It is not uncommon for a family to have one Jewish and one non-Jewish
parent. Interfaith couples may
have had a Jewish wedding ceremony, a non-Jewish ceremony, a mixed ceremony, a
civil ceremony, or no wedding at all.
My feeling is that interfaith families who wish to consider a
Jewish identity for their child and who wish to arrange for a bris should be encouraged to discuss
doing this.
In biblical times, a person’s status and inheritance was
determined by that of his/her father.
Later on, this was changed so that today, among traditional Jews
(Orthodox and Conservative), the baby is considered to have the same religion
as the mother. Therefore, if the
mother is Jewish, the baby is Jewish, and if the mother is not Jewish, the baby
is not Jewish, and only Jewish babies have brisses. More liberal branches of Judaism
(Reform and Reconstructionist) feel that if either parent is Jewish, the baby
should be considered to be Jewish if the
child undergoes appropriate and timely public and formal acts of identification
with the Jewish faith and people. For a newborn male, brit
milah is the first formal act of public Jewish identity that can be
performed.
In the Orthodox and Conservative branches of Judaism, a
non-Jewish baby can ultimately undergo a formal conversion to Judaism. If this is to be done, the procedure starts
with ritual circumcision, continues with a Jewish upbringing, and is ultimately
completed with ritual immersion in a mikveh
(at an appropriate age) and a ceremony done in the presence of a beit din (religious court of law). In such circumstances, the bris ceremony includes a brief passage
stating that it is being done l’shem
gerut (for the sake of conversion).
Traditional rabbis, however, would not consider the child to be Jewish
unless and until the remainder of the conversion process is completed.
In some ways, it is beneficial for Jewish thinking to be as
diverse as it currently is, because it allows for finding a niche that might
not otherwise be available. But
the downside of this can be confusion over the religious status of someone with
a non-Jewish mother, depending on which rabbi and which congregation is
consulted. Although I am a
certified mohel, I am not a rabbi,
and when a rabbi is involved in a bris,
I always defer to him/her. But
given the choice, I generally recommend that the l’shem gerut passage be read during the ceremony and that this be
documented in the certificate that I provide. In our mobile society, families may find themselves moving
to a community that only has a traditional congregation, and we would want to
minimize any impediments to the Jewish identity of a child (see the separate
page regarding the ceremony of hatafat
dam brit).
There are many honorary roles during the bris ceremony as well as readings which can be given to non-Jewish
relatives or friends.
