Extraordinary Bris Closes an 80-Year Circle in Tunisia
From Sfax, Tunisia, more than 80 years ago, to the California desert town of Joshua Tree: a moving Bris Milah revealed an extraordinary family story of Hashgacha Pratis, connecting generations through one remarkable link • Full Story
On the Monday following Yom Kippur, Rabbi Tal Peretz, a mohel and Shliach of the international Bris Yosef Yitzchak organization in California, drove approximately three hours from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree, a town in the California desert. His mission was to bring a Jewish baby into the Bris of Avraham Avinu.
The baby, born on Yom Kippur, is the son of David Bismut and grandson of Henri Bismut. The Bris took place outdoors, beneath the open sky.
After the ceremony, Rabbi Peretz began speaking with the baby’s grandfather, Henri Bismut, who mentioned that his family originated in Sfax, Tunisia. Intrigued, Rabbi Tal called his father, Rabbi Meir Peretz, who was in Eretz Yisroel, to see whether he recognized the family name.
During their conversation, Henri Bismut shared that his maternal grandfather had been a mohel named Henri Cohen, who served the Jewish community of Sfax.
Rabbi Meir immediately recognized the name. Henri Cohen was the mohel who had performed his own Bris, along with those of his brothers and cousins, more than 80 years earlier!
The discovery revealed an extraordinary connection: the man who had circumcised Rabbi Meir Peretz as a baby in Tunisia was the great-grandfather of the child whose Bris his son, Rabbi Tal, had just performed in California.
More than eight decades had passed since Henri Cohen served as a mohel in Sfax. In the years that followed, families moved across countries and continents, and a new generation grew up far from the streets of their ancestors’ hometown. Yet, through an unexpected conversation after a Bris, the two families discovered that their histories had remained intertwined.
For Rabbi Tal and his family, the encounter was a powerful reminder of Hashgacha Pratis – how events that appear entirely coincidental can reveal a remarkable connection.
“Only the Creator of the world could direct a story like this,” Rabbi Tal said.
The Bris connected a newborn Jewish child to the eternal covenant of Avraham Avinu while also bringing together three generations of a family story that began more than 80 years ago in Tunisia.
From Sfax to Joshua Tree, the unexpected reunion served as a moving reminder of the enduring bonds that connect Jewish families across generations and the extraordinary ways in which Hashem can bring their stories full circle.
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