Isaac’s circumcision ceremony, designed by the famous twelfth-century artist
Nicholas of Verdun, portrays Isaac being held by a woman during the circum-
cision ceremony. Although it is hard to reach firm historical conclusions based
on this picture, it depicts the reality that emerges from the sources (figure 4).^87
This survey of the sources suggests that before R. Meir of Rothenburg’s time,
women served as ba’alot brit, filling a number of different roles. Sometimes
they held the baby while he was being circumcised, sometimes they carried
him to the synagogue and/or bathed him. At times, the ba’alat brit had a male
partner (who may have been related to her), and in other cases she alone served
as ba’al brit. During the second half of the thirteenth century, objections to
women serving as independent ba’alot brit were voiced, especially to their
holding of the baby on their laps during the ceremony. The wording of the re-
sponse, however, seems to indicate that this change was not effected easily.
Samson ben Z·adok states: “Though I have cried out for many days, no one pays
any attention.” He also suggests that the women are performing an uncivilized
act and hints at the illicit sexual connotation of their deed by using the word
CIRCUMCISION AND BAPTISM 73
Figure 3. Isaac’s Circumcision. Regensburg Pentateuch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem,
cod. 180/52, fol. 18b, detail, around 1300 Germany. Photo courtesy of Israel Museum,
Jerusalem.