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What is the appropriate way to invite someone to a Brit?

by Rabbi Naftali Silberberg

  

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It is customary not to formally invite people to participate in the Brit. Instead we merely announce that the Brit will take place at such a time in such a place. This is done (so if someone can't accept the invitation, it should) not to seem disrespectful to Elijah the Prophet as Elijah participates in every Brit.

The Rama writes1 that since one who is invited to a brit and does not participate is "excommunicated from Heaven," we should refrain from inviting people to a brit in order to spare them the possibility of suffering this disgrace.

Footnotes

  • 1. Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh Deah, 265:12, based on Talmud, Tractate Pesachim 113b.

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RELATED CATEGORIES

Life Cycle » Circumcision » The Customs
Brit
[Lit. Covenant] Circumcision. The act of removing ones foreskin 8 days after birth, perpetuating a covenant with G-d originally established by the Patriarch Abraham.
Elijah
A legendary prophet who lived in the 8th century BCE, and saved the Jewish religion from being corrupted by the pagan worship of Baal. He never died, he was taken to heaven alive. According to Jewish tradition, he visits every circumcision and every Passover Seder table.