Bris

Goy Mohels of Brookline

By: Charles giuliano - Jul 05, 2015

Bris

We lived in Brookline
Largely a Jewish community
Warm spring day
A Sunday
After morning mass
Not normal office hours
The parents seated on the porch
Dad insisted I watch
A circumcision
By a goy doctor
Mom helping
Instead of the mohel
Clamp circling foreskin
Gently tightened
Ring of red
The infant howled
Ritual pain
Abraham’s covenant
Sent me bolting
Out into warm sun
Barfing all over
Surging empathy
For the kid
Still have mine