The Color White

Nothing represents cleanliness and purity more than the color white. Any image you have in your head of heaven likely includes puffy white clouds and white angels dressed in white garments (to use an anthropomorphic image). A bride wears white on her wedding day, and in Jewish tradition, the groom wears a kittel as well when he and his bride complete the marriage ceremony under the Huppah. White garments (Tachrichim/n) are also placed on the deceased before they are placed in a coffin or are buried directly in the ground, as per the custom in Israel. It is also a widespread custom to wear white on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. There are various reasons given for this, but the attempt to live a symbolic life of purity on these days is unmistakable.

Is the Mohel a Doctor?

This has been coming up a lot lately.

I wear a lab coat at the brisses I do (as you can see under my tallis in the photo on the right), for a few reasons:

1. It looks official
2. It looks clean - can't argue with the whiteness of white (who said I can't be profound?)
3. The lab coat has deep pockets for me to put the things I need accessible at different times through my bris workings.

For people who don't know me, though, it makes them think I am a physician. Which I am not.

Correspondence

This post is not about bris milah per se, but more about how this blog has been received by others.

I have been getting a significantly higher number of emails and phone calls from people asking about circumcision - some from local towns, some from across the country. It is nice to discuss this subject matter with people, and to give them a fresh perspective on this ritual. Many people are truly learning about what they will be going through, and the ability to talk things through is something people have expressed appreciation for having.

I have also been getting attempts at Anonymous postings from people who are anti-circumcision. I don't know why people who post anonymously ever think their opinion will hold any credence.

So, let me clarify. This is not a "pro circumcision website." It is a pro-bris website that is informative for people who are going through this experience. I am not looking to convince people one way or the other - the assumption is being made that you are a parent expecting a child (or holding your newborn), who is just trying to find out information.

On that note, if there is any way I can help in your preparations for the bris, feel free to email or call me.

Thanks for looking and searching through the site. Best of luck with your baby.

A.B.

When Baby is "Born" Through C-Section

The Torah says that when a woman gives birth to a male baby, he is to be circumcised on the eighth day of his life. (Leviticus 12:2-3)

What happens when the birth is not really a "birth"?

Consider this: In "Macbeth," Macduff was able to kill Macbeth, who was unable to be harmed by anyone of woman born, because Macduff was "from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd" — born via a Caesarean section.

A similar thought process occurs in some cases when a child is brought into this world through this abdominal surgical procedure.

An "Inspired" Teaching

At a recent bris, the baby's grandfather told me a joke:

What blessing does a girl say at a bris? Shelo Asani BOY!

[Translation - "For not having made me a boy." The joke is because there are three blessings that are said in the morning, that begin with the phrase "shelo asani" - for not having made me "x" - and one of them is "Shelo Asani GOY"]

Anyway, while not specifically related to the actual bris and process the baby goes through, I was inspired to find a new explanation for these three blessings, with Bris Milah being an ingredient to my novel interpretation.

It is spelled out in much detail in this post in my other blog.

Enjoy!

Some Thoughts on Metzitzah

[Note from 4/30/11 - see here for more on this subject]
Metzitzah is the ancient practice of drawing blood from the wound after the excision of the foreskin. There is much debate amongst rabbinic authorities as to how this is to be done. Sadly, much of it has become a politicized debate to the point that the different sides of the aisle often cannot see or recognize the validity of a differing opinion.

In the Talmud, the main reason for removing a mohel from his position, ie not allowing him to continue to practice as a mohel, was if he did not perform metzitzah. (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 133b, Maimonides Laws of Milah 2:2, Shulchan Arukh Y”D 264:3) Bear in mind, the lack of metzitzah does not a non-kosher bris make. (Avnei Nezer Y”D 338, especially letter “י”, mishneh Halakhot 13:21 (Menashe klein))

Only the mohel who does not do metzitzah has questioned legitimacy. The baby and his bris are deemed kosher, with no further procedure necessary to rectify the flaws of the practices of the mohel.

The Talmud is not clear how metzitzah is to be done. As long as a mohel does metzitzah (many call it "Metzitzah B'Peh" or "Metzitzah B'feh" - drawing blood with the mouth, or the power of the mouth), be it orally or with a tube, he is Talmudically fit to be a mohel (assuming of course, his character is otherwise exemplary).

***************************************************************

Much ink has been spilled over metzitzah. The only Jews who require metzitzah are the Orthodox and some Conservative communities.

How metzitzah is done is the subject of debate, though just about everyone who does it has the mouth involved, in some way performing suction of blood from the wound.

• Some have the mouth directly touching the open wound.
• Others have a sterile tube directly touching the open wound, while the mouth provides the suction to draw the blood.

Both methods have rabbinic authorities backing them, and either one is acceptable to most Jews. While I did not poll either community, I imagine that if someone from either camp discovered a bris had been done using the method of metzitzah to which they do not subscribe, they would be unlikely to declare the bris invalid or the mohel who did it invalid.
They certainly would not require the baby to have a wound reopened so metzitzah could be done the other way. Also, metzitzah is never done on an adult circumcision or for hatafat dam brit.

