah Without P'ri'ah
The Mishna (Shabbat 19:6) states:
מל ולא פרע את המילה, כאלו לא מל.
If he did Milah but not Priah, it is as if he didn't do Milah.
Rambam (Milah 2:4) and Shulchan Arukh (YD 264:4) rule ...
- 96.9k
7
votes
Is a child allowed to circumcise his father?
You can ask the same question about a Jewish-from-birth father who happened never to have been circumcised. Minchas Chinuch 48 rules that the sin of injuring one's parent does not apply if one does it ...
- 73.9k
7
votes
Accepted
People born circumcised?
It's in Avot De-Rabbi Natan 2:5: Born circumcised were Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the wicked Balaam, Samuel, David, Jeremiah and Zerubbabel.
- 19.9k
6
votes
Is there any source for not sharing a baby's name before the bris?
This is a good question which wasn't really answered in the last seven years. I found a number of sources
R Moshe Taub (here, part 1) quotes Rav Gedalia Shor, that we wait until a boy’s bris to give ...
- 45.6k
6
votes
Brit milah during shloshim
Nitei Gavriel Aveilus2 23:20 says that the father of the baby can participate in a Bris and Seuda for his son even during the Sheloshim.
אבי הבן, כשהוא אבל עושה משתה ושמחה ביום המילה ומשתתף אף ...
- 138k
6
votes
Is it forbidden for a noachide (Non-Jew) to be circumcised?
According to Rambam (Hilkhot Milah 3:7), not only is it permissible for a gentile to circumcise himself, it is a mitsvah!
As he writes in a responsum (ed. Blau # 148), this is in the category of eino ...
- 35.4k
6
votes
Accepted
How do you count days for brit milah (circumcision)?
The day of the birth is included in counting towards the eighth day of life:
A Brit Milah should be performed on the infant's eighth day (including the day of birth), after sunrise. If the ...
- 37.6k
6
votes
How did Abraham perform brit milah?
The description of Abraham's circumcision in the Bible doesn't say what tool he used. However, Joshua is described as having circumcised the Israelites with swords of stone (Joshua 5:2), and, as רבות ...
- 24k
6
votes
Accepted
Why does Eliyahu appear at a brit milah?
From Explaining the Customs of Bris Milah (relevant excerpt):
WHY IS THERE A CHAIR FOR ELIYAHU?
According to the Midrash, Eliyahu Hanavi attends every bris. Before
Eliyahu rose to heaven and ...
- 6,753
6
votes
Per the claim that Abraham kept the whole Torah, why didn't he circumcise Ishmael and all his slaves earlier?
Aside from any Kabbalistic answers to why Avraham waited to circumcise himself, there are many famous non-Kabbalistic (nigleh) answers, which appear on this very site.
It would strengthen the question ...
- 20.4k
6
votes
Recent convert brit-milah question
It sometimes happen by children who were circumcised for medical reasons that too much skin is left over so they need a circumcision revision.
Such a thing almost never happens by milah. Let alone ...
- 4,499
5
votes
Brit milah during shloshim
The Rama (YD 391:2) quotes opinions both ways if a mourner may partake of the meal at a circumcision (the doubt is if it is considered "celebratory" like a wedding is), and notes the custom is to ...
- 96.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Why is there no Bris Milah for girls?
The answer to that question is more difficult than appears at first glance.
One might have be said "gloves for snakes? combs for hairless?"
One of the assumptions made by the question is that Brit ...
- 22.6k
5
votes
Eating the foreskin at a brit milah
This custom is is at least ~600 years old, as it is mentioned in a responsum by R. Solomon ben Simon Duran.
Shu"t HaRashbash siman 518
מכל מקום יצא לנו לפי זה איסור למה שנהגו לבלוע ערלת הזכרים ...
- 48.9k
5
votes
Bris when the mother isn't observant?
Every Jewish baby boy needs to get a Bris - irrelevant of his future as a religiously observant Jew.
If the parents don't take care of it, then the local Bet Din has to deal with it.
If they didn't, ...
- 42.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Is the pain from the brit milah most severe at the 3rd day after it?
This comes from IbnEzra on the pasuk in Vayishlach about the people of Shechem. The Mishna in Shabbos Perek 9 Mishna 3 cites this pasuk.
Vayishlach 34:25
וַיְהִי֩ בַיּ֨וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֜י ...
- 42.8k
5
votes
Why does the word milah mean both circumcision and word?
They are two different (although similar-sounding) words.
1. מִלָּה meaning 'word' is attested to in Tehillim 139:4:
כִּ֤י אֵ֣ין מִ֭לָּה בִּלְשׁוֹנִ֑י הֵ֥ן יְ֝הוָ֗ה יָדַ֥עְתָּ כֻלָּֽהּ׃
...
- 41.3k
5
votes
Accepted
What defines a person who is circumcised "of the heart"?
This is the subject of the fourth discourse of the the Alter Rebbe in the fourth section of the Tanya called Igeret HaKodesh.
He explains that process of circumcising the heart is to remove ones ...
- 13.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Why were women doing Brit Milah to their sons?
Actually, if you look two verses later, it mentions separately ואת המלים אותם (those who circumcised them), and states that they were beheaded (whereas the mothers had their babies hanged from their ...
- 7,711
4
votes
Maimonides on Circumcision
The answer to your question is, yes, Maimonides said these things about circumcision. His statements can be found in Guide for the Perplexed 3:49. I will intersperse your four statements with the ...
- 48.9k
4
votes
May a woman be a kvater?
A woman can be a kvater(in) if the physical layout of the location of the brit allows her to do without tzniut issues.
The Rema in Shulchan Aruch YD 265:11 describes how a woman cannot be a sandak ...
- 45.6k
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