Let’s introduce the actors of a successful brit-milah.
Please, see below (or the following pages of this website) :
The baby
The main actor is obviously the baby himself. Concretely the parents in consultation with the mohel will have to worry that the baby is ready for the brit-milah. His state of health will have to be checked by the mohel (and possibly by the pediatrician). The tranquility of the baby will have to be maximum, avoiding, for example, long trips to get to the place of the brit-milah. Pleasant and practical clothes (easy opening) should be provided…
Parents
In general, the week before childbirth, childbirth itself and the following days are intense in emotions but also in fatigue. Whether it is known in advance or not that it will be necessary to organize a Brit-milah, it always requires a special effort. For this, our advice to parents is to get help as much as possible (by the family or by service providers such as caterers and other event organizers). Thus parents arrive more serenely at the brit. However, this is not always possible for various reasons (budgetary or practical). In this case far from being discouraged it will be necessary to rejoice to have the merit of organizing a highly spiritual event. There will always be time to rest later.
The parents are really the ones who will set the mood of their ceremony: the place, the music, the reception, the frills, … generally reflect part of the personality of the parents. Since this is a religious ceremony that has an impact on the future of the child (but also the guests), it will be necessary to ensure that the religious character of the ceremony is preserved, without neglecting the festive theme.
From the point of view of Jewish law (halakha) the mitzva to circumcise the baby falls on the father. This means that he himself should perform the circumcision. However, in the vast majority of cases, since the father himself is not a Mohel, he will explicitly name a replacement: the Mohel. The father, for his part, will still have to pronounce the customary blessings (the Mohel will tell him the way forward) and stand close to the baby.
The mohel
He performs the procedure and is a religiously accredited specialist, having been trained by another mohel. Today, in Israel, there are trainings on the functions of mohel consisting of many theoretical and practical courses and including the actual practice of circumcisions. At the end of a validated training, a certificate of ability for the exercise is awarded. On the other hand, the Rabbinate of Israel also requires the passage of an exam that it organizes; if successful, it awards a mohel diploma. However, from a purely Halakhic point of view, this official diploma is not mandatory provided that the Mohel fulfills the religious and practical conditions essential to its function. For this in France (to our knowledge and to this day) the Rabbinate or the consistory does not grant a diploma and does not provide supervision of the Mohalim in office. Parents have to choose the mohel of their choice themselves.
The mohel can be a doctor of medicine, but this is not the criterion of choice because an exclusively surgical circumcision has no value from the point of view of Jewish Law. If the mohel must be technically competent, this is not enough: it must be approved by rabbinical circles that require knowledge of the kosher technique, but also that of the blessings. In addition to technique, personal qualities including piety and fear of God are required.
The sandak
The other people honored
(c) Eliyahu Bakish. This text is part of a book in French being prepared on the brit-milah.