Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Linzer answers halakhic questions from rabbis and community members
A baby boy was born Wednesday night. Sunset was 8:04. The father initially thought he was born at 8:06, however, the birth certificate says 7:58. Does this qualify as a safeik?
In such a case we would follow the doctor’s recording of the time and rule that the birth occurred on Wednesday before sunset, and the brit will be on the following Wednesday.
To understand why, we have to consider two scenarios:
In a small town without a traditional mohel nearby, would we be lenient on who the mohel is to avoid postponing a Shabbat brit milah? Would we allow a mohel who is not shomer Shabbat (i.e. a Jewish doctor who does circumcision in coordination with local shuls)? What if the mohel live close enough to walk (~1.5 hour) but will likely drive? What if they use the Gomco clamp and not the Mogen clamp/shield?
This contains a lot of issues.
A. Postponing from Shabbat. This can definitely be done when necessary for appropriate halakhic reasons. For example, a number
A levi wasn’t circumcised because his parents are intactivists. Does the Rosh Yeshiva allow such a person to read from the Torah? Could they have the levi aliyah? Can they wash the kohen for birkat kohanim?
The basic pesak is that someone who does not have a brit milah, even if he is מומר לערלות, is only considered to be a mumar for one aveirah. He does not have a larger status of pasul. See Shulchan Arukh YD 2:7. (The one exception might be whether he can be a mohel, see Rema in Shulchan Arukh YD 264:1.) There is a
Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Dov Linzer will be answering shailas from YCT rabbis and community members on video each week.