After the brit is completed, the food – kosher, of course – is served. This meal is called a seudas mitzvah, a meal honoring a Divine commandment, and everybody should, therefore, wash appropriately for the consumption of bread and partake of the meal. If the circumcision is performed on a fast day, the meal is put off until the evening when the fast is broken.

After the meal, the participants recite a special series of prayers, including a prayer asking that as a reward for properly fulfilling the mitzvah of circumcision, we should merit to speedily see the coming of the Messiah and the end of human strife.

After the circumcision, the foreskin must be buried. The reason for this is that since the foreskin contains within it the maximum concentration of negative energy, this energy must be transformed into positivity. Earth causes things to grow; when a seed is buried, it ultimately produces good fruit. Therefore, when the foreskin is buried, it can then be transformed into positivity. (It is for this reason that the Jewish religion forbids cremation: In ashes there is no potential for positivity as nothing can grow from it.)

Table Of Contents | next - The Pidyon Haben