As a mohel, I see the current panic swirling around Brit Milah from a distinct perspective. Roughly 80% of the country’s mohalim have the certification of their teacher alone. While that might sound ...

Mention circumcision in a crowd — even a virtual crowd — of liberal Jews (or liberal anything, I guess) and it never fails to spark rhetorical fire. And so, when I saw a recent post on the Park Slope ...

We have seen that peru u’revu was the first mitzvah given to the first person; brit milah was the first mitzvah given to the first Jew - Avraham Avinu. Though Hashem had already given Avraham other ...

The Guide to Jewish Living offers a comprehensive, up-to-date directory of Chicago-area Jewish organizations, resources, products, and services. The guide acts as a community driven lexicon sponsored ...

While many synagogues have responded to the coronavirus shutdown by taking their services and rituals online, there’s one Jewish tradition that simply cannot be performed that way: the brit milah.

Brit milah (Jewish ritual circumcision) may be uncomfortable to watch, and naturally makes many of us ambivalent in a time of celebration. But is it cruel? Living in California, where calls for the ...

David Abramson is only a few days old, but already he has made a huge impact on Prague’s Jewish community. Last week he became the first child in at least 30 years to be circumcised at the 98-year-old ...

Before we get to Lech Lecha, let’s take a look at the timespan of the whole Torah as compared to Parshat Bereishit and Parshat Noach. We will not count the first two pesukim – “Bereishit bara…” and “V ...

I called Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn at his home in Kansas City, Kan., where he’s rabbi at that city’s New Reform Temple. Was it true that he had told the group in Mexicali that it wasn’t necessary for ...

I love Rebecca’s new post about the commitment it takes for a Jewish woman to give birth to a boy and, usually on his eighth day of life, turn him over to the (hopefully skilled) hands of a mohel. It ...

My son was born on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. The Jewish New Year. Of course he was. The ritual is precise. The father whispers the name into the sandek’s ear—quietly, gently—before it’s ...