Mohel

File:MS Laud Misc 165 fol 59.png E featuring a {{transl|he|mohel}} performing the circumcision of Jesus, accompanied by Mary ({{circa|1350}})]]

The noun {{transl|he|mohel}} ({{transl|arc|'mohala'}} in Aramaic), meaning "circumciser", is derived from the same verb stem as {{transl|he|milah}} (circumcision).{{cite book| first= Simeon J. |last= Maslin| publisher=Central Conference of American Rabbis. Committee on Reform Jewish Practice |title=Gates of Mitzvah: A Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle| url= https://archive.org/details/gatesofmitzvahsh00masl | url-access= registration | year= 1979| page=[https://archive.org/details/gatesofmitzvahsh00masl/page/70 70]| quote=The term mohel (ritual circumciser) is derived from milah (circumcision).}} The noun appeared for the first time in the 4th century as the title of a circumciser (Shabbat (Talmud) 156a).{{cite book|first= Abraham P. |last= Bloch| title=The Biblical and historical background of Jewish customs|url= https://archive.org/details/biblicalhistoric00bloc |url-access= registration | year= 1980| page= [https://archive.org/details/biblicalhistoric00bloc/page/10 10]|publisher= KTAV Publishing House|isbn= 9780870686580| quote= Beginning with the fourth century, the term mohel (mohala in Aramaic) appeared for the first time as the title of a circumciser (Shabbat 156a).}}

{{Main|Religious male circumcision#In the Tanakh}}

For Jews, male circumcision is mandatory, as it is prescribed in the Torah. In the Book of Genesis, it is described as a mark of the covenant of the pieces between Yahweh and the descendants of Abraham: {{blockquote|

And God said unto Abraham: 'And as for thee, thou shalt keep My covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.'{{bibleverse|Genesis|17:9-14|HE}}}}

In Leviticus:

{{blockquote|And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: If a woman be delivered, and bear a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall continue in the blood of purification three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification be fulfilled.{{bibleverse|Leviticus|12:1-3|HE}}}}

Biblically, the infant's father ({{transl|he|avi haben}}) is commanded to perform the circumcision himself.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} However, as most fathers are not comfortable or do not have the training, they designate a {{transl|he|mohel}} or {{transl|he|mohelet}}. {{transl|he|Mohalim}} are specially trained in circumcision and the rituals surrounding the procedure. Many {{transl|he|mohalim}} are doctors or rabbis (some are both) or cantors, and today are required to receive appropriate training, both religious and medical.

Traditionally, {{transl|he|mohalim}} use a scalpel to circumcise the newborn. Today, doctors and some non-Orthodox {{transl|he|mohalim}} use a perforating clamp before they cut the skin. The clamp makes it easier to be precise and shortens recovery time. Orthodox {{transl|he|mohalim}} have rejected perforating clamps, arguing that by crushing and killing the skin it causes a great amount of unnecessary pain to the newborn, cutting off the blood flow completely, which according to Jewish law is dangerous to the child and strictly forbidden, and also renders the {{transl|he|orlah}} (foreskin) as cut prior to the proper ritual cut.{{cite journal| author=Gesundheit| url= http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/114/2/e259.full.pdf+html/ |title= Neonatal genital herpes simplex virus type 1 infection... |journal= Pediatrics| date= August 2004 |volume= 114|number= 2| pages= e259-63 |access-date=2 February 2015|display-authors=etal | doi=10.1542/peds.114.2.e259 | pmid=15286266|doi-access= free}}{{cite journal| author=Gesundheit| title=Infectious complications with herpes virus after ritual Jewish circumcision: a historical and cultural analysis |journal=Harefuah|date= February 2005 |volume= 144| number=2 |pages=126–32, 149, 148 |pmid=16128020|language=he|display-authors=etal}}{{cite journal|url= http://jme.bmj.com/content/39/7/459.full.pdf+html |title= Circumcision: What should be done?|first= Hanoch |last= Ben-Yami |journal= J Med Ethics |year= 2013| volume=39 |issue= 7|pages= 459–462| access-date= 2 February 2015 |doi=10.1136/medethics-2012-101274|pmid= 23760731|s2cid= 8878760}}

File:Mohelbuch.jpg from Hegenheim (F), dated between 1805 and 1849. Today in the Jewish Museum of Switzerland's collection.]]

