Mohel Question...

[IUAlum]

I know there are a few Jewish mommas out there...

We're having a boy and I have a couple of questions about the Bris I'm hoping you can help on.

1- Did you call a mohel or 2 before baby came to "interview" them. Or just make sure they would be around when baby did come? Obvioulsy you can't reserve anything, but my mom keeps bugging me to call the mohel. What do you ask?

2- Have you heard of g-dparents at a Bris? My MIL brought this up and I had never heard of it. She said the g-dfather would hold the baby. I always though the GRANDfather held the baby. Anyone?

Thanks for the help in advance!!!

[emschwar]

We called the mohel (a local OB) a few months before the birth. He sent us all the info, and we told him we'd call him when DS was born.

We didn't have godparents, per se, but there was that sort of "position" in the ceremony. I'll see if I can find the info the mohel sent us about it.

OK, couldn't find that, but found this:
There are several. The first is the sandak. His role is to hold the baby as the mohel performs the circumcision. This honor is now usually given to the grandfather. The second grandfather--sandak II--can hold the child during the naming ceremony. The kvatter and kvatterin (godparents) carry the baby into the room where the ceremony will take place.

[Sal03]

We heard about our Mohel through friends and he came really highly recommended. We did call him maybe 6 weeks before my due date and spoke to him about what kind of service he does and what to expect and what he needs from us. He also had a website and was written up in some newspaper articles so we read those. After DS was born, the Mohel was one of our first phone calls and he was available.

We had some honor roles in the ceremony. My dad was sandak, DH's dad was sandak II. DH and I both did a brief reading. My brother and DH's sister were the Godparents and they carried DS into the room. I think my mom also had a small role too.

[abbytfox]

1- Did you call a mohel or 2 before baby came to "interview" them. Or just make sure they would be around when baby did come? Obvioulsy you can't reserve anything, but my mom keeps bugging me to call the mohel. What do you ask?

We had called a mohel before having the baby (whose gender was a surprise) to ask questions, buy Elliott came early and he was out of town. Plus, it was the week of Thanksgiving making it extra challenging to find someone on short notice. SO...we got a recommendation from our pediatrician and a list of pediatrician/mohels from my parents synagogue. I asked what their ceremony was like (we're reform so I didn't want anything too religious...if that makes sense), what their fee was, how the circ. was performed (plastibell or clamp), what we needed to provide and if they were available. It might be good to talk to someone before you have the baby so you will know if they have any plans to be out of town and if that is the case then you could call someone else. I got the sense that although mohels are used to being called last minute, they appreciate any notice you can give them. So letting them know that you are expecting at such and such time would be helpful.

2- Have you heard of g-dparents at a Bris? My MIL brought this up and I had never heard of it. She said the g-dfather would hold the baby. I always though the GRANDfather held the baby. Anyone?
We had my dad be the kvatter (he carried Elliott into the room) and my FIL was the sandak (he held Elliott for the ceremony) We did not have godparents, but that isn't our tradition. Maybe you can ask her if that is part of her tradition and see if you want to incorporate it into your new little family.
Good Luck!

[pgbg]

We actually didn't call until the baby was born -- DH called the 2 in our town, and the one who was available set up the time. We also had the rabbi from our temple. The mohel sent an info pamphlet in the mail -- it had a list of what he would need and we had to buy some stuff beforehand.

My mom had the special role (I don't remember what the rabbi called it) of carrying DS into where the bris was -- it seemed appropriate b/c although there are 3 sets of grandparents (DH's parents are divorced and both remarried), my mom is a widower and she is my mom after all!! I got no complaints about that from MIL which I was pleasantly surprised about.

DS's GREAT-grandfather was the Sandak. The other grandparents had no role, but you could certainly add stuff for them to do if you wanted. DH and I spoke (well he did b/c I was choking up) about how we picked the names and the rabbi spoke a bit but that was it.

[LexyLou]

We have a daughter so we didn;t need a mohel but our pediatrician is one. I would definitely call beforehand.