Milah Books & Manuals

Milah Books & Manuals
by Eliezer Brodt & Ish Sefer

Much has been written on milah. Hebrew Books has over forty seforim on this topic. There are those books that discuss the various controversies, including abolishing milah in toto[1] or specific parts of milah such as metzizah be-peh.[2] Others focus on the philosophic and theological implications of milah.[3]  This post, however, will focus on two types of milah books , one what we will refer to as milah manuals and the second, books about milah. The former is comprised of books that explain, in detail, the process of milah - these can include the physical process, i.e. how the surgery is to take place, as well as the more esoteric processes such as thoughts or prayers that are to accompany the milah.  The second type of book doesn't focus on the technical aspects of milah but instead focuses on the customs, the laws, etc. that are connected with the surgery.  One final point, this is not intended to be a complete bibliography of either type of work, instead, we have picked out a few titles that hopefully will be of interest to the readers. 

The first manual up for discussion is R. Tzvi Benyamin Auerbach's, Brit Avraham,  Frankfort, 1860. This book includes a nice introduction dealing with a history of the Ravan as well as other Rishonim.  Additionally, all the liturgy associated with brit and explanations of the liturgy is included.  There is a section on the laws relating to milah.  At the beginning of this section, Auerbach notes that although he takes a different view of some of rules governing milah, he provides explainations for his divergent opinions in another section.  Indeed, Auerbach does provide a detailed discussion of the law of milah including a discussion of most, if not all, relevant opinions.  Interestingly, although the laws and liturgy are in Hebrew, this section, the section discussing the bases for Auerbach's opinions, is in German.  Not only is it in German, but in Latin characters indicating that Auerbach was trying to demonstrate the correctness of his opinion to only those who could read German.  Let us explain.  Auerbach's work includes one other section in the vernacular.  That section discusses various cures associated with milah. This section is written in Yiddish in Hebrew characters.  Auerbach explains that he did so "so that even those who do not understand Hebrew will understand this section." Thus, there are three potential audiences for this book.  Those who only understand Yiddish, those who understand Hebrew, and finally, those who understand German as well. [More]