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If a baby is sick on the 8th day, the brit is pushed off until the baby is healthy. Once the mohel and doctor determine that the baby is healthy, does the brit need to be performed right away (on that day), or can it be scheduled to happen a few days later?

unforgettableidSupportsMonica
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Ariel K
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6 Answers6

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ואם לא מל, חייב כרת. הגה: ובכל יום עוברים בעונשין אלו. ‏
And if he was not circumcised, he receives Karet (Spiritual Excision). Gloss: And he receives this punishment each day. (Shulchan Aruch YD 261:1)

CYLOM for a practical ruling, but it seems from the above that the milah should be scheduled as soon as possible to avoid excessive Karet.

(I'll note that there is a machloket rishonim brought in the Tur there if every day is Karet or just a Bittul Aseh, but either way better get it over with sooner.)

I found here that Rabbi Paysach J. Krohn, Certified Mohel writes that delaying the bris after the baby is healthy for a more convienient time is not appropriate, but rather it should be performed "as soon as possible".

The Noda Bihuda (Tinyana YD 166, quoted in Pitchei Teshuva YD 262:2) was asked about a father whose son's Milah was delayed for health reasons who now wants to delay until Erev Pesach in order to create a Seudat Mitzva for the local firstborns to eat from. He writes back tersely and very forcibly that delaying the Milah at all unnecessarily is a "very disgusting thing" and should not be done.

Double AA
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    BTW I really don't know what excessive karet means. – Double AA Jul 17 '12 at 02:23
  • The karet is on a person who doesn't circumcise himself, not on the father's chiyuv on his son. – Ariel K Jul 17 '12 at 16:30
  • @ArielK So? ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ – Double AA Jul 17 '12 at 16:46
  • But doesn't Karet start only when the person is 20 years old? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/8629/why-does-earthly-punishment-start-at-13-and-divine-punishment-at-20 -- If so, there would be no karet for the baby if the circumcision was postponed another day --- (This could be what Ariel is asking as well) – Menachem Jul 17 '12 at 17:46
  • Mitzvot do not apply to a baby, the only question is the chiyuv of the father. Though maybe the chiyuv of milah on one's son is comparably serious, even if there's no karet for not doing it. – Ariel K Jul 17 '12 at 17:55
  • @ArielK Why can't the dad be the son's messenger? – Double AA Jul 18 '12 at 02:14
  • @Menachem Patur aval assur, I imagine. – Double AA Jul 18 '12 at 02:15
  • @doubleAA, i'm not sure what ur saying. a minor is not obligated in mitzvos, (prob.) cannot make a shliach, and 4 sure cannot get punishments, never-mind a baby! the father does milah on his son because it is 1 of the mitzvos of the father on a son, but it doesn't mean there's a chayiv karet on him. – Ariel K Jul 18 '12 at 15:15
  • @ArielK So tell me: which number of 613 is the father's mitzva to do milah on his son (which is not a chiyuv karet), and then which number is the son's obligation to do milah on himself (which is a chiyuv karet)? – Double AA Jul 18 '12 at 15:26
  • See Bereishis 17, Kiddushin 29. The count of the mitzvah isn't really relevant. The mitzvah is initially on the father without any chiyuv karet, but then falls to the son when he becomes older with a chiyuv karet. See Rambam Milah 1:1 who states this explicitly. (Commentators there cite Yevamos 70b and Shabbos 133a as sources for this.) – Ariel K Jul 18 '12 at 16:02
  • @ArielK But the mitzva count is very relevant as it shows it's all fundamentally one mitzva! I agree there is no karet for the dad nor the son till he's 20, but that doesn't mean we can't learn that the general nature of the violation is such that every day missed is problematic. – Double AA Jul 18 '12 at 16:16
  • What I meant before by shaliach, is since it's all one mitzva and we know the one responsible changes we have to query its nature: is it fundamentally a mitzva on the son just the Torah designates the father as a shaliach since the son is never capable of performing the mitzva at its proper time; alternatively, the mitzva is on the dad just when he fails it devolves onto the son. One can find various nafka minah for this chakira. – Double AA Jul 18 '12 at 16:19
  • The shulchan aruch says in the next siman, 262, that if a child was sick we wait seven additional days from the day he is declared healthy. – conceptualinertia Aug 02 '22 at 13:20
  • @concept this answer doesn't discuss when "as soon as possible" is in any particular case, only delaying beyond that – Double AA Aug 02 '22 at 13:25
  • @DoubleAA The question was about whether it needed to happen "right away" after the baby is declared healthy. I think your answer gives the mistaken impression that it does. Perhaps add a qualification that "you need to wait 7 days after the baby is found to be healthy, just to be sure." Any additional waiting would be subject to 261:1. – conceptualinertia Aug 02 '22 at 16:48
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Maaseh Rav.

My son’s bris was delayed over 5 weeks. It was summertime. The mohel came one afternoon maybe 2 hours before shki’a and said we could do the bris that day. Most of the family were living 200 miles away and could not have attended.

I asked my Rav (who is widely respected in the Community) who said that we should go ahead that day as long as there was no chance of any quarrels being generated in the family by not giving them time to attend. We phoned the family and were reassured and so went ahead.

Avrohom Yitzchok
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A friend of mine had a delayed bris for his son. He said the psak he got was that if it is delayed because the baby is yellow, then you do it as soon as possible after the jaundice has cleared. If it was because the baby was sick with something else, you wait a week before doing the Bris to make sure the baby is healthy. See here where it references the same concept, but is more vague about what constitutes a health risk that requires waiting seven days.

Yishai
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The halacha is that for a child that was yellow or had only a localized, mild health issue, we do the bris as soon as feasible after he is declared healthy enough to have the bris by the doctor and mohel.

However, if a child had a fever or some other serious illness, we wait a week (7 days of 24 hours) before conducting the bris. See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 262:2.

This halacha is brought down in the Gemara in Shabbos 137a.

conceptualinertia
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In my experience, britot that are performed after the eighth day due to health reasons are usually done on Sundays. I have seen this in charedi and non-charedi communities. Don't take that as halakha, just observed behavior.

Charles Koppelman
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    This does not match my (admittedly limited) experience. – msh210 Jul 17 '12 at 16:45
  • Assuming all else is equal, there will be more delayed britot on Sundays, because one doesn't perform a delayed brit on Shabbos (even if the baby is able to have the brit that day), so on average 2/7 delayed britot will be on a Sunday, instead of 1/7. But that is by no means "usually". – Esther Aug 02 '22 at 18:09
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In the case of my son, whose Brit Milah was delayed because of neonatal jaundice, the Psak our Rav gave us was to wait until the bilirubin levels come all the way down to the "LeChatchila" level recommended by the doctors, and not just to the "mildly-high-but-not-overly-dangerous" levels at which doctors will allow an 8-day-old baby to undergo a Brit Milah on time.

If I remember the numbers correctly, the "LeChatchila" serum bilirubin levels are 10 mg/dL or less, although at 12 mg/dL it is still possible to perform a Brit Milah. My son had over 16 mg/dL on his 8th day, and our Rav told us that -- since we already going to be late -- we should wait until the bilirubin levels come all the way down to 10, and not just to 12.

Yosi Mor
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