Shkia, Elevation and Mazel Tov

grace413

Thu, Oct 17 2019, 8:07 am

My DS & DDIL just had their first child. Mazel Tov!

They left our house Shabbat morning to go to the hospital. We switched on our phones after Shabbat and shortly thereafter got a call from DS telling us that BH all is well and the baby boy was born at 6:11 pm.

Now in our family we like to make everything complicated. I went to check my trusty Kaluach (an excellent resource for all halachic times dates etc) Lo and behold when was shkiah - 6:11 pm. So now we have a baby with a shayla re the bris - Shabbat or Sunday?

We went to the hospital and a lively debate erupted among people who have nothing to do with us but of course this is Israel. Somebody says, no shkiah is 6:15. I tell DS call the mohel see what he says. I am not looking forward to a Shabbat bris, on Sukkot nonetheless. (Our shul, like many here, does not have a Sukkah). My DDIL's parents live a 45 minute walk away from our neighborhood.

At first the mohel said Sunday. In the meantime I'm googling away shkiah, Mt. Scopus, elevation and lo and behold I learn that because Mt Scopus (where the baby was born) is at an elevation of over 800 meters, shkiah is indeed 6:15 and not 6:11 as in parts of Jerusalem that are lower.

And indeed the mohel called back and said Shabbat!

At least the mohel lives in the neighborhood Very Happy

So of course the important thing is that the baby is healthy, the mother is healthy and we are all happy. So we arranged catering and are having somebody build a Sukkah at our shul specifically for the Seudat Mitzvah.

I'd also like to put in a plug for Chabad.org which is an amazing resource for everything you ever wanted to know about shkiah, shalom zachor, bris and a multitude of other things.

It's been a very exciting few days. Ken Yirbu Smachot B'Yisrael.

Aylat

Thu, Oct 17 2019, 8:45 am

Fascinating! Mazel tov שיזכו לגדלו לתורה חופה ומעשים טובים!

We had a similar but different situation recently. I was in labour on Shabbat a few weeks ago (and was resigned to but dreading a Shabbat brit - none of our family live on our yishuv and it is very difficult to find accommodation). My labour turned into an emergency C-section and in the operating theatre the (secular) anaesthetist said to me, "Mazel tov! Brit erev Rosh Hashana!" I said, "What do you mean, the brit will be on Shabbat?" "Not with a C-section," he replied.
DH and the mohel confirmed this later and I learned something new Smile

DH also knew the source for this - it's learned from a פסוק in פרשת תזריע

iyar

Thu, Oct 17 2019, 11:51 am

This was such an interesting read, thank you Grace!
I'll try not to get too poetic about this but it really brings home how every moment of our lives is precisely calibrated and has significance, even though sometimes we see it and sometimes we don't.
Wishing lots of Nachas to Grace and her kids the new parents and to Aylat as well!

dankbar

Fri, Oct 18 2019, 7:44 am

I had both scenarios.
My son was born Sunday, bein hashmosos. Rebbe where we did bris, said bris is on Sunday.
For his pidyion haben though, kohen/rav we used said it's a shaila, when 30 days would end, so it was done, evening, when it was done, he handed coins back to my husband & told him to give it to him again, after mariv, whichever day is right one, both would be covered.

Another son was born shabbos, via Csection. His bris was on Sunday. If it's not a natural birth, bris cannot be on shabbos

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Oct 24 2019, 6:57 am

bamba wrote:

Mazel tov!
I have a nephew who was born bein hashmoshos.
They weren’t sure if it was Friday or Shabbos so the bris was Sunday!
Was very interesting to hear the Halacha!

My husband spoke about this at my third son's bris (he was born bein hashmashos, but on a Monday evening)....because if it had been a different day (his bris was Tuesday of CH"M Sukkos, with HR being Wednesday), it led to interesting halachic shailos because it was 3 day YTs that year (Th, F, Shabbos).