If a brit (circumcision) is delayed for medical reasons, is it permissible to name a baby boy before his brit?

Responsa in a Moment

Volume 19, Number 2
December 2024 

In memory of my grandfather
Rabbi Mordechai Ya’akov Golinkin z”l
Av Bet Din of Zhitomir, Danzig and Massachusetts
On his 50th yahrzeit
May his memory be for a blessing!

If a brit (circumcision) is delayed for medical reasons, is it permissible to name a baby boy before his brit?
(Yoreh Deah 265:1, in the Shakh, subparagraph 6)

Question from Dr. Yair Paz (2001) and Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins (2024): If a brit (circumcision) is delayed for medical reasons, is it permissible to name a baby boy before his brit?

Responsum:

I. Opinions of the Aharonim (Later Authorities)

Most of the later authorities (see the Bibliography at the end of the responsum) state various opinions without quoting any sources and without any historical examination of the subject.

Here are their opinions:

1. 1. It is necessary to wait for the circumcision according to the accepted custom (Rabbi Weisberg, note 12; Rabbi Levi, note 9, citing the custom of the Sephardim and Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky; Rabbi Miller citing Rabbi Kanievsky; Rabbi Oppenheimer, note 31; Rabbi Wilhelm, note 7).
   2. It is preferable in such a situation to name the boy before the eighth day when he is still not considered an Arel, uncircumcised (Rabbi Posek; Rabbi Weisberg, note 11; Rabbi Oppenheimer, note 30; Rabbi Wilhelm, note 6). They rely on Maimonides, Laws of Terumot 1:7, but they apparently did not check that source. The correct reference is to Laws of Terumot 11:7. An Arel may not eat or enjoy Terumah (, 7:10). Maimonides rules in chapter 11 that it is permitted to anoint the infant with Terumah oil within seven days of his birth “for the newborn, all seven days is not considered an Arel.”
   3. Or it is preferable to name him after the eighth day (Rabbi Posek in the name of his father; Rabbi Weisberg, note 10).
   4. If he is given a name before the circumcision, it should be done when the father is called to the Torah, similar to a daughter (Rabbi Hillel Posek; Rabbi Isaacsohn quoted by Rabbi Oppenheimer, note 29; Rabbi Wilhelm, note 5).
   5. If he is a firstborn, he should be named at the time of the Pidyon Haben, the redemption of the firstborn, and not wait for the circumcision (Rabbi Weisberg, note 13; Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef; Rabbi Elyashiv quoted by Rabbi Levi, note 12; Rabbi Oppenheimer, note 32; Rabbi Wilhelm, note 8).
   6. If the baby is ill, he should be given a name immediately so that people can pray for him (Rabbi Levi, note 10; Rabbi Shlomo Fischer quoted by Rabbi Rubin; Rabbi Binyamin Zilber quoted by Rabbi Rubin and Rabbi Levi; Rabbi Chaim Miller recounting actual cases involving Rabbi Yehezkel Levenstein, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi Shach, and the Satmar Rebbe).
   7. If the baby is ill, he is given a name to strengthen his Mazal and help him recover (Rabbi David Batzri quoted by Rabbi Rubin).
   8. If thirty days have passed since birth and he has not yet been circumcised, some have the custom that the father is called to the Torah and gives him a name (Rabbi Sternbuch, also cited by Rabbi Yosef and Rabbi Levi). Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu ruled this way so that people would pray for him (Rabbi Levi, but cf. Rabbi Rubin).
   9. If his brothers died due to circumcision – i.e., due to hemophilia — and it is forbidden to circumcise the baby because of the danger to life, many have ruled that the father should give him a name immediately when he is called to the Torah (Rabbi Levi, note 9; Rabbi Rubin, p. 71).

II. An historical survey of the topic – when was a baby boy named in Biblical times and in the Middle Ages?

We shall now discuss our topic historically, based on what I wrote in a responsum in 2001 and in an article in 2005, and on the articles by Rabbis Halperin and Lange in the journal Assia.

The Biblical Period – Naming at Birth

In the biblical period, names were given at birth, not at circumcision. This is clear from the following verses:

Genesis 4:1 – Cain
Genesis 21:3-4 – Abraham named his son Isaac before the circumcision.
Genesis 25:25-26 – Esau and Jacob
Genesis 29:32 – 30:24 – Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Yissachar, Zevulun, Dinah, Yosef – a total of twelve names
Genesis 35:18 – Binyamin
Genesis 38:27-30 – Peretz and Zerah
Genesis 41:51-52 – Menasheh and Ephraim
Exodus 2:22 – Gershom
1 Samuel 4:20-22 – Ichabod (Ee Kavod)
2 Samuel 12:24 – Shlomo.

