hatafat dam brit

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Pronunciations

hatafat dam brit (hah-tah-FAHT dahm BREET)

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Definitions

  • n. The ritual drawing of a drop of blood from the penis as part of the conversion ritual.

Example Sentences

  • "The hatafat dam brit is a requisite part of conversion to Judaism because brit milah (the covenant of circumcision), is a sacred rite as much as it is a surgical procedure." (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew

Etymology

  • הטפת דם ברית

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).

Notes

  • The ritual is performed by a mohel. "The Orthodox, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements require a male convert to be circumcised in a brit milah ceremony. If he was already circumcised at birth, he undergoes hatafat dam brit as a symbol of his acceptance of Judaism. The ritual is also used for male infants who are born to a non-Jewish woman or adopted and already circumcised, to show they have been converted to Judaism according to halakhah." (JPS)

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