The Perfect Bris

Some people hire a mohel based on word of mouth. Their friends or relatives had a good experience, and so they are confident they'll have the same.

Some people hire a mohel based on their own homework and research, and interview several mohels before deciding which they'll hire. 

In either case, everyone wants a smooth experience, and a perfect bris outcome.

Sometimes that happens! But we are humans, which means by definition we are imperfect. 

Not everything is meant to be perfect. And since every baby's anatomical situation is a little different, there are no guarantees of perfection in life. 

In some cases the precise amount of foreskin is removed, the perfect amount of membrane remains, the baby's bleeding is under control within seconds, and the care he needs is minimal in the days to follow. This is about as close to perfect as possible. 

Vitamin K before circumcision? A Mohel's Perspective

 I am often asked if I will do a circumcision if the baby hasn't had a Vitamin K shot. [Hospitals tell parents different things, and not all parents want to give their child a vitamin K shot]

The answer is YES. And here is why.

More important and more complicated than the circumcision itself is the wound-care which follows. Circumcisions usually heal well, and while it sometimes takes a few weeks or even months for things to look "normal," none of that will happen if the baby's immediate post-op bleeding isn't tended to. Which is why a mohel's training spends much more time on bleed-control than on the mechanics of circumcision.

We have been circumcising our babies for THOUSANDS of years, and have developed excellent methods for wound-care, none of which ever took into consideration whether a baby had a Vitamin K shot.

Metzitzah with a tube - unsafe?

Over the last few months I've had a good number of phone calls from people looking for a mohel who "does not perform metzitzah." 

I have a whole page dedicated to Metzitzah, as it has been a controversial issue due to a few bad stories that have come out of New York in recent decades. Some argue that the stories were exaggerated and made far worse by the news outlets (they used shoddy evidence and jumped to conclusions without a real investigation), while some argued that the stories were absolutely 100% true.

Challenge of Content (and 1 million views)

 We are still here at mohelinsouthflorida.com

Posting here has taken a bit of a dive because (thank God) life is busy - with work as a mohel, work as a rabbi, and with family.  

Over the years, most of what I’ve wanted to say about Bris has been posted here, and I am grateful that in the close to 17 years of this website existing, the content has been seen across the globe and has been helpful to so many people. 

As of this moment we are around 40,000 hits shy of a million independent clicks (all-time) to see the content on this website.  

Repost XVII: Some of My Favorite Bris Stories

I can summarize the story or you can just see the title and click on which ever URL

http://www.mohelinsouthflorida.com/2019/02/why-do-i-love-being-mohel-read-this.html

http://www.mohelinsouthflorida.com/2019/05/who-cries-at-bris-it-depends.html

http://www.mohelinsouthflorida.com/2024/06/a-few-random-items-with-one-common-theme.html

http://www.mohelinsouthflorida.com/2021/02/fascinating-personal-stories.html

Repost XVI: Naming the Baby

One topic that mohels sometimes get involved in is helping the new parents come up with a name for the baby. This happens most often with people who are not in the Orthodox community, who might be looking to choose a name they like (they just need help with options and the meanings of names), or who might be looking to match an English name they've chosen to a Hebrew name, either in its meaning, in how it sounds, or by finding a name that has a same-sounding first consonant or vowel. 

Many people name a child after a deceased relative (Ashkenazic community) or a living relative (Sefardic community). Others pick other criteria, especially if they feel the deceased have been adequately memorialized in the larger family. 

Who gets to choose the baby's name? The baby's parents. 

Repost XV: Unique Family Situations

 When a Jewish man marries a Jewish woman, they are most likely (and hopefully) aligned in their Jewish commitments. When she gives birth to a boy, they will schedule their son's bris. Sometimes the woman calls me, sometimes the man calls me. 

When there is any other arrangement of parents, things can get a little complicated.

Father is not Jewish

When the woman is Jewish and the man is not, Jewish law has declared that the baby's Jewishness is transferred through his mother. So while the case may not look the same as the first case described above, the baby's Jewishness is not subject to scrutiny. The ceremony will look a little different because the child does not have a Jewish father, but insofar as the child being considered Jewish, this is unquestionable and unchallenge-able. 

Here is where the topic of how to name the baby under that circumstance is raised. The particular question is relevant because we always name a Jewish child by his name 'ben' (son of) (his father's Jewish name). In this case, since the father is not Jewish and doesn't have a Jewish name, we would want the child to not seem different from others, so the options of how to name him are included here.

Father Not Present

While this is not necessarily a unique "family" situation, the absence of the father does raise a minor issue of who says the blessing the father usually says at the time of the Bris. You can read that discussion here

Mother Not Jewish

Repost XIV: Sterility and Cleanliness

In early 2018 I made a Table of Contents for the this website, creating several pages that could be accessed from the Main ToC. 

One of those pages covered Mohel Standards, which included several subsections covering sterility and cleanliness. Here is the link specific to sterility.

The first time I addressed this is one of the first pieces of content in this website, Cleanliness and Efficiency, with some common sense ticket items to look for when hiring a mohel. Of course, most mohels fit these criteria (thank God - if they didn't it's hard to imagine they'd still be invited to perform brisses), but some can certainly raise the bar. That said, arm yourself with questions based on what you find there!

Repost XIII: Divrei Torah About Bris and Some Halakhic Matters About Bris

All the Subjects appear in Font of this size, followed by links to a number of articles I've written on that subject. There are over a dozen categories here, so scroll down to find subjects of interest, and enjoy!!!

Audio Tutorials Page

quick classes on various Bris topics - links here will take you to YUTorah

Maimonides Part I and II 

Context Helps with response to those who are anti-circumcision, and who claim that Maimonides was as well (!). It is important to know what Maimonides actually wrote to counter those who use Maimonides for their agenda

Maimonides on Why We Circumcise, Part I

Maimonides On Why We Circumcise, Part II

Repost XII: Bris Customs for Brisses that Take Place on Special Calendar Days

 This was originally posted here:

SHABBOS
http://www.mohelinsouthflorida.com/2015/06/the-shabbos-bris.html

ROSH CHODESH
http://www.mohelinsouthflorida.com/2019/09/bris-on-rosh-chodesh.html 

FAST DAYS
http://www.mohelinsouthflorida.com/2014/12/when-bris-is-on-fast-day-tosafos.html