A remnant of this ancient custom is found in two medieval halakhic works. It is stated there, after the blessings of the circumcision: “Sustain this child for his father and his mother who was named so-and-so…” In other words, the name had already been given before the circumcision. This version of the prayer is found in the Sefer Ha’itur by Rabbi Isaac ben Abba Mari (Provence, 12th century), quoted in Tur Yoreh De’ah 265 (this phrase is missing in the printed edition of Sefer Ha’itur, part 2, fol. 53b because it says there ‘וכו — etc.) (1) and in Sefer Abudraham by Rabbi David Abudraham (Seville, ca. 1340), p. 351. 

The First and Second Centuries and from the Eighth Century Onwards – Naming at the Circumcision Ceremony

External Sources

This custom is mentioned twice in the Book of Luke, written in Greek in the Land of Israel ca. 100 CE. We are told in chapter 1:59 that at the circumcision ceremony of John the Baptist, they wanted to name him Zekhariah after his father, but his mother said that his name must be John, and his father agreed. Similarly, it is mentioned in chapter 2:21 that Jesus also received his name on the eighth day, at the time of his circumcision. One might argue that no proof can be brought from the New Testament, but as Maimonides wrote in the Eight Chapters, chapter 4: “Accept the truth from whoever says it.” Indeed, the Sages, the Geonim, the Rishonim, Rabbi S. D. Luzzatto, and Rabbi Kook emphasized that the search for truth is a religious value (see my book Responsa in a Moment, Vol. V, Jerusalem, 2021, pp. 151-154). Thus, these sources from the book of Luke teach us in passing that this was the custom in the Land of Israel at the beginning of the first century CE.

The Church Father Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150 – ca. 220 CE) recounts that Moses received his name from Pharaoh’s daughter, but he adds that it is clear that his parents gave the child a name at the time of his circumcision, when he was named Yehoyakim (Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata I, 23, ed. Migne, VIII, Paris, 1891, cols. 897-898 = The Ante-Nicene Fathers, I, Grand Rapids, 1983, p. 335). In other words, he too was apparently familiar with the Jewish custom of his time to name the child at the brit.

Midrash

A similar Midrash appears in Pirkei Derabi Eliezer, chapter 48 (ed. Radal, Warsaw, 1852, fol. 114b), which was apparently edited in the eighth century: “Rabbi Netanel says: Moses’ parents saw his appearance as that of an angel of God, they circumcised him on the eighth day and named him Yekutiel.”

The Geonic Period

Indeed, beginning with Seder Rav Amram Gaon, naming the baby is mentioned as a fixed part of the circumcision ceremony.

In the Geonic period, the naming appears in a prayer in Babylonian Jewish Aramaic, the spoken language of Babylonian Jews.

In Seder Rav Amram Gaon (died 875; ed. Goldschmidt, p. 179), after the blessing “Who sanctified the beloved from the womb,” there is an Aramaic prayer for the child’s health that includes the words: “and his name shall be called so-and-so in Israel.”

A similar prayer appears in Siddur Rav Saadia Gaon (died 942; ed. Jerusalem, 1941, p. 99). After the blessing “Who sanctified the beloved from the womb,” the Siddur says: “Then he prays for him [= for the child] and names him in the prayer,” followed by a version of the aforementioned Aramaic prayer including the phrase “for so-and-so son of so-and-so.”

Indeed, this Aramaic prayer appears with variations in Siddur Rabbeinu Shlomo b’rebi  Natan, which was apparently edited in Sijilmasa, Morocco before 1140 (ed. Shmuel Haggai, Jerusalem, 1995, p. 142); in Sefer Ra’aviyah (Cologne, 1140-1225), ed. Aptowitzer, part 1, Berlin, 1913, p. 360; in the work of his student Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna (1180-1250), Or Zarua, part 2, Zhitomir, 1862, Hilkhot Milah, paragraph 107, fol. 27b = ed. Makhon Yerushalayim, part 2, Jerusalem, 2010, paragraph 107, p. 153; in Sefer Kol Bo (Provence, ca. 1300; ed. David Avraham, part 5, col. 37); and in Sefer Abudraham (Spain, 1340; Sefer Abudraham Hashalem, p. 352).

This custom is also mentioned in the context of a baby who passed away before being circumcised. Rav Nahshon Gaon (died 879) ruled that, in such a case, the circumcision is performed at the grave without a blessing, and the baby is given a name (Otzar Hageonim, Shabbat, Responsa, p. 138, paragraph 420; cf. Boaz Cohen, Kuntress Hateshuvot, Budapest, 1930, p. 23, note 5). In other words, he also was of the opinion that a name is given at the time of circumcision.

