The Shabbos Bris

I had a bris on Shabbos this past weekend. Shabbos brisses are not as common as other days of the week (though statistically, babies should be born more or less equally on every day of the week). Of course, a baby born on Saturday via c-section will not be having his bris on Shabbos anyway. 

What is Allowed for a Shabbos Bris?

The Mishnah on Shabbat 133a says the following:

משנה. עושין כל צרכי מילה [בשבת]; מוהלין ופורעין ומוצצין, ונותנין עליה איספלנית וכמון. אם לא שחק מערב שבת - לועס בשיניו ונותן, אם לא טרף יין ושמן מערב שבת - ינתן זה בעצמו וזה בעצמו. ואין עושין לה חלוק לכתחילה, אבל כורך עליה סמרטוט. אם לא התקין מערב שבת - כורך על אצבעו ומביא, ואפילו מחצר אחרת.

We perform all the needs of circumcision on Shabbos. We circumcise, uncover the corona, and draw out the blood; then place a compress and cumin on it. If he did not crush the cumin before Shabbos, he chews it with his teeth then applies it. If he did not mix together the wine and oil on Friday, he applies each one separately. We may not prepare a new bandage, but a rag can be wrapped around it. If it wasn't brought to the place of the Bris in advance of Shabbos, he can wind it around his finger and bring it [to the bris] - even from a different courtyard.

The key phrase is the first one: we do everything that is necessary for the bris itself, meaning the moment of the actual circumcision. Many things that are done during a circumcision are otherwise a violation of Shabbos: the instruments are muktzeh, causing a wound, marking where the foreskin is, etc/

What is Different At a Shabbos Bris?

The main difference is in the immediate aftermath of the circumcision. If the mohel notices that there are tzitzin she'einan m'akvin - portions of the skin or membrane that might be a little asthetically unpleasing but are not on the glans - they may not be removed/cleaned up on shabbos. If, however, these leftovers would render the bris unkosher, then they could be removed on Shabbos, in the immediate aftermath of the bris. 

Anything Else?

Once the circumcision instruments are used and no longer needed, they become muktzeh. If the mohel can leave his things in a safe place where they won't get misplaced or accidentally taken, he should do that, rather than take them home with him. 

Finally - an older mohel told me this one long ago - if the mohel is inconvenienced in any significant way, on account of his having to leave his family for shabbos for example, it is certainly appropriate for the bris family to make arrangements for where he'll stay (if he can't on his own), and compensate him for his travel, bris services, and time away.

Chanukah and Bris Milah

See the entire thought in my other blog:
A thought occured to me related to Chanukah and bris milah. I blogged about it at my other blog, but I am reproducing the relevant-to-bris idea here:

"Why do we have EIGHT DAYS of Chanukah? After all, any miracle of oil only lasted 7 days (thay had found a jug of oil with enough for one day)!"

One approach to answering this question focuses on: "Is there a significance to the number eight that fits into this story?"

Two of the more known answers to the latter question are:
1. The rededication of the Temple was meant to emulate the original dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, which was an Eight-Day-Celebration.
2. On account of the war, the Maccabees were unable to adequately celebrate the holiday of Sukkot. As such, upon the rededication of the Temple, they created a make-up for the holiday they missed. Since Biblically speaking the holiday of Sukkot + Shmini Atzeret is an eight-day period, this served as the model for the Chanukah time span.

Here I offer another possibility. I do not base this in any historical document or anything I found. But a unique connection came to me as I reviewed the decrees that traditionally accepted view of history offers as the background to the rebellion of the few against the many.

The Greeks aimed to destroy three fundamental tenets of Jewish life:
1. Shabbos
2. Rosh Chodesh
3. Bris Milah

Being a mohel, this simple (yet, I feel, profound) connection was staring me straight in the face.

There are all kinds of reasons suggested for why a bris takes place on the eighth day of life. One of them focuses on the idea that the baby will certainly experience a shabbos before he has his bris.

Chanukah goes for eight days, therefore, to remind us the eight-day period that leads up to a bris.
An Eight-day holiday will certainly contain a shabbos.
The fact that Chanukah begins towards the end of Kislev, on the 25th of the month, assures that Rosh Chodesh Tevet will always be observed during Chanukah.

Military celebrations alone are typically celebrated for one day. Think V-E Day (May 8) V-J Day (Sept 2), Purim (14 Adar). By all rights, Chanukah should have been a 1-day holiday.

But Chanukah is meant to be more than just a tribute to a specific date. It is a highly symbolic holiday that represents a victory over assimilation, a commitment to Jewish tradition, mitzvot, and heritage, a reemergence of a "fighting Jew," and the return of Jewish autonomy to our ancient homeland.

And if, in the background, the dates and length of the celebration can serve as a reminder to what we overcame from the perspective of those who made decrees threatening our way of life - what could be wrong with it? I find it very helpful.