Prototious Times

I was at a family simcha this morning, a bris of my wife's first cousin's grandson. My wife's cousin and her husband are the sweetest people. They have moved from the MO world to the Yeshivish world over the course of their lives together and, despite being Yeshivish, are very spiritual and seem to have a soft spot for machshava (Jewish thought) and Chassidus.

The grandfather (he's my age; it's hard to believe I could be holding there) handed out little pieces of paper with a tefilah (prayer) that is meant to be said "at the prototious time of a baby boy crying during his circumcision."

When I saw it I laughed. No dictionary I own includes the word "prototious". I assume they meant "propitious", which means favorable. Nevertheless, the seforim hakedoshim do indeed consider the moment a baby cries at his bris an "eis ratzon" when the gates of tefilah are wide open and our prayers ascend to the Heavens on the wings of the baby's cries.

I hope to share many more prototious moments with my heiliga cousins.