Introduction

Having a bris after the birth of a baby boy is, for Jewish parents, to celebrate one of the fundamental rites of Judaism. Also called “brit milah”—“brit” for covenant, “milah” for circumcision—this ceremony admits the newborn Jewish child into the ancient Covenant between God and the Jewish people as described in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The bris service is a re-enactment for every new generation of Jews of the original Covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants. It is a chance to celebrate with friends and loved ones the birth of a newborn son and affirm his and the parents’ ongoing connection with the Jewish people.

But where does this ceremony come from, what does it signify, and how is it conducted?

What is a bris?

A bris ceremony—the act of ritual circumcision along with its accompanying prayers—has a 4000-year-old pedigree.  The prayers recall and re-establish for each new generation the relationship between God and the Jewish people, state the obligation of Jews to lead righteous and purposeful lives, and offer good wishes for the health and prosperity of the newborn baby and his parents.  Its origins are revealed in the book of Genesis (Chap 17) wherein it is related that God approached Abraham and told him that he and his people were to become a holy people to God and that God would make Abraham and his progeny “as numerous as the stars in heaven”. It is at this point that God commanded Abraham to circumcise all males within his household and, subsequently, to circumcise all male newborns when they were eight days old. It is this deal (or contract or covenant) between God and Abraham—participation of Jews as God’s holy people with specific moral and ethical responsibilities in exchange for prosperity for the Jewish people—that gets reaffirmed at every brit milah ceremony. The circumcision itself can be seen as equivalent to the signature on the contract of this holy Covenant. 

The prayers both before and after the ritual circumcision elevate what might otherwise be a routine medical procedure into a profound religious act.  Their purpose is to differentiate the physical act of removal of the foreskin performed for cosmetic or medical reasons from the religious and social statement of the affirmation of Judaism in the life of the family of this newborn that it is.  This ceremony forms one of the three fundamental observances of Judaism:  Entrance into the Covenant (brit milah), observance of the Sabbath, and the study of the Torah.  The traditional Jewish belief is that by circumcising their male infant, Jewish parents complete God’s work and enter their child into the Jewish chain of being that began with Abraham in the Middle Eastern desert almost 4000 years ago.  

No other Jewish ritual is adhered to as diligently as is the performance of a bris for a newborn son. Even nonaffiliated Jews, Jewish atheists, and couples with only one Jewish partner will arrange a bris for their baby boy. It is the strongest and most sincere expression of a family wanting to preserve some measure of Jewish identity for their children. From a religious point of view, it is the most important mitzvah that Jews can perform and thus is performed even on Sabbath and Yom Kippur. It, along with some form of Sabbath observance, is a major part of the cultural heritage of the Jewish people. 

To not circumcise one’s son is to cut him off from the Jewish people. Even Moses was not exempt from this commandment; in Exodus 4 we read that God threatens Moses’s life because he was tardy in circumcising his son.  Even the apostate Benedict Spinoza wrote that “the Jewish people will always survive as long as they continue the act of circumcision”.