Entering the Covenant: Birth, Naming, and Belonging

Joseph and Sarah enter the Jewish story through the rituals of birth. We explore brit milah, baby naming ceremonies, and pidyon haben, tracing their roots in the Torah and their development in Jewish tradition. How does Judaism welcome a child into covenant before they can choose it for themselves? 

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Transcript

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Joseph is eighty days old. He does not know where he is, he does not know what is about to happen. His parents do. They stand at the front of their reformed synagogue. Families gathered. There is nervous joy in the room. Today is Ispritmila. If we open the Torah, the root is unmistakable. In Genesis 17, God says to Abraham, As for you, you and your offspring to come throughout the ages shall keep my covenant. Every male among you shall be circumcised, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. Later, Leviticus twelve verse three states simply, and on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. The command is clear. The timing is clear. The framing is clear. This is covenantal. What the Torah does not describe is a ceremony. There is no moil mentioned, no gathered community, no blessings printed in Esidur. A moil is the person trained to perform the circumcision. In Reform Judaism, that person may be a man or a woman. A female moil is called the Moilet. Orthodox Judaism generally reserves this role for men. Those elements develop later in rabbinic Judaism. By late antiquity, circumcision is formalized with blessings, one recited by the Moil and one by the parent. And the act becomes embedded in communal celebration. A festive meal follows. The child receives his Hebrew name publicly. So when Joseph's parents hold him today, they are standing at the intersection of text and tradition. The moil recites the blessing over the mitzvah. Traditionally that blessing is, Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments, and has given us the command concerning circumcision. Joseph's parents say, Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with commandments and commanded us to bring him into the covenant of Abraham, our ancestor. Notice that phrase, covenant of Abraham. That language comes directly from Genesis. Reformed communities today practice varies. Some families hold the Brit in a hospital setting, some in a synagogue. Some use a physician trained in ritual practice. Some include additional readings that emphasize parental responsibility and ethical upbringing. Reform Judaism affirms the covenantal root of Britmila while also acknowledging modern medical standards, gender equality and parental agency. Some Reform families, for ethical or personal reasons, choose a Brit ceremony without circumcision, often called a Brit Shalom. That is a modern development, and it is debated. It is important to name that openly. As a Reformed Jew, I believe in being transparent about where I stand. I personally support Britmila because I strive to follow the commandments of the Torah, and circumcision is presented in Genesis as the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham's descendants. For Joseph's family, circumcision remains the chosen sign. He cries, he's comforted, he's named Joseph Ben Daniel Vilea. Joseph, son of Daniel and Leah. A name is not incidental in Jewish life. In the Hebrew Bible, naming signals meaning. When Anna names her son Samuel in 1 Samuel 1 verse 20, she says, I ask a dem of the Lord. Names connect biography to theology. Joseph's parents explain that he is named after a grandfather, carrying memory for word. And then there is one more biblical thread woven into early life, the redemption of the firstborn. In Exodus thirteen, after the Exodus from Egypt, God says, Consecrate to me every firstborn, human and beast. Later, Numbers 18 explains that a firstborn son is to be redeemed, symbolically returned, through a payment to a priest. This becomes the ceremony of Pidion Haben. Joseph is not a firstborn, so this ritual does not apply to him. But had it been, thirty days after his birth, his parents would participate in that redemption ritual. Another reminder that the children in Torah are not possessions. They belong first to God, then to family. Now let's move across town. A few months later, Sarah is born. There is no command in the Torah to circumcise daughters, there is no parallel verse in Leviticus prescribing a ritual maker for girls. And that absence matters. In biblical times, covenantal identity was marked physically only on males. But Jewish life did not remain frozen in that framework. Over centuries, communities developed naming ceremonies for daughters. In many cases, a father would be called to the Torah and announce the baby's name during the reading. In recent decades, especially within Reformed Judaism, a more formal Simhat Bat, a celebration of a daughter, has developed. When Sarah is brought into the synagogue at six weeks old, her parents stand before the Ark. There is no biblical command requiring this ceremony, but there is a biblical principle guiding it. In Genesis 17, the covenant is described as extending to Abraham's offspring throughout the ages. The text does not limit covenant to sons in its language of continuity, even if the physical sign is male. Reformed Judaism reads covenant as fully inclusive. Susar is giving her Hebrew name publicly, Sarah Batmiriam Vita Vid. Blessings are recited. She is wrapped in etalit for a moment, symbolically held inside tradition. No incision marks her body, but she is no less claimed by covenant. This is development in action. The Torah is the root. Covenant begins at birth. Rabbinic Judaism structures ritual around sons. Modern Jewish movements, including reform, expand ceremonial affirmation to daughters with equal visibility. Joseph and Sara will not remember these days. Covenant precedes memory, and that is the point. They have done nothing to earn belonging. They have made no declarations of faith. They have passed no tests. Jewish life does not begin with choice. It begins with being claimed. But next week they will grow old enough to respond. Because eventually inheritance becomes responsibility. I'll catch you on the next one. Ciao for now.