The tradition of our fathers is Torah and a righteous man should adhere to it. On
the eve of the eighth [day] the ba’al brit makes a feast in honor of the command-
ment. And after the circumcision, the father of the son rejoices with great drink-
ing, eating, and celebration.^61In this short description, the tasks assigned to the ba’al brit and the father are
nearly identical. Both host meals in honor of the circumcision, both hold the
baby at different points in the ceremony, and, according to additional sources,
both immersed themselves in the mikve before dressing in their finest cloth-
ing in honor of the occasion.^62
The ba’al brit appears in many Ashkenazic medieval sources. In some cases,
the sources discuss whether someone in mourning may serve as a ba’al brit.
The halakhic answer reveals the importance attributed to this role. The rabbis
ruled that people in mourning could serve as ba’alei brit, because of the im-
portance of the task. The great significance assigned to the role becomes evi-
dent from the discussion in the fifteenth-century book of customs of the Ma-
haril (R. Jacob Mulin):
When R. Mahari Segal became a ba’al brit, that which is called sandekin the lan-
guage of the sages, he would wash himself and immerse himself so that the baby
should enter the covenant in holiness. And he said: “The task of the ba’al brit is
more important than that of the mohel, because his feet are like an altar and it is
as if he [the ba’al brit] is sacrificing incense before the circumciser.”^63This statement, that the ba’al brit is more important than the circumciser is
somewhat surprising. After all, without the circumciser, the ceremony could
not take place. On the other hand, without the ba’al brit the ceremony could
take place without any difficulty and the lack of a ba’al brit was no impediment
to the ritual.
The value assigned the role of the ba’al brit is prominent in an additional
group of sources. The responsa literature discusses parents who promised
friends and relatives that they would be honored as ba’alei brit.^64 These
promises, made before birth and before the sex of the child was known, seem
to have been standard practice. Halakhic issues arose when more than one per-
son was promised the role of ba’al brit. The rabbis who responded to these cases
acknowledged the fact that this promise concerned an honor that might never
be performed—after all, many infants died at birth and there was at least a 50
percent chance that the infant would be a girl! However, they explain, that as
these promises are routinely made, it is an issue they must discuss.
For example, a responsum from the school of R. Meir of Rothenburg relates
a case in which the father promised someone the honor of ba’al brit. As the
baby was ill, the circumcision ceremony was postponed, and, in the meantime,
the father promised the honor to someone else. The query includes a plea for
help, and states: “Please reply for these deeds happen daily and send us your