From the Mouth of Gabe: Bris-sion accomplished!

(Credit to my sister for coming up with that title.)

Gabriel's bris was on Thursday, 7/7, which also happened to be my parents' wedding anniversary. For the uninitiated, a "bris" is a Jewish ritual circumcision that is held at home on the 8th day after birth. Don't worry - local anesthesia is used so it's very humane! It went well, though the little man certainly didn't like being restrained and partly stripped on the dining room table. I think he was just being modest. Ben read some blessings while the mohel (the person doing the circumcision) did the procedure - it took less than a minute! I took on the traditional mother's role of crying in the next room. The mohel then read some blessings and said hopefully he'll grow up to be a mentsch (a good guy). Fat chance.

This is an emergency dispatch back to the home planet. My human slaves held a small rebellion yesterday - I barely survived. A group of them held me down on the table and attempted to cut me with a
knife. Fortunately they only managed to get my foreskin before I was able to escape.

My sister, brother-in-law and nephew (their kid) Zach came to the bris. Apparently this conversation happened at Zach's home earlier in the day:

My sis: What're we doing today?
Zach: We're going to a bris!
My sis: What's a bris?
Zach: I'm gonna find out!

Clearly a case of "gotcha journalism." Still, this kid is quite the conversationalist. Instead of "I don't know," it's: "I'll let you know!" "Stay tuned for more!"

There was awesome deliciousness: bagels and lox, whitefish, pastry, kugel,...and we have lots of leftovers! One thing about having a kid is you can trade visits for snacks - we've had relatives bring us beer, Indian food, rotisserie chicken, hot dogs and burgers for the 4th, and the whole bris spread. So book your visit soon - we may be upping the ante to caviar and escargot.