The Covenant

TELL THE TRUTH.

The first time I was born was on February 19th, 1996.

The second time I was born I was giving birth to my son, Atilla, on October 26th, 2025.

I was born a third time a few days later—six to be exact. At the children’s hospital, watching my six-day-old-son receive a spinal tap.

Motherhood, in the mere four weeks I have experienced it, has taught me to open my eyes and really look at things.

Especially the things I don’t want to look at.

Our son started teaching us about truth the second he arrived as mere, miraculous star dust.

Every breath with him has asked for the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth—no less.

One night, when I was about 5 months pregnant, I woke with the name EMET in big black bold letters across my chidakasha.

I wrote it down and told my husband that maybe we were meant to name our son that.

Emet is the Hebrew word for truth.

Months later, when we were preparing for his Brit Milah and choosing his Hebrew name, my Rebbetzin told me that I should have received a prophecy at some point.

I remembered the dream.

We decided to name him Amitai, a derivative of Emet, also meaning truth.

The day before the Brit, the day before our son would make his covenant with God, I wrote.

Circumcision is a dividing topic.

This is not a comprehensive piece about the meaning of the Brit Milah, nor is it an opinion piece for or against it.

It is personal, written the night before my son’s Brit Milah, full of feelings—the view from a mother’s place in a tradition belonging to the father.

Take it with a deep breath, savor it without ego.