tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9267923.post5914045130230759754..comments2024-01-04T19:35:00.635-08:00Comments on ThanBook: Milah: Mitzvah on the father or son?thanbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06197564008203120013noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9267923.post-61425785397127235182007-09-03T15:42:00.000-07:002007-09-03T15:42:00.000-07:00Maybe Yishma‘eil himself could count as Jewish, bu...Maybe Yishma‘eil himself could count as Jewish, but his descendents don't because his mother got him an Egyptian wife? that would solve that exegetical problem.Steg (dos iz nit der šteg)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07694556690190505030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9267923.post-1036767635803247452007-08-24T06:07:00.000-07:002007-08-24T06:07:00.000-07:00Oh, I know. I've been an eid (witness) at such a ...Oh, I know. I've been an eid (witness) at such a milah (hard to call it a bris). The father was Jewish, the mother not, the grandparents were pressuring. I was at first hesitant, so I asked who the mohel would be. When they said "Phil Sherman", I acquiesced - I've known Phil for years, since he was the Youth/Outreach Director at Lincoln Square in the early 1980s. If Phil was doing it, there would be a halachic way to do it.<BR/><BR/>Sure enough, he did the milah leshem giyur - so that if Alexander wants to convert later, he can show off his bris certificate and not need a painful operation. So, the parents are neo-pagans in practice, so what? Children often wind up in different places than their parents, religiously as well as professionally or geographically.<BR/><BR/>Still, in that case, both parents were married and went along with the milah for the sake of the grandparents.<BR/><BR/>Here, though, they're talking about actual conversion, of a 12-year-old. So the beis din would have to take motivations into account.<BR/><BR/>And does the father have the mitzva to circumcise his non-Jewish son? See YD 260: It is a mitzva on the father to circumcise his son, and this is greater than any other positive mitzvah. That's it, the whole chapter. <BR/><BR/>The B'er HaGolah cites the Gemara in Kiddushin 29, and that Avraham circumcising his son Yishmael is the paradigm. But Yishmael wasn't Jewish? The Ishmaelites certainly aren't treated as Jewish. So it seems to me that the paradigmatic case tells us that a father circumcises his son, Jewish or not.thanbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06197564008203120013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9267923.post-51750240834666637642007-08-23T23:16:00.000-07:002007-08-23T23:16:00.000-07:00"what's going on here? It appears the mother isn't..."what's going on here? It appears the mother isn't Jewish, so neither is the son. Does the father want to force the son to convert?"<BR/><BR/>i have a bukharian friend in school who is a mohel. he has gotten a few calls from intermarried families (usually the grandfather actually) who want to have a non-jewish baby circ-ed. they recognize he is not jewish, but they still want it done.Lion of Zionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10342299133387602141noreply@blogger.com