On the eighth day of his life, Quinn continued the 5000-year tradition
of the Berit Mila, also known as the Bris.
The ceremony and proceedure were performed by
Dr. Fred Kogen, a Reform mohel
practicing throughout California and Nevada.
His web site gives a thorough
explanation of the entire ritual as well as medical information about the
proceedure. We highly recommend him.
This is Quinn's grandmother on his mother's side, spending some
quality time with the little man before things get started. This reminds
me -- we still need to name the grandparents! If you have any great
suggestions, please email them to us at the address at the bottom of the
page.
Quinn recently had his first taste of wine, in the form of some sweet
kosher Manischewitz wine. He'll have plenty of time to refine his tastes.
He seems quite relaxed, no?
The ceremony was in our livingroom, and relatively intimate as bris's go -- we
had all four grandparents, an aunt and uncle, and a pair of good friends
all here for the occasion.
The last time these two were lighting a pair of candles with that
braided havdalah candle was back in June of 1991, at our wedding.
At least this time, there wasn't any wind to complicate matters.
These are are Quinn's godparents, who are also his aunt and uncle on his
mother's side. This is one of the few pictures of
her holding a newborn baby. Foreshadowing, prehaps?
The tallis that Quinn is wrapped in was William's, Quinn's great grandfather on his paternal grandmother's side. Willy was one of Quinn's Hebrew namesakes, along with Leslie (Sr), his great grandfather on his maternal grandfather's side. We loosely translated Leslie William into Ya'Ari Shimri.
Even more rare -- we've actually captured an image of this guy holding a baby!
Dr. Fred is standing in the background.
Quinn's grandfathers were his Sandek for the bris. Here they are with
Quinn resting between them, shortly before the circumcision is
performed.