The New Jew: A Field Guide

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Brit Mila

b'rit milah

ברית מילה

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Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

Ps. 119Ps. 65

Hebrew

שָׁלוֹם רָב לְאֹהֲבֵי תּוֹרָתֶךָ, וְאֵין־לָמוֹ מִכְשׁוֹל׃ אַשְׁרֵי תִבְחַר וּתְקָרֵב,
יִשְׁכֹּן חֲצֵרֶיךָ.

Israeli

shalom rav le-ohavei Toratecha, ve-ein-lamo michshol. ashrei tivchar utkarev,
yishkon chatzerecha.

All reply:

Hebrew

נִשְׂבְּעָה בְּטוּב בֵּיתֶךָ, קְדֹשׁ הֵיכָלֶךָ׃

Israeli

nisbe-ah b'tuv beitecha, k'dosh heichalecha.

The infant is set on the Sandak’s knees, and the Mohel recites:

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ עַל הַמִּילָה.

Israeli

baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav, vetzivanu al hamilah.

Right after the circumcision, the father recites:

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ
בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַכְנִיסוֹ בִּבְרִיתוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ.

Israeli

baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kidshanu
b'mitzvotav, vetzivanu lehachniso bivrito shel Avraham avinu.

In Israel the father appends (some outside Israel append it as well):

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

Israeli

baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
shehecheyanu vekiymanu vehigi-anu lazman hazeh.

Everyone answers:

Hebrew

אָמֵן. כְּשֵׁם שֶׁנִּכְנַס לַבְּרִית
כֵּן יִכָּנֵס לְתוֹרָה וּלְחֻפָּה וּלְמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים.

Israeli

Amen. k'shem shenichnas labrit
ken yikanes letorah ulechupah ulema-asim tovim.

Commentary

… covenant of Abraham, our father – a separate blessing, referring not to the circumcision itself, but what it is a sign of – namely entry into the life of the covenant, under the sheltering wings of the Divine Presence (Arukh HaShulhan, Yoreh De'ah 365:2); (3) Who made the beloved one [Isaac] holy from the womb – a blessing of acknowledgment. Isaac was the first child to have a circumcision at the age of eight days. He was consecrated before birth, Abraham having been told that it would be Isaac who would continue the covenant (Gen. 17:19–21).

כְּשֵׁם שֶׁנִּכְנַס לַבְּרִית Just as he has entered into the covenant: Mentioned already in early rabbinic sources as the response of those present. The three phrases refer to the duties of a parent to a child: (1) to teach him Torah; (2) to ensure that he marries; and (3) to train him to do good deeds, as the Torah says in the case of Abraham: "For I have singled him out so that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is just and right" (Gen. 18:19).

SERVICE AT A CIRCUMCISION Since the days of Abraham (Gen. 17:4–14), circumcision has been the sign, for Jewish males, of the covenant between God and His people. Despite the fact that the law was restated by Moses (Lev. 12:3), it remains known as the "Covenant of Abraham." The ceremony – always performed on the eighth day, even on Shabbat, unless there are medical reasons for delay – marks the entry of the child into the covenant of Jewish fate and destiny. The duty of circumcision devolves, in principle, on the father of the child; in practice it is performed only by a qualified mohel.

בָּרוּךְ Blessed are You: There are three blessings to be said at a circumcision: (1) And has commanded us concerning circumcision – a blessing over the commandment itself, the "about" formula signaling that the mohel is performing the commandment on behalf of the father; (2) To bring him [our son] into the …