\u00a0\u00a0Verse 10 and 14\u00a0have the operative language. (no pun intended)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First, circumcision is a sign of the covenant between Yahweh and the descendants of Abraham and Sara.\u00a0 Second, Gabe, in order to not be cut off from his people had to have\u00a0his foreskin circumcised.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the living room of Jon and Jen’s home the mohel, Jay Feder, set his instruments on a wooden table top.\u00a0 I asked him questions and in the process he and I bonded over\u00a0our shared knowledge.\u00a0 Educated in several yeshiva and, for the purpose of the bris, in Jerusalem, Jay, a full time jeweler, is a bright and learned man.\u00a0 He’s also very funny.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 His shtick included these off hand remarks,\u00a0 “Oh, I see Adrian (a six month old boy) is here.\u00a0 I hope he doesn’t remember me!”\u00a0 When Jon laid Gabe on the pillow (where Jay performs the circumcision), he laid him with his head\u00a0toward Jay, who said, “So.\u00a0 Do you like his nose?\u00a0 You’re ok with it shorter?”\u00a0 Jon turned Gabe around on the pillow.\u00a0\u00a0 He then turned to Jon and said, “All right.\u00a0 The father performs the bris.\u00a0 Are you ready?”\u00a0 And so on.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The chair in front of the table with the cloth on it is the Elijah chair.\u00a0 I asked Jay the significance of the Elijah chair.\u00a0 He told me the story of Elijah.\u00a0 You may remember Elijah.\u00a0 He challenged Ahab and his priest, Obadiah, to a contest of efficacy, their gods, Baal and Ahserah, against his, Yahweh.\u00a0 Long story short.\u00a0 Yahweh sends down fire and burns a sacrifical bull, and not only the bull, but the altar as well.\u00a0 Baal and Asherah did not.\u00a0 Later on, however, Elijah complains to Yahweh that the people of Israel have not been keeping the covenant.\u00a0 After this comment, Elijah suffers a demotion and has to anoint his student, Elisha, as his successor.<\/p>\n Later, Elijah leaves earth for heaven in a whirlwind, on a chariot of fire.\u00a0 He is the only character in the Tanakh who does not die.\u00a0 Rabbinic scholars have made much of the study of Elijah and they conclude that Elijah became a perpetual witness to those events in Jewish ritual life that affirm the covenant.\u00a0 “The rabbis say this may be a reward or it may be a punishment.”\u00a0 Elijah’s chair, then, gives concrete expression to Elijah’s presence at this most basic of all affirmations of the Abrahamic covenant.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is Jon (my stepson) and Gabe with his knitted yarmulke.\u00a0 I wore one, too, but I don’t have a picture.\u00a0 Asked about the significance of the yarmulke, Jay said, “There are many answers, but one I like is that it shows where we stop and God takes over.”<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After the bris itself, Gabe received his Hebrew name, Gavriel.\u00a0 This is Jon and Jen, Ruth and Gabe with Jay giving Gabe several sips of sweet wine.<\/p>\n Why wine?\u00a0 Glad you asked, Jay said.\u00a0 “The body starts deteriorating from the moment of birth until it finally gives up and dies.\u00a0 It is the reverse in the spiritual life.\u00a0 As life goes on our spiritual life becomes richer and richer until we make the transition after death.\u00a0 Wine is one of the things we know that follows the same path.\u00a0 As it gets older and older, it gets better and better.”<\/p>\n One of the things I admire and respect about Judaism is its emphasis on home-based worship and ritual.\u00a0 This event sacralized Jon and Jen’s living room.\u00a0 While Jay sang some of the blessings, I saw many of Jon and Jen’s neighbors pass by on the street.\u00a0 It was an interesting blend of cultures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 68\u00a0 bar falls 29.22\u00a0 2mph\u00a0 SSW dew-point 62\u00a0 Beltane, cloudy and rainy \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Crescent of the Flower Moon (English) Coming back from a journey throws the traveler back into daily life,\u00a0 matters that have been suspended on the road.\u00a0 This trip is no exception.\u00a0 Stefan’s wife, Lonnie, has surgery today for her adenocarcinoma.\u00a0 Kate’s … Continue reading Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me.<\/span> ![\"bris-tripjay046400.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/bris-tripjay046400.jpg\")
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