Question: We're traveling overseas to adopt a baby. When should we do the bris?
Answer: Mazal Tov on your forthcoming simcha and I pray that your journey be successful, healthy, without any challenges or problems.
Above all, contact your Rabbi for the definitive approach to all elements of the brit milah, the name of a mohel and also the conversion. Your Rabbi will have the final word and the following is only for information.
If the baby should be a boy, have the brit milah done when you return with the baby. The baby will be circumcised by a mohel who will give you a certificate that makes it clear that it was done for the sake of conversion. Thereafter - for boy and for girl - there is ritual immersion in a mikveh (and it has always been a wonderful, joyful experience for me and the families over the years!! - the kids don't want to leave the nice, warm water.) Thereafter the child should be reared in a Jewishly observant home, affiliated with a congregation, attend either a yeshiva/day school or supplementary school to the utmost possible.
When it comes to the time of Bar or Bat Mitzvah, the strict letter of the law for conversion requires the child to choose to continue to be a Jew, and some suggest that it is an awkward time to offer a "way out" or any sense that the child does not "belong." For that reason, I have always phrased it to the child - "and I imagine that you are excited about your forthcoming BMitzvah and a life committed to your Jewish identity." They always have said yes, and I never know if it is for the mitzvah or the party - but they are our children, welcomed and loved.
A safe trip and a happy trip. As we say, go in peace and return in peace.
Rabbi Dov