While I do advocate metzitzah be done, with a tube, it is worth noting that if for some reason the metzitzah is not done at all, whether by choice or by oversight, no one questions the validity of the bris itself.

The reason I recommend the tube is because I value the cause of sterility and good hygienic practice in the bris procedure. While Jews circumcise their sons because of the inherent spiritual value, I feel there is no excuse for subjecting the baby to the possibility of any infection - which can so obviously come to a baby through the direct contact of a stranger's saliva with the baby's open wound and the baby's blood which is truly "his life" (see Deuteronomy 12:23)

Final, and perhaps most important note: What sometimes is lost in translation is that the advocates for using a tube are not arguing or declaring a ban on metzitzah or even metzitzah b’peh! They are actually suggesting metzitzah b’peh be accomplished using a tube which can achieve the same result as the mouth, using the strength of the mouth.

I added to this topic in a different posting (as linked at the top of this page)

Pinch Hitting

It wasn't the first time, but it was special.

I received a phone call late last night, "Might you be available to do a bris tomorrow morning?" As things work out, thank God I was available.

"This is a late call. What could have happened?" I wondered.

"The mohel we called apparently had business in Guatemala and is stuck there."

Good thing he called to tell them before this morning.

"Sure. No problem. I'll be there."

It is a wonderful feeling to be called for a bris. It is an honor to be able to fill in on such short notice. In most cases, people appreciate the mohel and the role he plays just because the service is unique and is recognized as being so helpful in performing a special mitzvah. In cases like this, circumstances being what they are, the feeling is different, in a wonderful way, because I know the family's need was more urgent, more pressing, due to time constraints.

And thank God, the bris went well, the baby is doing wonderfully, and everyone seems happy.

Welcome, Miami Beach. I look forward to returning to you soon!

Timing the Bris

The Bris takes place in daylight hours of the eighth day of the baby’s life. The day of birth is considered the first day of life, unless the baby is born after sunset, in which case the following day is considered the first day.

While a bris is never performed earlier than the eighth day of a baby's life, a bris may be delayed under very specific circumstances:

a. If the baby was born by ceasarian section and the eighth day is the Sabbath or a Festival

b. A baby who contracts an illness must be completely healed before he has his bris.

c. A premature or otherwise very small baby will wait until he achieves a suitable weight for him to withstand the stress of the bris.

While there is no exact definition of a healthy size, many mohels arbitrarily follow a five pound range (give or take a couple of ounces) as a minimal weight upon which to circumcize. Doctors will often clear the baby at lower weights, but when a mohel is uncomfortable due to size reasons it is better to be safe than sorry. Once the baby reaches five pounds, however, if the mohel continues to push it off, it is worth seeking another mohel so as not to continue delaying this important, timely mitzvah.

ps. When a baby is being circumcised for the sake of conversion (most typically on account of adoption - though some mohels will do such when the baby's mother is not Jewish), it need not take place on the eighth day of his life because there is no "mitzvah" to circumcise him. In this case, the circumcision should take place sooner than later, but the timing will be determined based on when the baby arrives at his adoptive family, and when they are ready to have his circumcision.

Why We Name the Baby at the Bris

[Subsequent to writing this, I wrote an article on this subject which appears in my other blog]

There is no Biblical injunction to name a baby boy at his bris. It is clear that when the forefathers were born they were named immediately - Yitzchak was given his name first (Genesis 21:3), THEN he was circumcised in the following verse (21:4).

When Yitzchak's sons were born, they were named immediately (25:25-26). Each of Yaakov's sons was named as soon as he was born (Chapters 29-30).

[Full disclosure: God changed Abraham's name from "Avram" to "Avraham" after he circumcised himself.]

So why do we name the baby at the bris?

This leads into a larger question of why we do all the things we do at the bris? Why does the ceremony look the way it does now? How much of it is rooted in Kabbalistic practices? Medieval practices? European practices? Middle Eastern practices?

After all, the Torah only commands that the baby be circumcised on the eighth day, and perhaps a celebration should accompany the circumcision. But there is no mention of a sandak, Elijah (who of course had not been born yet), or the formalized ceremony we see today, including the naming taking place after the circumcision.

What if the bris is postponed for health reasons, or not performed at all because of a history of hemophilia in the family? Is the baby not named? Of course the baby is given a name! Which would indicate that naming at the bris is not all that significant.

So why do we name the baby at the bris?

Here are a few ideas I have found in researching this question

A. When Elijah the Prophet is present

In Genesis 2:19, the Torah says וכל אשר יקרא לו האדם נפש חיה הוא שמו. That after meeting all the animals, Adam gave each one a name.

I read somewhere that the acronym of the first five words of this phrase are the letters of the name אליהו - Eliyahu/Elijah. The first letters of the next three words, נ, and ח, and ה have a numerical value of 63, which is the same as the word נביא - prophet.

