NOTE FROM RABBI WENGER
We are B"H back, and hopefully on a regular basis. I try to respond to comments and questions as quickly as possible, within a week the max. If you do not receive an answer within a week, please resend the email. It may have slipped through the cracks. Thank you for the encouragement that many of you have given for this feature.
E.W.

Although the mitzvah of circumcising a child is upon the father, if the father is not able to perform the bris, he may appoint a Mohel as his shliach to do it. That is why according to many opinions one should pay the Mohel, for this strengthens the shlichus.

If a father is capable of doing the bris himself, there are opinions (Or zarua, Rikanti, Shach amongst others) that say that the father himself is required to perform the bris. Others (Darkei Moshe, Tevuas Shor, Pri Megadim amongst others) however do permit the father to appoint a shliach. If the father is nervous of doing his own son, or there is a mohel who is much more experienced than him, then all opinions agree that the father can have another mohel do the bris.

If for whatever reason a child was not circumcised, then when he gets older, it is his responsibility to make sure that he receives a Bris.

If a child was circumcised before the eighth day, then the child needs to have a "hatofas dam bris" (causing a small amount of bleeding with a pin prick) on the eighth day, unless it is a Shabbos. (Otzar HaBris Vol. 1 pg. 99)

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