sandak

 

The Midrash writes, that when אברהם אבינו was about to perform the ברית on himself he was somewhat hesitant, so Hashem held on to him. Hence וכרת עמו הברית, (together with him), and this is also one of the sources of having a סנדק holding the baby at a ברית. The Steipler Zt"l was questioned regarding the Minhag requesting a ברכה from the סנדק, where is the מקור for this Minhag? He responded that he was unaware of any מקור for this Minhag. Perhaps this can be considered as a source. The גמרא ברכות ז' ע"א R Yishmael ben Elisha said that he entered לפני ולפנים to be מקטיר קטורת and HKBH asked him to give a Bracha. We see that the Bracha of a מקטיר קטורת is so valuable & powerful that even HKBH כביכול desired a Bracha from him.  סנדקאות is compared to a הקטרת קטורת and therefore the Sandek's ברכה is also considered valuable and worth pursuing. אמבצי