Bris (Jewish cirumcision cremony) do u know...

[Janie]

Facinating thread ladies, I'm learning alot! I used to work for a Jewish woman (who had converted), and we had a lot of Jewish patients, but I never realised how little I knew!

Yael, I really hope you feel better soon, which is a bit selfish of me.........I'm really enjoying reading your posts on this topic! But seriously, ms is the worst, I hope it passes quickly for you. This might be a really dumb question, but I'm just wondering
about something you said in your last post, about not growing up religious. I take it that means you did not grow up in an Orthodox family? So did you have to do anything 'extra' to marry into an Orthodox family? I hope YKWIM, and that that's not too personal a question

[Proud Mummy]

Hi everyone, as mentioned Im not Jewish and niether is my whole family, we're Catholic, so this will be all new to us. If we go to the Synagogue to do the Bris, is everyone informed on what is being done etc. hubby will choose his brother to be the Godfather (not sure what its called in Jewish) and my sister is the Godmother (is it ok that shes not Jewish to be Godmother) From what I understand, the baby is passed around to a few people before he gets it done, however we will have no idea who passes it to who and when... things like that. Does the Rabbi or Mohel let us know the process? Hubby hasnt been to one in years, so he's not all that familiar with the process either. They are Jewish, but dont have much family here so havnt seen the ceremony for many years.
The only people invited will be Hubby's imediate family (incl grandparents) and my immediate family and 3 friends of ours (married couple with child) is this okay to have not so many people?
And I really want to see the circimcsion being done, will they allow me to see it?

[beckles]

rachel my mothers, mother's, mother was also jewish, i wanted to find out more about it so i made an appointment to visit a rabbi to discuss it. he was very nice and had access to lots of information about it all and found that indeed my great grand mother was jewish and had be buried in a jewish cemetry. he said that was enough evidence to support that i am indeed jewish. although i was bought up catholic. i would recommend you find a rabbi and i'm sure he would be happy to help you. i really found him to be so helpful and respectful and informative.
beckles

[Pandora]

Yes, I think I will try to do some further research myself, being that they were from Germany, I would hate to find out something embarrasing, so would want to be more certain first.

[Jodie259]

Hi everyone, as mentioned Im not Jewish and niether is my whole family, we're Catholic, so this will be all new to us. If we go to the Synagogue to do the Bris, is everyone informed on what is being done etc. hubby will choose his brother to be the Godfather (not sure what its called in Jewish) and my sister is the Godmother (is it ok that shes not Jewish to be Godmother) From what I understand, the baby is passed around to a few people before he gets it done, however we will have no idea who passes it to who and when... things like that. Does the Rabbi or Mohel let us know the process? Hubby hasnt been to one in years, so he's not all that familiar with the process either. They are Jewish, but dont have much family here so havnt seen the ceremony for many years.
The only people invited will be Hubby's imediate family (incl grandparents) and my immediate family and 3 friends of ours (married couple with child) is this okay to have not so many people?
And I really want to see the circimcsion being done, will they allow me to see it?

You will not be able to get a bris/circumscision done in any synagogue - anywhere....
At the end of the day your son will not be Jewish. Unless you convert, or he converts when he is older. Until then, he will not be seen as Jewish, not even by the 'reform' synagogues.
And if you want a Rabbi/mohel to do the circumscision - then there will be no god parents as that is a christian/catholic tradition. This is not done in the Jewish religion. And there will be no blessings. Thus, no passing the baby around. It is just simple 'snip'.... just done by a mohel rather than a doctor.

The circumscision is done in your home. Privately. with parents, maybe grandparents present. But not an audience. You would have to ask the mohel if he minded more people being present than that... especially as he's probably not meant to be performing a bris on a non-jew. You are definately able to be there, ideally holding your sons hand if you can handle it. I would suggest you pick a time to have it done, then invite friends & family around about an hour afterwards for a 'celebration'. That's what we did. Many of our Jewish friends have a private bris, then the party afterwards.

And I'm sure you're aware... the bris is normally performed when the baby is 8 days old... regardless of what day that is. That is Jewish tradition.

[C~Q]

So, I spoke to my Dad last night. In England there are four "types" of Jews...Liberal, Reform, Orthodox and Ultra Orthadox. We are Reform.

My Dad said that it only took my Mum 1 year to convert but as I said that is Reform not Orthodox. I asked him about the Bris and he said in they are usually only performed in the home, I don't know why this would be different in England. And that no women were allowed in the room. I found my old school Judaism text book "Judaism" by Arye Forta and this is what it says...

"What Happens at a Circumcision?
A Circumcision is a joyous event. Many circumcisions are carried out in the maternity hospital before the mother and baby leave. Sometimes they are performed at home or in the Synagogue, and friends and relatives will come together to celebrate. A Synagogue celebration usually takes place after morning prayers.

When the Mohel is ready, one of the women takes the child from his mother and carries him, on a cushion, to the room where the men are gathered. There she hands the infant over to her husband who carries him to the Mohel. Before performing the circumcision, the Mohel will place the child briefly on an empty chair known as the Chair of Elijah. There is an ancient belief that the spirit of Elijah the prohpet visits every circumcision.
The child is then placed on the lap of a man chosen to be Sandek, where the cicumcision will actually take place. It is considered a very great honour to be selected as Sandek. Parents will often choose the childs Grandfather or some highly respected member of the congregation.
As soon as the child has been circumcised, the father recites a blessing aknowledging that God has commanded this operation so that the child can enter the Covenenant. The Moyel will then hold the child, bless and name him. The name will have been chosen before hand by the parents. The child, still on his cushion, is then handed to the man who brought him in, who hands him to his wife. She then carries him back to his mother for feeding."

There si more after that but this was my point. Why do you think this is different then how it is done in Australia? The book talks later about the Reform movement so this is obviously how it is performed by Orthodox Jews in England.

It's interesting...