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Tough Topics - Brit Milah (circumcision)
Circumcision is NOT described or explained in the CD-Rom material. This is a carefully considered decision. Circumcision is a sensitive and potentially very upsetting subject for some children, and one that is susceptible to misunderstanding. There is no reason to keep pupils in ignorance if you, as someone who knows them well, are sure that they would be able to absorb the information without confusion or distress. However, the likelihood is that most pupils before Key Stage 3 are NOT able. In any event, teaching about circumcision needs to be in keeping with your school’s policy on sex education.
The material below is for:
- your background reading and wider or deeper understanding
- information for you to call upon if you are asked questions by pupils who have heard about circumcision
- a resource from which to derive teaching content about circumcision, if this is what you decide in the light of all the considerations.
Brit Milah literally means the 'covenant of cutting', that is, circumcision. It refers to the religious act of cutting away a sliver of foreskin of an eight-day-old Jewish baby; it also applies to adult men who want to become Jewish. In Judaism, boys/men are only circumcised at a later age if they were not circumcised at eight days, for some reason.
- In some non-Jewish cultures, boys might be circumcised when they reach puberty: it is sometimes a test to see how much pain the boy can take or a challenge for him to prove his virility. These are NOT the reasons for circumcision in Judaism.
- In some parts of the world, there is female circumcision whereby parts of the girl’s (or woman’s) genitals are removed. There is NO female circumcision in Judaism.
Being circumcised does not make a boy or man Jewish; his birth of a Jewish mother or his conversion to Judaism does this. But circumcision does confirm his status and is a mark of loyalty to the people of Israel.
Nowadays, circumcision is a fairly common practice among non-Jews, although the 'fashion' seems to come in waves and it is apparently for reasons of hygiene. Hygiene may well have been part of the original reason for circumcision among Jews, some 4,000 years ago, but deeper reasons for brit milah are connected with ideas of religious command, covenant, identity and family relationships.
In biblical times, circumcision was associated with purity and perfectibility: uncircumcised peoples were thought to be uncultured and unethical. Gradually, cause and effect became conflated: people were thought to be unethical because they were not circumcised.
Jews through the ages and up to the present observe brit milah because of a mitzvah (commandment), whether or not physical, psychological or social reasons can be found for it. It symbolises openness to God and it reminds Jews of the pledge between Abraham and God.
Circumcision is seen as a beautifying act, an attempt to participate in perfecting creation as God’s partner. It is also a sacrifice: a giving up of a part for the sake of the whole.
Such is the importance of brit milah that it must be performed on the eighth day, even if that is a Shabbat or even Yom Kippur. It may only be postponed—and then must be—if the baby is unwell. The duty of circumcision technically falls to the father but he invariably appoints a mohel (plural: mohelim) who is recognised as a pious and observant Jew as well as someone who is skilful in the task. He might also be a rabbi or hazan (prayer leader/singer), for example, but is nowadays often a qualified doctor, dentist or surgeon.
Brit milah usually takes place at home but could happen in hospital—wherever the baby boy is. It is an especially poignant family occasion, a close and bonding time. The mother is not traditionally present at the ceremony itself: it is seen very much as a man's moment. The baby is usually carried in by the grandmother or another woman close to the mother, and everyone proclaims: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Eternal.”
The baby is handed first to the sandek ('godfather') who is ideally his grandfather, then to the father who recites a prayer of commitment to the brit milah.
The baby is rested on a chair, referred to as 'Elijah's Chair', for a moment; Elijah has special associations with the coming of the Messiah and with Jewish children, and is therefore invisibly 'present' at a number of family occasions. The sandek then takes the baby on a pillow on his knees and holds him steadily during the circumcision. It is a very short act and uncomplicated act.
After the circumcision, the baby is given his name and God is thanked for the covenant and for the child’s welfare. The baby is usually given a drop of wine from the mohel’s finger—in a way, his first 'kiddush'—and returned to his mother.
Festivities follow: a simple but special meal and sometimes a short speech about the links the brit (covenant) has forged between the generations and the hope that the boy will be healthy and happy.
”Just as he has entered the covenant, so may he also enter into the blessings of Torah, of marriage and of good deeds” is a wish for the baby, at the end of the circumcision ceremony.
Modern communities may also have a 'baby-naming' service in synagogue some time after the birth. On such an occasion, the baby—whether boy or girl—is formally 'introduced' to the congregation and the mother may publicly say a prayer of thanksgiving for her child.