Conference taveng::bagels

    Nancy,
    
    A day does start at sunset and the time for a bris is 8 days counting
    the day of birth.  
    
    EX.  If a boy is born Tuesday evening (after sunset) the bris should be
    held the next Wednesday morning.  If the boy is born in the late
    afternoon on Wednesday (before sunset) the bris should also be held on
    the next Wednesday morning.
    
    Good luck, and may it come at a good time.
    
    ___Av

There can be a couple of complications.

If your doctor says that the bris should be postponed, it's postponed until
the baby's ready.

Normally, if the eighth day is Shabbos, you can be "docheh Shabbos" (put aside
Shabbos) for a bris (this just means that the mohel can perform the bris, not
that you can bring in a video crew).  If the baby's born "bain ha-shamashos"
(right around sunset -- I'm not sure exactly how this window is defined),
on Friday, it gets complicated.  Friday's too early since he may have really
been born on Shabbos.  You can't be docheh Shabbos when there's a "safek"
(doubt), so the bris takes place on Sunday.

    My sister is due on July 15th and is noticing that Tisha B'Av falls
    just about a week later.  She is worrying about the possibility of
    having the bris on Tisha B'Av and doesn't know how she'll do one with
    no food.  I guess it will be very short :-(

> I guess it will be very short :-(
I'm tempted to say it will be even shorter after the brit but
that would be vulgar and also obvious, so I won't.

I've been to a few britot on fast days, including Tisha B'Av, and
what is sometimes done is that the brit itself is performed 
in the late afternoon with the refereshments/meal served after
the fast.  Of course if a large percentage of the guests will be
fasting you'll probably need more food. :-)

    Hey, what a great idea!  I know a bris is customarily performed early
    in the morning, but I don't think it's _required_.  If it happens to
    fall on the holiday, I'll suggest the late afternoon to her.  Thanks!
    

In some places the bris takes place whenever the mohel is available.

Dave

Having arranged a bris myself in Cambridge about 2 years ago, I can give
.0 a couple of words of advice:

Have your husband call the mohel as soon as the baby is born.
EVEN BEFORE HE CALLS YOUR PARENTS.  There aren't many people who do
orthodox brises in the Boston area, so you should call as soon as the
baby is born. We did not end up with our first choice mohel because
he was already booked by the time we called him.

Then, you tell the mohel exactly when the baby was born, and he'll
tell you what day the bris should be. 

We also found that some mohels have definite opinions on what time of
day to have the bris.  That is, Jewish custom is to have the bris be
as early in the day as possible, (because we should be eager to perform
this mitzvah), and some mohels are very reluctant to have the bris be later,
and some are more, ahem, flexible.

To sum up, you really have to get a list of people who perform milah in your
area before the baby is born.  Take the list (with phone numbers) with you
to the hospital.  Call as soon as the baby is born.

Kathy

To the best of my knowledge, there are only two active mohalim in the Boston
area, Rabbi Naftali Horowitz (the Bostoner Rebbe's son) and Rabbi Shimon Miara.
I'm told that there were none in Boston a few years ago and that someone was
usually brought in from Providence.

    I'm not sure if he is still practicing or has retired, but people I
    know who have used his services have been quite happy.
    

    I've seen adds in the Jewish Advocate for mohalim other than those
    mentioned in .8 and .9.  Apparently there was a shortage a few years
    ago and I know that the Reform movement arranged classes to train
    physicians to do a brit and a number of M.D.s qualified.

re .9:

I was told that Rabbi Wieder no longer practices as a mohel.

re .10:

I thought the reform movement considers medical circumcision "good enough."
So what's involved in this training?

From what I understand, the Reform movement has started offering "mohel training"
for MDs.  I believe it consists of teaching them the brachot and ritual procedure
associated.  That way, those who insist that "only doctors should do surgery" can
still obtain a nominally correct bris.  I think the main thing the Reform is
after here is to provide an out for those who want to be more traditional than
the minimum required by the movement.

As far as the other's advertising in the Advocate, at least one of them is
Conservative (Cantor Pessarof).  I suspect that the other that I have noticed
recently is Reform (Dr. something-or-other, MD).

Gav

There is also Rabbi Shimon Siegel in Lowell (which is in the "Boston area").
He is an orthodox teacher at the Merrimack Valley Hebrew Academy.  He did my
son's bris 1 1/2 years ago.  I would highly recommend him.

Just 3 years ago, I had to import a mohel from Providence, Rhode Island (Rabbi
Dubovitch) for my 1st son's bris, because he was the closest one around.

Providence isn't such a long drive... Rabbi Dubovich still does plenty
of circumcisions in Boston.  There is a rabbi in New Haven who will come up to
Boston to do a bris, and there is even one in Boro Park who is willing
to drive up. I'm sorry I can't provide names; I don't remember them, and
my husband's notes are packed away (we're moving tomorrow).