Editing Brit milah (section)

== Ceremony ==
[[File:High res A circumcision, Marco Marcuola, Venice, circa 1870 - Museum of Jewish Art and History.jpg|thumb|Jewish circumcision in Venice around 1780, [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme]]]]

=== ''Mohalim'' ===
''[[Mohalim]]'' are Jews trained in the practice of ''brit milah'', the "covenant of circumcision". According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of a grown free Jewish male expert, anyone who has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision, if they are Jewish.<ref>Talmud Avodah Zarah 26b; Menachot 42a; Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Milah, ii. 1; [[Shulkhan Arukh]], Yoreh De'ah, l.c.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Birth Culture. Jewish Testimonies from Rural Switzerland and Environs |year=2022 |isbn=978-3-7965-4607-5 |editor-last=Lubrich |editor-first=Naomi |publisher=Schwabe |location=Basel |pages=54–123 |language=de, en}}</ref> Yet, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism allow women to be ''{{transliteration|he|mohalot}} ({{langx|he|{{Script/Hebrew|מוֹהֲלוֹת}}}}, plural of {{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|מוֹהֶלֶת}}}} {{transliteration|he|mohelet}}, feminine of {{transliteration|he|mohel}})'', without restriction. In 1984, Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform ''{{transliteration|he|mohelet}}''; she was certified by the ''brit milah'' program of Reform Judaism.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-07 |title=Home |website=Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism |url=http://beritmila.org/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007073323/http://beritmila.org/ |archive-date=2013-10-07}}</ref>
[[File:Brit milah bench.jpg|alt=|thumb|Circumcision bench, 18th century. [[Jewish Musem of Switzerland|Jewish Museum of Switzerland]].]]

=== Time and place ===
[[File:Fauteuil de circoncision ("Fauteuil d'Elie").jpg|thumb|''Chair of Elijah'' used during the ''brit milah'' ceremony, [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme]]]]
It is customary for the ''brit'' to be held in a synagogue, but it can also be held at home or any other suitable location. The ''brit'' is performed on the eighth day from the baby's birth, taking into consideration that according to the Jewish calendar, the day begins at the sunset of the day before. If the baby is born on Sunday before sunset, the ''brit'' will be held the following Sunday. However, if the baby is born on Sunday night after sunset, the ''brit'' is on the following Monday. The ''brit'' takes place on the eighth day following birth even if that day is Shabbat or a holiday; however, if the baby is born on Friday night between sunset and nightfall, the ''briti'' is delayed until the following Sunday.<ref>Shulchan Aruch YD 266:8.</ref> Furthermore, the brit is performed on the Sabbath only if it is a natural birth; if the birth is a [[Caesarean section]], the ''brit'' is delayed until the Sunday.<ref>Shulchan Aruch YD 266:10.</ref> A brit is traditionally performed in the morning, but it may be performed any time during daylight hours.<ref>{{Cite web
 |url         = http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144464/jewish/The-Proper-Time-and-Place.htm
 |title       = The Circumcision Procedure and Blessings – Performing the Bris Milah – The Handbook to Circumcision
 |publisher   = [[Chabad.org]]
 |access-date  = 2012-04-25
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120116103539/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144464/jewish/The-Proper-Time-and-Place.htm
 |archive-date = 2012-01-16
}}</ref>

==== Postponement for health reasons ====
[[File:Circumcision set.jpg|thumb|right|Family circumcision set and trunk, {{circa}} eighteenth century. Wooden box covered in cow hide with silver implements: silver trays, clip, pointer, silver flask, spice vessel.]]
The Talmud explicitly instructs that a boy must not be circumcised if he had two brothers who died due to complications arising from their circumcisions,<ref name="JewEncMor">{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Morbidity|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=763&letter=M}}</ref> and [[Maimonides]] says that this excluded paternal half-brothers. This may be due to a concern about [[hemophilia]].<ref name="JewEncMor" />

An Israeli study found a high rate of [[urinary tract infection]]s if the bandage is left on too long.<ref>{{Cite web
 |first       = Ofri
 |last        = Ilani
 |title       = Traditional circumcision raises risk of infection, study shows
 |url         = http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1043807.html
 |publisher   = [[Haaretz]]
 |date        = 2008-05-12
 |access-date  = 15 August 2009
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090820233703/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1043807.html
 |archive-date = 20 August 2009
}}</ref>

If the child is born [[premature baby|prematurely]] or has other serious medical problems, the ''brit milah'' will be postponed until the doctors and ''mohel'' deem the child strong enough for his foreskin to be surgically removed.

==== Adult circumcision ====
In recent years, the circumcision of adult Jews who were not circumcised as infants has become more common than previously thought.<ref>{{Cite web
  | first      = Susan
  | last       = Kreimer
  | title      = In New Trend, Adult Émigrés Seek Ritual Circumcision
  | url        = http://forward.com/articles/4382/in-new-trend-adult-emigrcas-seek-ritual-circumcis/
  | publisher  = [[The Jewish Daily Forward]]
  | date       = 2004-10-22
  | access-date = 24 August 2015
}}</ref> In such cases, the ''brit milah'' will be done at the earliest date that can be arranged. The actual circumcision will be private, and other elements of the ceremony (e.g., the celebratory meal) may be modified to accommodate the desires of the one being circumcised.

==== Circumcision for the dead ====
According to Halacha, a baby who dies before they had time to circumcise him must be circumcised before burial. Several reasons were given for this commandment.<ref>{{Cite web
  | first      = Rami 
  | last       = Reiner
  | title      = A baby boy who dies before reaching eight [days] is circumcised with a flint or reed at his grave" (Shulḥan 'Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 263:5): From Women's Custom to Rabbinic Law
  | url        = https://www.academia.edu/93865013
  | publisher  = [[Journal of the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought]]
  | date       = 2022
  | access-date = 3 January 2023 
}}</ref> Some have written that there is no need for this circumcision.

