Services
Hatafas dam bris, older boys, and revisions
Not every situation is a newborn on the eighth day. These are the cases families and men come to me with most often, and none of them is unusual.
Hatafas dam bris
Where a circumcision has already been carried out but not as a bris — most often in hospital, sometimes abroad, sometimes years ago — a symbolic drop of blood is taken to bring it under the covenant. It is a brief procedure, and for most people a far smaller matter than they had feared before they called.
This comes up in three situations more than any other:
- A boy circumcised in hospital, without a bris
- An adult who was circumcised as an infant for medical reasons
- A man completing a conversion, where the beis din requires it
Where a beis din is involved I work with them directly, and I am used to the paperwork and the timing that goes with a conversion.
Older boys and teenagers
Between a newborn and a grown man there is a whole range of ages, and a boy of six or of fourteen needs something quite different from either. The halachic requirement is the same. Everything around it — how it is explained, what he is told beforehand, how the pain is managed, how his privacy is protected — has to be built around the boy in front of me.
This comes up most often with families who have arrived from abroad, families who have become observant, and families going through a conversion together. In every case my first conversation is with the parents, and my second is with the boy, at whatever length he needs and without anyone else in the room if he prefers it that way.
Depending on his age this is done with local or general anesthesia in an appropriate professional setting. Nothing is arranged until you and he both understand exactly what will happen.
Revision and correction
Sometimes a circumcision was performed but not to a halachic standard, or it healed in a way that leaves a question. Sometimes the concern is cosmetic, sometimes it is about skin that has re-adhered, and sometimes a family has been told something is wrong and does not know whether to believe it.
Bring it to me and I will tell you honestly what I see. Sometimes the answer is that a correction is needed. Quite often the answer is that nothing needs doing at all, and people are relieved to hear it from someone with no reason to say otherwise.
Where a correction is needed, it is carried out with the same care and the same anesthesia as any other procedure of its kind, and with the same discretion.
Which of these applies to me?
You do not need to work that out before you call. Tell me what happened and when, and I will tell you which of these it is.
How long does it take to arrange?
Unlike an eighth-day Bris, none of these is bound to a date. We can take the time to do it properly, and to schedule it around your life.
Is it private?
Completely. For adults and for older boys, discretion is part of the work, not a favour. Nothing is discussed with anyone.
Ask, even if you are not sure it applies to you.
Most people who call about these have been wondering for a long time and have had nobody to ask. The conversation is private and costs you nothing.
Let’s speak.
No obligation, and no question is too small. Call whenever suits you.