- I assume this is based on what women desire in other traditional societies today, where the
wish for sons is often predominant. - For example: Sefer Tosafot haShalem, Gen. 38:28, no. 5.
- R. Gershom, Zikhron Brit, 139–40.
Notes to Chapter 2Wolfram von Eschenbach, Willelham, ed. Albert Letzmann (Tübingen, 1961), 307, lines 23–
24: “der juden touf hât sundersite: den begênt mit einem snite.”
- For a detailed description of reproductive rituals, see: Paige and Paige, Reproductive Ritual.
- For a discussion of the importance of circumcision in antiquity, see: Sacha Stern,Jewish Iden-
tity in Early Rabbinic Writings(Leiden, 1995), 63–68. - Rubin, Beginning of Life.See also Lewis M. Barth (ed.), Berit Mila in the Reform Context
(New York, 1990). - Hoffman, Covenant of Blood.Hoffman’s analysis relies heavily on a book written over one
hundred years ago that is still extremely relevant: Löw, Lebensalter, 81–92. - Paige and Paige, Reproductive Ritual, 4–14; John W. M. Whiting, “Adolescent Rituals and
Identity Conflicts,” in Cultural Psychology, eds. James W. Stigler, Richard A. Schweder, and
Gilbert Herdt (Cambridge and New York, 1990), 357–65; Gilbert Herdt, “Sambia Nosebleeding
Rites and Male Proximity to Women,” ibid., 366–400. - Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, The Savage in Judaism: An Anthropology of the Israelite Religion
and Ancient Judaism(Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1990), 141–76; Rubin, Beginning of Life,
75–86. - For example, he discusses the role of women in the circumcision ceremony in the Middle
Ages in light of his findings concerning an earlier time period, rather than in its historical context:
Covenant of Blood, 190. - For a survey of approaches to ritual, see: Bell, Ritual Theory, 197–218. For a critical assess-
ment of some of these approaches, see: Bourdieu, “Rites As Acts of Institution,” 81–88, as well as
Paige and Paige, Reproductive Ritual, 43–53. In our context, I will argue that despite the seem-
ingly marginal role of women in this male ritual, the place of women in the ritual elucidates the
place of women in society at large. For an analysis of rituals as defining social hierarchies, see:
Stephen Lukes, “Political Ritual and Social Integration,” Sociology9(1975): 289–91; 300. - Tosefta Kiddushin, ed. Saul Lieberman (New York, 1973), 1:11; Mishna, Kiddushin, 1:7.
- Hoffman assumes that the prayers for the circumcision ceremony, like many other prayers,
were shaped during the time of the compilation of the Mishna (Covenant of Blood, 54–63). Hoff-
man supports this point, citing the detailed account of John’s circumcision ceremony. However,
no blessings are mentioned there. - Tosefta Berakhot, ed. Saul Lieberman (New York, 1955), 6;12; PT Berakhot, 9c; BT Shab-
bat 137b.
12.Siddur R. Sa’adjah Gaon, eds. Israel Davidson, Simha Assaf, and Issachar Joel (Jerusalem,
1941), 98–100; Seder R. Amram Gaon, ed. Daniel Goldschmidt (Jerusalem, 1932), 179–81. For
the differences between the ritual in these two books see Lawrence A. Hoffman, The Canoniza-
tion of the Synagogue Service(Notre Dame and London, 1979), 136–39. For the dating of the
books, see Robert Brody, “The Enigma of Seder Rav ‘Amram,’” in Knesset Ezra. Literature and
Life in the Synagogue: Studies Presented to Ezra Fleischer, eds. Shulamith Elizur et al. (Jerusalem,
1994), 21–34. Ginzberg argued that the blessing for the mother was a later addition and did not
appear in the Gaonic sources: Louis Ginzberg, The Geonim and Their Halakic Writings(New
York, 1909), 1:143. In circumcision ceremonies conducted in the East, only the blessing for the
child appears (Siddur R. Shlomo b. R. Nathan haSigilmasi, ed. Shmuel Haggai, (Jerusalem, 1995),
142).