Brit Milah Box

 

This wood box with purple velvet lining dates from the late 1800s. It used to hold circumcision instruments, including a knife with a carved bone handle (the handle is pictured beside the box).

Brit milah, meaning “covenant of circumcision,” is an important ceremony in Jewish life. Traditionally, the trained mohel (circumciser) uses a special knife to remove the baby boy’s foreskin eight days after his birth. In Jewish law, ritual circumcision is a commandment from God. Though the rite is required, it does not have an effect on the boy’s Jewish status; a Jew, whether circumcised or not, is by birth a Jew. 

Donated by Mr. and Mrs. Keith Audet
M1994/017

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