Chicago, Illinois             

                                                     March 31, 1957

                           The Brith Milah: The Bris: The Circumcision

                On the eighth day in the life of Michael Lipensky, Rabbi, Murray Kay, the ‘Mohel’: a physician who is trained and authorized to perform the ritual circumcision intoned, “Brukheem ha-ba-eem b’sheym Adonai.”

                Standing alongside his grandson, whispering, Morris Barrish translated, “Blessed are you who come in the name of God.”

                Enthralled by the florescent light on the ceiling above his head, Michael Lipensky lay naked atop a blanket on the table in the nurses lounge adjoining the Weiss Memorial Hospital nursery.

                Besides the Mohel, there were the ten men that formed the minyan: Walter, Morris, Mitchell and his uncle, Al Marcus. From Marsha’s side there was Eli, Roger, Eli’s brother, William Goldman and Marsha’s other uncles, Harry and Stanley. Also in attendance was Marsha and Mitchell’s friend, Marty Fishman.

                “The rite of circumcision has been enjoined upon us as a sign of our covenant with God.” Rabbi Kay said in English as, dipping a strip of sterile gauze into a goblet of Kosher sacramental wine, he placed it between Michael’s lips.

                Tasting the sweet wine, Michael greedily gummed and drew on the saturated gauze and, the few drops of alcohol immediately numbing him...

                Kay placed a small, stainless-steel clamp onto the baby’s penis, between the foreskin and glans, shut it tight, then...

                Mitchell, along with most of the men, closed their eyes, as...

                ... With one precise cut, the Mohel removed the foreskin.

                “Mazel tov!”

                Only then did Mitchell open his eyes.

                “Mazel tov!”