[The Bris, as told by Alan Dershowitz in The Vanishing American Jew]
“For those who believe that the birth of a son is the most joyous event, the ceremony honoring it has a good news-bad news quality, at least for the boy. A week after the birth, the boy is given a party, with herring, wine, cake.
Then suddenly comes the bad news, as he realizes the purpose of the party!
Maybe that’s why Jews have traditionally had such an aversion to alcohol.
But it doesn’t explain our attraction to cake!”
Credit: David Minkoff, A Word In Your Eye