=== Anesthetic ===
Most prominent ''[[acharonim]]'' rule that the ''[[mitzvah]]'' of ''brit milah'' lies in the pain it causes, and anesthetic, sedation, or ointment should generally not be used.<ref name="Rabbi Yaakov Montrose, 2011, pp. 29-32">Rabbi Yaakov Montrose. ''Halachic World – Volume 3: Contemporary [[Halakha|Halachic]] topics based on the [[Parshah]]''. "Lech Lecha – No Pain, No Bris?" Feldham Publishers 2011, pp. 29–32</ref> However, it is traditionally common to feed the infant a drop of wine or other sweet liquid to soothe him.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Harris|first1=Patricia|title=Study confirms that wine drops soothe boys during circumcision|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/11033/study-confirms-that-wine-drops-soothe-boys-during-circumcision/|access-date=22 June 2016|newspaper=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]]|date=June 11, 1999|ref=wine drops soothe|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813013454/http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/11033/study-confirms-that-wine-drops-soothe-boys-during-circumcision/|archive-date=13 August 2016}}</ref>

[[Eliezer Waldenberg]], [[Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg]], [[Shmuel Wosner]], [[Moshe Feinstein]] and others agree that the child should not be sedated, although pain relieving ointment may be used under certain conditions; [[Shmuel Wosner]] particularly asserts that the act ought to be painful, per [[Psalms|Psalm]] 44:23.<ref name="Rabbi Yaakov Montrose, 2011, pp. 29-32" />

In a letter to the editor published in ''[[The New York Times]]'' on January 3, 1998, [[Moshe David Tendler|Rabbi Moshe David Tendler]] disagrees with the above and writes, "It is a biblical prohibition to cause anyone unnecessary pain." Rabbi Tendler recommends the use of an [[analgesic]] cream.<ref>{{Cite news
 |url         = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/03/opinion/l-pain-and-circumcision-909360.html
 |title       = Pain and Circumcision
 |newspaper        = [[The New York Times]]
 |date        = January 3, 1998
 |access-date  = June 11, 2014
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140714195348/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/03/opinion/l-pain-and-circumcision-909360.html
 |archive-date = July 14, 2014
}}</ref> However, [[lidocaine]] should not be used because it has been linked to several pediatric near-death episodes.<ref name="J Child Neurol 2002">{{Cite journal
  | title   = Neonatal mydriasis: intravenous lidocaine adverse reaction.
  | last1    = Berger
  | first1   = Itai
  | last2   = Steinberg
  | first2  = Avraham
  | journal = J Child Neurol
  | url     = http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122668866/PDFSTART
  | volume  = 17
  | issue   = 5
  | pages   = 400–01
  | date    = May 2002
  | pmid    = 12150593
  | doi     = 10.1177/088307380201700520
| s2cid = 2169066
 }}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
  | title   = Generalized seizures following topical lidocaine administration during circumcision: establishing causation.
  | last1    = Rezvani
  | first1   = Massoud
  | last2   = Finkelstein
  | first2  = Yaron
  | journal = Paediatr Drugs
  | volume  = 9
  | issue   = 2
  | pages   = 125–27
  | date    = 2007
  | pmid    = 17407368
  | doi     = 10.2165/00148581-200709020-00006
| s2cid = 45481923
 }}</ref>

=== ''Kvater'' ===
The title of ''[[wikt:קוואַטער|kvater]]'' ({{Langx|yi|קוואַטער}}) among [[Ashkenazi Jews]] is for the person who carries the baby from the mother to the father, who in turn carries him to the ''[[mohel]].'' This honor is usually given to a couple without children, as a merit or ''[[Segula (Kabbalah)|segula]]'' (efficacious remedy) that they should have children of their own. The origin of the term is [[Middle High German]] ''gevater/gevatere'' ("godfather").<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beider|first=Alexander|title=Origins of Yiddish Dialects|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=153}}</ref>
[[File:Sedutat.png|thumb|Seudat Mitzah at a brit (1824 Czechia)]]

=== ''Seudat mitzvah'' ===
After the ceremony, a [[Seudat mitzvah|celebratory meal]] takes place. At the ''[[birkat hamazon]]'', according to the Eastern Asheknazic rite, additional introductory lines, known as ''Nodeh Leshimcha'', are added. These lines praise God and request the permission of God, the [[Torah]], [[Kohen|Kohanim]] and distinguished people present to proceed with the grace. When the four main blessings are concluded, special ''ha-Rachaman'' prayers are recited. They request various blessings by God that include:
# the parents of the baby, to help them raise him wisely;
# the ''[[sandek]]'' (companion of child);
# the baby boy to have strength and grow up to trust in God and perceive Him [[Three pilgrim festivals|three times a year]];
# the ''mohel'' for unhesitatingly performing the ritual;
# to send the [[Messiah in Judaism]] speedily in the merit of this ''[[mitzvah]]'';
# to send [[Elijah (prophet)|Elijah]] the prophet, known as "The Righteous Kohen", so that God's covenant can be fulfilled with the re-establishment of the throne of King [[David]].

According to the Western Ashkenazic rite, ''Nodeh Leshimcha'' is not recited. ''[[Elohim tzivita li-yedidcha bechiracha]]'' is recited during the second blessing, and a set of ''ha-Rachaman'' prayers, different from the ones in the Eastern Ashkenazic rite, are recited.<ref name=Baer>Western Ashkenazic version of Seder Avodat Yisrael, [https://tablet.otzar.org/#/b/174107/p/739/t/1/fs/0/start/0/end/0/c/1705224278100 page 739] (the link is to Otzar HaChochmah, available only to subscribers).</ref>