The Period of the Rishonim (Early Authorities)

Many of the Rishonim included, after the blessing “Who sanctified the beloved from the womb,” a prayer in Hebrew that is still used today: “Our God and the God of our fathers, sustain this child for his father and his mother, and let his name be called in Israel so-and-so son of so-and-so:”

1. 1. Rabbi Simhah of Vitry, Rashi’s disciple (France, ca. 1120), Mahzor Vitry, paragraph 506, p. 626.
   2. Rabbi Menahem ben Shlomo (Italy, 1139), Midrash Sekhel Tov, Berlin, 1900, Parashat Lekh Lekha, 19.
   3. Rabbi Yehudah b”r Yakar, the Ramban’s teacher (Provence and Barcelona, died before 1218), Peirush Hatefillot V’haberakhot, part 2, p. 67, with two explanations for the custom.
   4. Rabbi Ya’akov Hagozer (Ashkenaz, first half of the 13th century), Sefer Zikhron Brit Larishonim, Berlin, 1892, pp. 94-95. He derives the custom from Abraham, “that until he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, his name was Abram, and immediately after he was circumcised, his name was changed to a praiseworthy one and an additional letter was added, and he was called Abraham” (Genesis 17). However, this proof is not strong because Sarai’s name was also changed to Sarah in that same chapter, and, in any case, there is a difference between a 99-year-old man and a baby.
   5. Rabbi Eleazar of Worms (Ashkenaz, died 1238), Peirushei Siddur Hatefillah Larokeah, Hershler, Jerusalem, 1992, p. 768 (which was copied into Siddur Rabbi Shlomo Meegermaiza, chapter 119, ed. Hershler, Jerusalem, 1972, p. 287, as the editor surmised in the introduction, p. 22). He also provides the explanation of Abram/Abraham.
   6. Rabbi Tzidkiyah ben Avraham Harofeh (Italy, died after 1244), Shibolei Haleket Hashalem, Buber, Hilkhot Milah, paragraph 4, p. 373.
   7. Rabbi Aharon Hakohen of Lunel (Provence, ca. 1300), Orhot Hayyim, part 2, ed. Schlesinger, Berlin, 1899, p. 9.
   8. Rabbi Yom Tov ben Avraham Ishbili (Seville, Spain, ca. 1250-1330), Responsa of the Ritva, paragraph 158, quoted by the Bet Yosef to Tur Yoreh De’ah, paragraph 265, s.v. u’l’haritva.
   9. Rabbi Moshe Mat (Poland, ca. 1551-1606), Mateh Moshe, Inyanei Milah, paragraph 18, ed. Knobelovich, London, 1958, p. 388, also provides the explanation of Abram/Abraham.

The question arises, why was the naming of a baby boy moved from the time of birth to the time of circumcision? Professor Theodor Gaster suggests, based on comparative folklore, that all peoples believed that demons try to harm the child during the critical days after birth, and they cannot harm the child if he has no name. Similarly, Christians name the child only at Baptism, and other peoples also have the custom of not revealing the name of a child for a certain period of time after the birth.

III Summary and Practical Halakhah

In summary, the custom of naming a child immediately after the circumcision is an ancient practice mentioned in two external sources from the first centuries CE, as well as in a Midrash, ancient prayer books, and halachic literature beginning in the eighth century. There is no doubt that, in general, one should follow this ancient custom and name the child at the circumcision ceremony. However, when the circumcision is delayed for medical reasons, it is permissible to name the child before the circumcision for three reasons:

1. 1. This was the practice in the Biblical period and according to two of the Rishonim.
   2. This is the ruling of most of the Aharonim mentioned above.
   3. Arthur Edelman, a well-known expert in neonatology, suggested that giving the baby a name strengthens the bond between the mother and the child, which is a critical connection for the development of an infant who is in the neonatal intensive care unit for an extended period of time. Indeed, Rabbi Mordechai Halperin supported his view.

David Golinkin
Jerusalem
19 Kislev 5785

Notes

1. This is not an unusual phenomenon. There are four other important authorities who dealt with our topic, and in their works, this prayer is also abbreviated with the word ‘וכו [=etc.] and the like: Sefer Ra’aviyah (Cologne, 1140-1225), ed. Aptowitzer, part 1, Berlin, 1913, p. 360; his student Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna (1180-1250), Or Zarua, part 2, Zhitomir, 1862, Hilkhot Milah, paragraph 107, folio 27b = ed. Makhon Yerushalayim, part 2, Jerusalem, 2010, paragraph 107, p. 153; Rabbi Avraham Hayarhi (written in Toledo, 1204), Sefer Hamanhig, Raphael, part 2, Jerusalem, 1978, Hilkhot Milah, p. 580; Sefer Kol Bo (Provence, ca. 1300), ed. David Avraham, part 5, Jerusalem, 2001, col. 35. It could be argued that the authors of these books shortened the prayer, but it seems to me that the copyists abbreviated the prayer because they assumed the reader knew the prayer by heart. Indeed, I have already proven that there is a similar phenomenon in the Babylonian Talmud; each copyist abbreviated verses as he saw fit – see my doctoral dissertation, Perek Yom Tov Shel Rosh Hashanah Babavli (part 2), New York, 1988, pp. 148-149.

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