Under Jewish law, {{transl|he|mohalim}} must draw blood from the circumcision wound. Most {{transl|he|mohalim}} do it by hand with a suction device,{{cite web| last= Hartog| first= Kelly| url= http://www.jewishjournal.com/community_briefs/article/death_spotlights_old_circumcision_rite_20050218 |title= Death spotlights old circumcision rite| website= JewishJournal.com| date= 17 February 2005 |access-date= 2 February 2015}}[https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/rabbi-probed-circumcised-infants-herpes-flna1c9448639 Rabbi probed for circumcised infants' herpes], nbcnews.com, 2 February 2005. Retrieved 2 February 2015.{{cite journal| last1=Distel |first1=R|last2= Hofer| first2= V| last3= Bogger-Goren |first3= S| last4= Shalit |first4= I| last5= Garty |first5= BZ| title= Primary genital herpes simplex infection associated with Jewish ritual circumcision| journal= Isr Med Assoc J |date= 2003| volume= 5|issue=12|pages= 893–94| pmid= 14689764}}{{cite journal | last1= Yossepowitch |first1=O| last2= Gottesman |first2=T| last3= Schwartz |first3= O| last4= Stein |first4= M| last5= Serour |first5= F| last6= Dan |first6= M| title= Penile herpes simplex virus type 1 infection presenting two and a half years after Jewish ritual circumcision of an infant| journal= Sex Transm Dis |date= June 2013 |volume= 40| number=6|pages= 516–17 |pmid=23680909 | doi=10.1097/olq.0b013e31828bbc04|s2cid=9800836|doi-access= free}} but some follow the traditional practice of doing it by mouth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning in 2012 about the health implications of the latter practice, citing eleven cases of neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) and two recorded fatalities.{{cite journal| url= https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6122a2.htm |title= CDC: Neonatal HSV Infection from Circumcision-Related Orogenital Suction| last1= Baum | first1=SG| journal= Morb Mortal Wkly Rep |date=8 June 2012 |volume= 61| pages= 405–409 |access-date= 2 February 2015}} A 2013 review of cases of neonatal HSV infections in Israel identified ritual circumcision as the source of HSV-1 transmission in 31.8% of the cases.{{cite journal| author= Amir Koren|url= http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/files/herpes-simplex-neonates-israel-7-cases-8-years-koren_nhsv_infections_israel_pid_2013.pdf |title= Neonatal Herpes Simplex virus infections in Israel| journal= Pediatr Infect Dis J |date= 2013 |volume= 32|issue= 2 | pages= 120–23| access-date= 2 February 2015|display-authors=etal | doi=10.1097/inf.0b013e3182717f0b|pmid= 23334339 |s2cid= 46492038 }}

Many {{transl|he|mohalim}} continue the practice of listing the names and birthdates of the boys they circumcise in little booklets. These books have become important documents for genealogical scholarship. Increasingly, these notes on circumcision are being digitized.{{Cite book |title=Birth Culture. Jewish Testimonies from Rural Switzerland and Environs |year=2022 |isbn=978-3796546075 |editor-last=Lubrich |editor-first=Naomi |location=Basel |pages=54–123 |language=de, en}}

According to traditional Jewish law, if no Jewish male expert is available, a Jewish woman who has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision.Talmud Avodah Zarah 27a; Menachot 42a; Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Milah, 2:1; Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah, 264:1 Non-Orthodox Judaism allows women to be {{transl|he|mohalot}} ({{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|מוֹהֲלוֹת}}}}, plural of {{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|מוֹהֶלֶת}}}}, {{transl|he|'mohelet'}}, feminine of {{transl|he|mohel}}), without restriction. In 1984, Deborah Cohen became the first Reform Jewish {{transl|he|mohelet}} to be certified (by the Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism).{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007073323/http://beritmila.org/ |archive-date=7 October 2013 |url=http://beritmila.org/ |title=Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism |access-date=2 February 2015 |website=beritmila.org |url-status=dead }}

• In the popular sitcom Seinfeld, a {{transl|he|mohel}} played by Charles Levin appears in the episode The Bris.
• In the parody film Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Rabbi Tuckman (a parody of Friar Tuck, played by Mel Brooks) serves as Nottingham's "mohel extraordinaire" using a miniature guillotine.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic's song Pretty Fly for a Rabbi, a parody of Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), contains the line "The parents pay the mohel and he gets to keep the tip!"
• In the Rugrats Hanukkah episode, the characters walk through the town center of ancient Israel past a shop titled {{transl|he|mohel}} advertising a "cut rate"{{cite web | title=A Maccababy's Gotta Do What a Maccababy's Gotta Do|publisher=Nicktoons| via=YouTube | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqsAYX3S-Lg | date=7 December 2015}}
• Philip Sherman, one of the most prolific mohalim in the United States, was called America's Top Mohel" and "the busiest mohel in New York" in national and regional media{{cite news |last1=Rovzar |first1=Chris |title='He's the Busiest Mohel in New York' |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2009/10/hes_the_busiest_mohel_in_new_y.html |access-date=August 15, 2023 |work=New York Magazine |date=October 19, 2009}}{{cite news |last=Cramer |first=Philissa |title=Cantor Philip Sherman, the 'busiest mohel in New York,' dies at 67 |url=https://www.jta.org/2023/08/10/obituaries/philip-sherman-cantor-actor-and-busiest-mohel-in-new-york-dies-at-67 |access-date=August 15, 2023 |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=August 10, 2023}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Mohels}}

Category:Jewish religious occupations

Category:Circumcision