It might have a long time to happen, but my cousin David's daughter, Shelley, who lives in Melbourne ... a long way from her parents and sister in Sydney ... gave birth to her first child, Nathan Reed (both are first names) a little over a week ago.
As I happened to be Melbourne earlier this week for a conference - the timing was coincidental and unplanned - I was, to my surprise, invited to a Brit Milah (or circumcision) ceremony at Shelley's home in North Caulfield, an inner Melbourne suburb. See http://www.jewfaq.org/birth.htm for a description of the event. It took place at 7.30 am on Tuesday morning, a strange time. But perhaps it was chosen to maximise the number of guests - there must have been about 60 people inside the small apartment for the ceremony, including heaps of kids. This made for a lot of hugging and kissing, not to mention an enthusiastic racket!
I won't go into the exact form of the ceremony, which you can look up for yourself, but there seemed to two Rabbis in attendance, with maybe one or two helpers, together with parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers, and friends of the family. It only lasted perhaps ten or fifteen minutes and young Nathan seemed to take things in his stride, with little wailing! After the event he went to sleep in his cot and the rest of us nattered on bolstered by some nice food.
I travelled there by train from Melbourne Central to a station close to Shelley's house and walked the remaining distance and the fare there and back was trivial for an oldie like me. Anyway, here are some pictures of the event.
Mother and Nathan.
AS
As I happened to be Melbourne earlier this week for a conference - the timing was coincidental and unplanned - I was, to my surprise, invited to a Brit Milah (or circumcision) ceremony at Shelley's home in North Caulfield, an inner Melbourne suburb. See http://www.jewfaq.org/birth.htm for a description of the event. It took place at 7.30 am on Tuesday morning, a strange time. But perhaps it was chosen to maximise the number of guests - there must have been about 60 people inside the small apartment for the ceremony, including heaps of kids. This made for a lot of hugging and kissing, not to mention an enthusiastic racket!
I won't go into the exact form of the ceremony, which you can look up for yourself, but there seemed to two Rabbis in attendance, with maybe one or two helpers, together with parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers, and friends of the family. It only lasted perhaps ten or fifteen minutes and young Nathan seemed to take things in his stride, with little wailing! After the event he went to sleep in his cot and the rest of us nattered on bolstered by some nice food.
I travelled there by train from Melbourne Central to a station close to Shelley's house and walked the remaining distance and the fare there and back was trivial for an oldie like me. Anyway, here are some pictures of the event.
Mother and Nathan.
AS
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