We look forward to celebrating this momentous occasion in our son’s life with you on Sunday. The following is a list of questions that we anticipate people having and our best attempts to answer them.
Q: What is a bris?
A: A bris (or brit mila) is the ceremony in which a Jewish boy is circumcised. It takes place on the eighth day of a baby’s life. After our son is circumcised, we will give him his Hebrew and English names and speak about why we’ve chosen those names.
Q: What are Shacharit and Hallel?
A: Shacharit is the morning prayer service, one of three daily services in Judaism. The service on Sunday will include Hallel, the singing of Psalms 113-118, because Sunday is Rosh Chodesh, the start of the Jewish month of Sivan.
Q: So when should I show up or log on to Zoom?
A: If you are unfamiliar with Jewish prayer services or Hebrew, we recommend logging on at or just before 10 AM. Furthermore, if you prefer to join us only for the bris itself for any other reason, just join us starting at or just before 10 AM.
Q: Will there be food?
A: Yes, of course! We encourage everyone to B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bagel).
It is customary to hold a seudat mitzvah (a special meal following the fulfillment of a Biblical commandment) after a bris, and we plan on doing so when the pandemic is over and it is safe to gather in community again. We hope you can join us at that time.
Q: When will the bris end?
A: We are aiming to conclude the bris and naming by 11 AM, but people are welcome to stay on Zoom to chat or schmooze after the formal ceremony ends.
Q: How do services work on Zoom?
A: The answer to this question varies by community and individual. In order to acknowledge that we do not wish to entirely normalize our current circumstances where we cannot pray in the same physical space with each other, we are choosing to only do the parts of the service that do not require a minyan (quorum) of ten people with the exception of Mourner’s Kaddish. For most of the service, there will be a single person leading the service. For the Amidah, the leader will recite the first three blessings out loud, and then time will be provided for silent prayer or individual reflection. The Torah portion for the day will be read out of a book rather than the Torah Scroll. However, Hallel will be conducted “popcorn style” with a different person leading each psalm, and much of each psalm will be sung aloud. No matter which part of the service we are doing, everyone but the leader will be muted but do sing along if you choose to. A PDF version of Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays will be made available and page numbers will be announced occasionally.
Q: Can I buy a present for your son?
A: We have a baby registry on Amazon. However, Baby Boy Hirsch is fortunate in that we are able to provide for him, regardless of whether you buy us a gift off the registry or not. If you do buy him a gift, please also consider making a charitable donation in his honor (see the next question for specific organizations that Baby Boy Hirsch supports).
Q: Can I make a charitable donation in your son’s honor?
A: Of course! We wish that Baby Boy Hirsch was born in to a less broken world, and we encourage donations in his honor to organizations that are working to create the world in which we would prefer to have given birth to our son. In that world, babies would have the essential supplies they need such as diapers to grow up healthy, their parents can take off work through paid family leave policies to change those diapers (and perhaps provide other essential care related tasks), and hospital staff and other people working to keep all of us safe and healthy would have the personal protective equipment (PPE) that they need to do their jobs. In that light, we recommend donations to one of the following organizations:
- The Greater DC Diaper Bank: https://greaterdcdiaperbank.org/
- Jews United for Justice: https://jufj.org/
- #GetUsPPE: https://getusppe.org/
Q: Can I prepare a meal or provide some other assistance to your family ?
A: Yes, please email us and we can provide more information on how you can provide support to us during this time.
Q: What would you have done had a Baby Girl Hirsch entered the world?
A: We always planned to hold a naming ceremony on our child’s eighth day of life, regardless of his or her apparent sex.
Q: What if I have a question that wasn’t answered here?
A: You can email us and we’ll do our best to come up with an answer that may range from sensible to outrageous depending on how much sleep Baby Boy Hirsch is allowing us to have. Despite the repeated requests of his not so spontaneous parents, Baby Boy Hirsch has yet to provide any information about his schedule, anticipated needs, or anything else we’ve asked him in recent days. It is our understanding that it may be awhile before that changes, but we love him nonetheless.