Importance of the Bris

"Why can't the bris just be done in the hospital by a doctor?" my father is often asked. Here is his basic reply: the training of a rabbi is more intense than that of a physician. If a doctor would do the bris, it would just be a medical procedure, and it would not fulfill the covenant and commandment. Only when someone is part of the covenant does the circumcision is there a real fulfillment of the covenant.

Many times, men who are coming back to their Jewish roots discover that they did not have a bris done by a traditional mohel. In this situation, they are required to have a drop of blood drawn from the circumcision area and a proper Jewish naming ceremony. This is called htafas dom.

At one particular bris, my father asked the father for his Jewish name.  (The baby's parent's Jewish names are required for the naming ceremony.) "I don't have a Jewish name", the man answered.  "If you had a bris, you must have a Jewish name from the rabbi who did your bris," my father said. "My circumcision was done by a doctor in a hospital," the man replied.

My father explained to him very gently that such a circumcision is not considered a bris, and a real bris should have been done. "All that needs to be done is to draw a drop of blood and everything will be kosher," my father told him.  "Fine!' he replied.

As my father walked toward a bedroom, the baby asked, "Rabbi, can my father come into the room?" "Sure," said my father.  "Can my uncle also come in?" he asked. "Fine, if that's what you want," my father said. In the bedroom, he looked at my father, held up a finger and said, "OK, I'm ready rabbi."  My father looked him in the eye, shook his head, and said "not the finger." It took a second to sink in.  The man paled and said, "you mean . . . " My father nodded, "Yup!"  Despite his shock, the gentleman did not back down.  He was duly entered into the covenant the same day as his son.

My father also does brises on adults.  In such a situation, he works together with respected surgeons.  One bris my father will never forget was on a 30-year old photographer.  The photographer set up a video camera, and since just a local anesthesia was used, the photographer shot still pictures of his own bris. This was a very interesting bris, indeed.