The last word is שמו, which means "his name," and we have found our significance. When Elijah the Prophet is present, that is when "his name" is proclaimed.

B. Completing a Jewish Identity

Some will argue that the bris is the final step in making a baby a Jew, and so his name comes at this highly significant moment. I have already debunked this myth.

More palatable, the name is a completion of the individual's identity. If the bris completes his physical body (as Abraham is told in Genesis 17 to "walk before Me and become complete" through the act of circumcision), it is only after the bris that his name can be given to him. (Rabbi Menachem Azariah deFano (1548-1620), "Mamaarei Rama MiPano")

C. Tumah/Tahara

Until the bris he was uncircumcised – which is not the ideal state of a male Jew. Any name he may have had until his bris was unbecoming to his identity as a Jew – so he receives a Hebrew name at his bris, in celebration of his new physical status.

***********

There are differences of opinion as to when girls are named in relation to their birth, but everyone agrees that a girl is given her name on a day when the Torah is read, when her father is called for an aliyah or some other Torah reading participatory role.

For more on this subject - regarding boys and girls, see this article

Don't Use the Mogen Clamp!

An article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported on a lawsuit against the makers of the Mogen clamp. (text of article produced below)

I have never been a fan of this clamp (see method 1 here), and even the FDA has issued warnings against clamps because of their potential of irreversible damage

Simply put, no step in the circumcision procedure should be irreversible until the actual removal of the foreskin. Once the shield is in place, it is important to double check that the proper area of skin is ready to be excised. In the event the shield was initially applied incorrectly, it can simply be removed and repositioned - no harm done.

Once a clamp is put in place, anything in its clamping mechanism is essentially dead skin, and the excision/amputation which follows is irreversible.

PLEASE TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY - DO NOT ALLOW A MOHEL TO USE THIS DEVICE ON YOUR BABY, UNLESS HIS TRACK RECORD IS PERFECT WITH IT!

*****************************************************************************
Atlanta lawyer wins $11 million lawsuit for family in botched circumcision
By Ty Tagami


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, July 19, 2010

The maker of an instrument used in circumcisions claimed that injury was impossible with its use, but after an infant lost a portion of his penis during an operation with the Mogen clamp, a judge awarded $10.8 million in damages against the company.

The judgment handed down Friday in New York involves an Atlanta lawyer who has been crusading against circumcision as a dangerous and unnecessary practice.

Attorney David Llewellyn won a similar case in Atlanta last year and the injury behind that prior lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court put the New York clamp manufacturer on notice about the danger of the device, his current lawsuit said.

The baby in the current case, identified in court documents only as L.G., lost the entire glans, or head, of his penis after it was pulled into the jaws of the clamp, according to a federal magistrate's order. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein ordered Mogen Circumcision Instruments of New York to pay $10.8 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the Florida boy, now 3, and his parents.

The parents "are extraordinarily distraught and angered that this company tells people it can't happen," Llewellyn said.

It's unclear whether they will ever collect the money. Mogen is already in default on a $7.5 million judgment in 2007 from a Massachusetts lawsuit, Llewellyn said.

The company is going out of business, according to a woman who answered the phone at its Brooklyn headquarters Monday. The woman, who said she was a secretary and would identify herself only as D. Rotter, the person whom Llewellyn said was served papers in the lawsuit. She said increased competition has undermined their business.

"It's just kind of dwindling down to nothing," she said, adding that the phones at the Mogen office were scheduled to be disconnected Tuesday. Mogen didn't defend itself in court, and Rotter said it was because the company couldn't afford it.

She said the Mogen clamp is "painless and safe" when used properly. The case involving the Florida boy was "unfortunate," she said, adding that "any medical mishap is unfortunate."

In this case, a New York mohel, or Jewish ritual circumcisor, performed the operation in the baby's home, Llewellyn said. The mohel negotiated a separate settlement, the terms of which Llewellyn would not disclose.

Llewellyn won another circumcision case in 2009 over an operation at South Fulton Medical Center. In that case, which involved a baby identified only as D.P. Jr., the mother contended that the doctor who circumcised him removed too much tissue and that his pediatrician failed to respond when a nurse complained of excessive bleeding.

The tip of the penis was placed in a biohazard bag and might have been reattached if he'd gotten attention in time, Llewellyn said in 2009. His lawsuit in New York says D.P. Jr. lost a third of his glans.

The jury found that both the pediatrician and the physician who performed the circumcision were negligent, and awarded $2.3 million to the plaintiffs. South Fulton Medical Center was absolved of liability.

In Friday's decision, the court determined that Mogen had to pay for medical expenses and for the years of psychotherapy that will be needed. The boy suffers pain when he urinates, the court order says. He will eventually be able to have sex, but he is likely to be embarrassed and will likely have trouble forming "meaningful" relationships with girls, it adds. "At 3 years old, L.G. is aware that he looks different from other boys based on both his own observations and comments from other children which make him feel inferior ."