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So you can have the Bris Milah in the synagogue, as part of the Shacharit (morning) service.
We actually held the Bris in my home right after Shacharis. The idea is when a Jew has a time-bound mitzvah (Torah commandment), like to give your son a Bris milah, one should not delay. One should always "run" to do a mitzvah.
We see the perfect example of this in the Torah, when Hashem told Abraham to shecht (cut with a knife) his sone Isaac, and Abraham woke up early the next morning and saddled his own donkey to get moving to do that mitzvah (of killing his son) as quickly as possible.
Flip, please know that I ask this question with the heart of a mother (one son, three daughters, six grandsons, 3 grand daughters and one great grandson.)
Do you use any sort of pain relief such as a topical anesthetic so the baby does not feel the pain?
Flip, please know that I ask this question with the heart of a mother (one son, three daughters, six grandsons, 3 grand daughters and one great grandson.)
Do you use any sort of pain relief such as a topical anesthetic so the baby does not feel the pain?
It's a fair question. We Orthodox Jews do not use topical anesthetic when performing a Bris. My understanding is that the child's nerve endings at the tip of his penis simply are not well formed enough that the pain last more than a few seconds, if at all. I've never seen a bay boy cry more than 5 or 10 seconds after it's performed, and I've never met a Jewish toddler (or adult for that matter) who could say he remembered his bris and how painful it might have been.
And btw, kenina hora on your big beautiful extended family.
We actually held the Bris in my home right after Shacharis. The idea is when a Jew has a time-bound mitzvah (Torah commandment), like to give your son a Bris milah, one should not delay. One should always "run" to do a mitzvah.
We see the perfect example of this in the Torah, when Hashem told Abraham to shecht (cut with a knife) his sone Isaac, and Abraham woke up early the next morning and saddled his own donkey to get moving to do that mitzvah (of killing his son) as quickly as possible.
This is interesting, and I have never noticed or heard of this aspect of your religion or the story itself before.
This is interesting, and I have never noticed or heard of this aspect of your religion or the story itself before.
Abraham and Isaac took a three day journey to "do the deed." They took with them Abraham"s other son Ishmael, as well as Abraham's faithful Canaani servant, Eliezer. When they approached the place that Hashem told Abraham through prophesy where to do the shechting (the mount of Olives - the same place where eventually Moses would see the burning bush, where Jacob would spend a night and see "Jacob's ladder," and eventually King Shlomo Hamelech would build the first Holy Temple (the second as well), and the same place where Jews go today to pray to the Kosel (The Western Wall), Abraham then told Ishmael and Eliezer to remain with the donkey, and Abraham and Isaac walked the remaining few hundred yards to "the spot."
What's fasciniating, is that in these last few hundred yards is where Isaac figured out what was going to happen. He knew they were going to this spot to perform a sacrifice, and he knew they had no ram with them with which to do the sacrifice. Isaac did not resist. He even suggested to his father that he tie him up so that he would not flinch at the critical moment and invalidate the sacrifice by preventing Abraham from getting a clean cut. Some say THAT is the greater mitzvah vs. his father's mitzvah of agreeing to shecht his son.
I am curious Walter, How do Jews view the Salvation of non Jews? Is Gods Salvation for Jews only?
The question above came from another thread, but I thought this would be an appropriate place to address it.
The word "salvation" is a common one for Chrstians to use - but it's not really a Jewish concept. Jews do not believe people are born needing salvation. We're all born essentially perfect, and it's only through the actions we do in our lives that this perfection is endangered.
A more Jewish way of posing your question (I'm pretty sre this is what you are getting at), is: "Who gets a share in the World to Come?" The answer to this question, is anybody who leads a good life will gain a share. It's not required to be Jewish. it's not required to be religious. It's likely not even required to believe in G-d or the afterlife. The only requirement is that your deeds are good, and then the sum of these deeds are what you are "judged on." Faith is nice, but anybody can have faith, but in the absense of good actions, it means nothing.
It is my understanding that "punishment" for evil-doers is a state called "Gehenna" (which may refer to a 'valley of refuse and ashes' just outside Jerusalem: the Hinnom Valley) ... but all are redeemed after a finite period and are gathered into the kingdom of G-d.
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I'll let Walter explain why I'd want to get this mitzvah done first thing in the morning.
