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2. How do I calculate when the eighth day is?

The best thing to do is to speak to the mohel first who will advise you of the correct and proper day for the bris. Do this before calling the caterer or informing the guests. There are a number of exceptions to the eighth day rule and I have had to unschedule brisses that had been scheduled for the wrong day.

The day of birth counts as the first day. Jewish days begin and end with sunset. Brisses are performed during the daylight hours only and never at night. The preferred custom is to perform the bris in the morning as we are anxious to perform the mitzvah, but the entire day is available to do the bris. (In the New York area, the last bris of the day in the winter is around 4:00 P.M. During the summer, the last bris of the day is around 8:00 P.M. — the sun is still up.)

A baby born on a Monday will have his bris the following Monday. A baby born Monday night after it’s dark will have his bris the following Tuesday. A baby born Friday evening (after sunset, but before it’s dark) is called a “twilight baby” — the proper day for his bris is the following Sunday. A baby born by caesarian section on Friday night or Saturday will have his bris the following Sunday. A baby born by caesarian section where the bris coincides the following week with a holiday or festival will have his bris on the next available weekday. (This is one of the exceptions to the eighth day rule. The rabbis defined a caesarian section differently than a regular birth in that the bris of a baby born by c-section does not supercede the Sabbath or holiday. One birth scenario is neither inferior to nor superior to the other.) If the baby is not well, we delay the bris until he is well. There are specific rules for scheduling a delayed bris for a baby who was ill, so please speak to the mohel to determine the correct day.

We do brisses on all major holidays and festivals including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the Shabbat assuming there is a mohel who is able to walk to the bris. If you live in an area where there is no local mohel and your son’s bris coincides with the Sabbath or a Jewish holiday and you cannot import a reliable, observant mohel to your neighborhood, it is a better religious decision and religiously preferred to delay the bris to the ninth or tenth day. That will
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from cantor philip l sherman.

Jews know nothing of “full days”! any part of a day counts as a full day.

I don’t know any Jewish freepers, but have pinged the RM to see if he can ping some Jewish FRiends to explain to you once and for all HOW JEWS COUNT DAYS!