Lauren Noto, 2, entertained the crowd with her toddler-speak, unaware of the importance of the occasion and apparently angry that she was not to be the center of attention.

Rabbi Gary Atkins of Adas Yeshurun Synagogue talked quietly with Mark and Penny Noto. He assured them that what he was about to do would not be painful to their newborn son - at least not in the way adults anticipate and feel pain. But the procedure would still bring discomfort.

``With confidence, I can tell you he's going to cry,'' said the rabbi, putting on a white coat and hoisting a large, well-worn, brown leather bag onto the kitchen counter.

``I promise we won't pass out,'' said Mr. Noto, adding that his wife is a neonatal nurse. ``Well, at least she won't.''

The rabbi was ready to remove the infant's foreskin in an age-old ritual that brought Joshua Benjamin Noto into the Jewish community.

The ceremony is called a brit milah, or bris. The word brit means covenant or the binding of two parties, as in the covenant that God made with Abraham. The ceremony is the most ancient Jewish ritual and symbolizes the continuation of the covenant from one generation to the next, linking the newborn son to his people, past and present.

In the ceremony, the boy - who is 8 days old in most cases - officially receives his name and is circumcised following the biblical prescription. The circumcision part of the ceremony takes less than one minute.

Rabbi Atkins, who has lived in Augusta for about a year, is a certified mohel, trained both in the medical and religious aspects of the brit milah. There are about 60 physician-trained mohalim in the United States. Most rabbis trained in the procedure live in cities where there is a larger Jewish population.

``There aren't that many mohalim today. People don't want to take the (malpractice) risk,'' he said. ``But I made a promise that if I could get this training, I would.''

He was certified in 1981 and has circumcised more than 100 babies since.

Needless to say, the Notos were thrilled that a certified mohel had moved to the area, that they didn't have to invite someone to their home from another city. They were doubly thankful because Mrs. Noto had some complications during her pregnancy.

The Notos are members of Congregation Children of Israel, Augusta's Reform congregation.

The Reform movement, which has historically not provided bris training, began offering courses in 1984 supervised by the Berit Mila Board - a joint project of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Hebrew Union College and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

Rabbi Atkins, a Conservative rabbi, does not discriminate in his craft among the three main strands of Judaism. (Orthodox is the third.) His only requirement is that the Jewish baby not be physically sick and that the ceremony not take place on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.

After Rabbi Atkins scrubbed his hands and arms with surgical soap in the Noto's kitchen sink, he arranged his tools on the kitchen counter. Mark Noto held his son as the rabbi continued his explanation of the procedure. The baby was silent and still.

After verses were recited, the baby was placed on his back on a green vinyl pad. Strapping down the baby's legs, the rabbi removed Ben's diaper and began his work, periodically administering sweet wine on his pacifier and reciting more verses.

The rabbi then applied a topical analgesic spray. Most of the guests peered around one another to watch the procedure, but the baby's tiny body kept most of the surgery discreet. As Rabbi Atkins had promised, baby Benjamin cried.

``I try to do everything possible to minimize the pain,'' Rabbi Atkins said.

He then clamped the penis to push up the foreskin for its removal. Also as promised, the procedure took less than a minute.

The rabbi cleaned up the area and dipped gauze into the wine, which was in a nearby silver kiddish cup. He fed it to Benjamin, then proceeded to the third part of the brit milah: the naming of the child.

Then the parents read a prayer for Benjamin that began: ``We dedicate our child to Torah - to a never-ending fascination with study and learning.''

The group said a collective prayer. Benjamin received his first book, a soft-backed edition of My Jewish Home.

Mrs. Noto wiped tears from her eyes. Her son was now part of a tradition dating to Abraham.