In her fifth month of pregnancy, Dana Edell learned that she was carrying a boy. Her parents, who are Conservative Jews, asked about the ritual circumcision.
“Well, what if I'm considering not circumcising?” Ms. Edell recalled saying. “My parents looked at me like I had just said, ‘Well, what if I'm considering sacrificing him to Satan?'”
For thousands of years, Jewish families have marked the beginning of a boy's life with a bris ceremony on the eighth day after birth. A bris includes a circumcision performed by a mohel, or a ritual circumciser, and a baby naming. The practice is rooted in Genesis, when God instructs Abraham to circumcise himself and all of his descendants as a sign of their contract with God.
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