The main element of abris–also called abrit milah–is the removal of the foreskin from an eight-day-old baby boy’s penis. But abrisis actually more than just a snip; it is a ceremony that includes various traditions, rituals, and prayers. Here’s a rundown of the main events.
Welcoming the Baby
Before the ceremony, the baby is usually placed on a large pillow and carried into the room where the circumcision will take place. In some families and communities it is considered a great honor to carry a baby to hisbris, and parents choose someone (or more than one person) special in their lives for this job.
婴儿交给了sandek, which is the name given to the person who holds the baby during the circumcision. This is often one of the baby’s grandfathers, but parents can also choose to honor other people with the role.
When the baby arrives, themohel–a professional specially trained in circumcision–welcomes him with the words:Baruch Ha-Ba. This means “blessed is the one who has arrived.”
The Procedure
Before the circumcision, themohel背诵一个祝福承认mitzvah(commandment) of circumcision is about to be fulfilled.
Themoheluses a shield to protect the penis and to guide the knife to make sure only the foreskin is cut. There are different kinds of shields, some tighter than others. Somemohalim(plural formohel) use a tighter shield that functions like a clamp, which they believe eases the baby’s pain. Jewish legal authorities debate the permissibility of these different shields. The general concern is the act of circumcision must immediately draw blood; some tight shields delay blood flow.
Similarly, Jewish legal authorities debate the use of local anesthetic.Mohalimwho do not use anesthetic give the baby sugar water or wine as a mild form of sedation. When choosing amohel, it isworthwhile to askwhat his policies are regarding clamps and anesthetic.
The actual circumcision consists of three separate acts. First, themoheluses a special knife to remove the baby’s foreskin. Then themohel的眼泪f and folds back the mucous membrane to expose the glans. The final stage is calledmetzitzah, which means suctioning the blood from the wound.
This last stage is the most controversial. In the time of the Talmud, themohelwould suction the penis by mouth, actually sucking the blood from the wound. The rabbis in the Talmud believed that this kind of suctioning was a hygienic measure.
Today we know that suction by mouth is not hygienic; germs can be transmitted from themohelto the baby and from the baby to themohel. Some contemporarymohalimuse an oral suction tube so that their mouth does not come into direct contact with the baby’s penis. Many others consider the use of gauze as an adequate means formetzitzah.
More Blessings and Celebration
If you’ve been holding your breath up to this point, you can relax. Surgery is over.
在传统communities, the father recites a blessing for fulfilling the commandment to bring one’s son into Abraham’s covenant. In liberal communities, both parents recite this blessing.
Then all the guests respond: “Just as this child has entered into the covenant, so may he enter into (a life of) Torah, the marriage canopy, and into good deeds.”
Themohelthen takes a cup of wine and recites over it a special prayer that announces thebaby’s Hebrew name. If the name has been kept secret until this point, this prayer can be an especially poignant part of thebris. After the naming, a drop or two of the wine is placed in the baby’s mouth, the parents drink some of the wine, and the ceremony is over.
Of course, no Jewish celebration is complete without food. Typicalbrisspreads feature Jewish breakfast foods like bagels, lox, etc. But there’s no obligation to serve these foods and you can be as creative as you like with the menu. It is traditional to include bread so that theBirkat Hamazoncan be recited, with special insertions for abris.
