The Message, Volume 22, Number 6, February 5, 1968 Page: 3 of 20
12 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. + 1 insert (8 p. ; 28 cm.)View a full description of this periodical.
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3
MESSAGE
THE
Associate Rabbi’s Corner
Something New!
One of the aims of Beth Yeshurun
is to restore to practice and to appre-
ciation some of the ancient and beauti-
ful Jewish ceremonies which may have
been neglected in our present Ameri-
can-Jewish life. One of the most pic-
turesque and significant of them is the
Havdallah.
This is the ceremony that is prac-
ticed on Saturday night to separate the
Sabbath from the coming week. It in-
cludes blessings over wine, over sweet
spices and over the light, and thanks-
giving to God for our abilty to dis-
tinguish between light and darkness,
between the holy and the profane, be-
tween the ideals of our Jewish faith
and those of the pagan world.
Recently we have had the Havdallah
recited on Saturday night in the homes
of families which have celebrated their
Bar Mitzvah party. Instead of just eat-
ing and drinking, here was an oppor-
tunity to introduce some of the signifi-
cance and the beauty of Judaism into
the home. More than that, it gave us
an opportunity to interpret the mean-
ing of the ceremony and to express the
hope that the boy or the girl, becoming
Bar or Bat Mitzvah, may, in the years
to come, be able to distinguish between
the good and the evil, the right and
the wrong, the holy and the profane,
and thus make their lives more signifi-
cant and more meaningful for their
loved ones and for all mankind.
We strongly urge that those families
which are celebrating the Bar or Bat
Mitzvah of their children on a Saturday
night introduce this ceremony into their
home or into whatever place the party
may be in. The Rabbis and the Cantor
of Beth Yeshurun will be most happy
to cooperate in every way to make the
ceremony beautiful, meaningful and a
joy and inspiration to all those who
witness it.
RABBI WILLIAM S. MALEV
connects us with our forefather Abra-
ham, a ritual that ties us to the history
of the Jewish people for the past 4,000
years. Hence, it is far more than mere-
ly a surgical procedure.
For a Brith Milah to be a Brith
Milah it MUST be done on the eighth
day. Those who have this procedure
performed prior to this time merely
have circumcisions for their children
but do not have Brith Milahs.
It has been noted that many young-
people like to have the circumcisions
done on the third day or fourth day
due to the fact that some doctors feel
it is more expedient for their obstetrical
practices, or some women feel that it
is “just too much of a bother to bring
the baby back to the hospital,” or some
young women feel that they do not
want “to mess up the home with a party
on the eighth day.” These attitudes are
good for circumcisions. They are not
good for Brith Milahs.
(It is even interesting to note that
Rabbi Solomon Freehof, one of the
most eminent Reform Rabbis in the
United States and a former president
of the Reform Rabbinic organization
in the United States, stated in his book
Reform Responsa, “As long as possi-
ble, we must insist upon the import-
ance of the traditional eighth day. For
the present we should resist the ten-
dency to convert the fifth day into the
regular circumcision day. It therefore
would be advisable for a Rabbi not to
participate in the fifth-day circum-
cision.”)
In order to facilitate matters and to
enable eighth day Brith Milahs to be
performed with less difficulty, the syna-
gogue during the past summer “opened
its doors” to make things easier for
young couples and families who had
just had sons. During this past sum-
mer three Brith Milahs were performed
in the synagogue. A small room was
set aside for the surgical procedure.
In this room were merely those who
were essential for the performance of
the Brith Milah. When this was con-
cluded everyone, including the child,
went either to the Board Room or to
the Lounge for the festivities and the
remaining blessings. In these rooms
were the people who had been invited
by the young couple and their families.
In this manner there was no need
to “return to the hospital,” or to “mess
up one’s home,” or “inconvenience any-
one.” In this manner it was quite sim-
ple to fulfill the requirement of circum-
cizing one’s child on the eighth day. In
this manner the umbilical cord connect-
Since the time of Abraham, some
4,000 years ago, Jewish people have
been practicing the ritual of Brith Milah
(the Covenant of Circumcision). This
ritual is first mentioned in Genesis
17:9-12. It was a divine command-
ment to Abraham: “God said to Abra-
ham; ye shall keep my covenant, you
and your descendents after you
throughout your generations . . . Every
male among ye shall be circumcized
. . . and it shall be a sign of the coven-
ant between Me and you. He that is
eight days old among you shall be cir-
cumcized.”
Brith Milah (Circumcision) is the
characteristic symbol of the Jewish
male. It is quite true that it was known
in the ancient world even before Abra-
ham and is today observed as a ritual
by Muslims and as a health action by
diverse peoples throughout the world.
However, this ritual was so important
to Jewish people that when Antiochus
of Epiphanus prohibited the circum-
cision of Jewish children more than
2,000 years ago, the Jews were ready
to die rather than abandon this ritual.
Today, not only are Jewish babies
circumcized at the age of eight days
but all those who desire to become con-
verts to Judaism must also be circum-
cized if they have as yet not been cir-
cumcized. (This is done prior to their
official conversion.)
This ritual is considered so vital to
Judaism that if the eighth day after
birth falls on a Sabbath or Yom Kip-
pur the ritual is performed on those
days, too. The only time the ritual may
be postponed until after the eighth day
is if a doctor advises that the circum-
cision would be detrimental to the
health of the child if it were performed
on the eighth day.
It should be noted that there is dif-
ference between Brith Milah and cir-
cumsion. True, both words are used
synonymously however, they are really
not synonymous. True, both may in-
volve the same surgical techniques;
however, the two different words imply
two different attitudes to this practice.
Most gentiles circumcize their chil-
dren today. Gentiles do not have a
Brith Milah for their children. They
merely have surgical operations for
their young boys. They do this for
health reasons, not for religious reasons.
To the Jew, the Brith Milah entails
far more than merely the surgical op-
erations of circumcision. It is a Brith
Milah, a religious ritual, a rite which
ting 1968 and Abraham was kept in-
tact.
I would like to suggest that all
young couples who are presently ex-
pecting children, or who contemplate
having children in the future, consider
this procedure so that the mitzvah of
Brith Milah may be properly fulfilled.
Do not forget that “circumcision" is
merely a surgical procedure; “Brith
Milah'" is a religious rite.
Please contact me (MO 6-1883) if
you are interested in this particular
procedure.
- RABBI JACK SEGAL
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Congregation Beth Yeshurun (Houston, Tex.). The Message, Volume 22, Number 6, February 5, 1968, periodical, February 5, 1968; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1287789/m1/3/: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.