Modern-Day Mohels Carry on Old Tradition

The hours are unpredictable, the pay is uncertain, the training is arduous and job talk at parties can be a bit awkward.

But the benefits are heavenly for those who dedicate themselves to being mohels (pronounced MOY-ehls), those who perform the ritual circumcisions of 8-day-old Jewish boys.

“It is a tribal blood rite that initiates the whole family--at a moment in their lives when everything is focused on the future--into the past, in an incredibly meaningful way,” said Fred Kogen, a doctor who has been a mohel since 1985. “I get to be a part of a beautiful moment in these people’s lives and I can be the facilitator of this moment.”

The ceremony known as berit mila, or more commonly “bris,” means “covenant of circumcision,” a ceremony Jews believed was first performed more than 3,000 years ago, when Abraham was commanded to circumcise Isaac as a sign of acceptance of God’s law. Every Jewish father, or his designate, is likewise obligated to perform the same ritual.

Increasingly, that designate is a doctor who has been schooled in the ancient rite, though many families opt for the traditional mohel, a rabbi or other learned person who has been trained to perform the procedure.

And although being a mohel has never been easy, it is increasingly difficult. It used to be that even the most assimilated Jews had a bris for their sons, for some as a last link to their tradition.

But at a time when almost half of Jews younger than 45 marry outside the religion and increasing numbers are dropping out of the religion altogether, many mohels worry that a recent statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics will turn more Jews away from the tradition.

In March, the academy declared that circumcision is not medically necessary--although it added that it is not harmful, has some medical benefits and need not be abandoned by those who have it performed for religious reasons.

The report could mark a change at hospitals, which since shortly after World War II routinely performed nonreligious circumcisions on baby boys. A shift away from circumcising all males, some Jewish leaders worry, could also dissuade Jewish parents who are ambivalent about the religious imperative for a bris.

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These concerns add up to even more pressure on the mohels to be both educators and religious officiants, teaching other Jews about what they believe is the importance of the act and celebrating their decision by leading friends and relatives in a service.

Mohels take the challenge seriously.

Kogen, a full-time mohel, said his job is to get the people gathered at a bris to focus on the beauty of the ceremony. Among the hardest parts of being a mohel is reassuring an entire roomful of people who are understandably anxious about what is going to occur, then performing under the watchful gaze of an audience that may include doctors and rabbis, as well as the boy’s family.

The gatherings--always on the eighth day, which some rabbis interpret to symbolize the baby’s experience of the full seven days of Creation, including the Sabbath--can be as small as the immediate family or as large as the parents choose. Most fall somewhere in between, with 20 to 40 family members and close friends.

Among the first of the mohel’s duties is to instruct the family about the procedure and their responsibilities. Kogen, a thoroughly modern mohel known for handling many celebrity offspring, often refers parents to his Web page (https://www.briss.com).

There he outlines what is needed: a table covered by a beautiful tablecloth, ceremonial wine goblets, candlesticks and even photos of the person for whom the baby is named. He also asks parents to compose a letter to their child, to be read at the bris and other important occasions in the boy’s life.

To begin the ceremony, Kogen leads the parents through candle lighting, then takes them through biblical or other readings the parents have chosen before performing the circumcision. The service lasts about 15 to 20 minutes and is followed by a celebratory feast.

“It is a bit of a medical experience, it is a Jewish religious and cultural experience and it is a bit of a party,” said Kogen, who charges between $450 and $850, depending on travel costs.

The specifics of the procedure vary according to both the family and the mohel. The most traditional mohels use only a special guard to cover the penis and a small scalpel to remove the foreskin. Most doctor-mohels use some form of a clamp along with topical or local anesthetic, a procedure similar to those performed in American hospitals on many Jewish and non-Jewish boys.

In Kogen’s case, the solemnity of the occasion does not mean leaving his sense of humor at the door.

At a recent bris for the son of workout guru Jake Steinfeld, known for his “Body by Jake” logo, Kogen offered a thought before departing that brought the house down, he said.

“That may be body by Jake,” Kogen said, pointing at the proud dad, “but this is penis by Fred.”

Those interested in a career or part-time job as a mohel have choices in their training. Kogen and about 200 others--including about 50 women--began by studying medicine, then learned their religious duties at Hebrew Union College, which has a campus in Los Angeles but also arranges for courses throughout the country.

Samuel A. Kunin, a urologist who has been a mohel for 15 years, was among the first medical professionals trained at HUC’s Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism. The 14-week course includes 25 to 30 hours of Jewish instruction in such topics as “Liturgy of Berit Mila” and “Jewish Identity and Its Theological, Ritual and Social Roots.”

Kunin said being a mohel has allowed him to learn more about his religion and pass that on to the families he meets.

“It gives me this ability to help direct them in positive steps toward Judaism,” Kunin said. “It’s hard not to feel good about that.”

Retired from his medical practice, Kunin said he doesn’t view being a mohel as a full-time business. He averages one a day--last year he performed 390, he said--and charges about $400, mostly to cover his medical malpractice insurance and other costs of performing the ritual and to subsidize families who cannot afford the fee.

“I always let people know it’s basically whatever they can afford, because I don’t want anybody ever to feel that they can’t have a berit mila if they can’t afford it,” Kunin said.

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Observant Jews, such as Rabbi Jacob Shechet, sometimes become mohels because it is family tradition. Shechet’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather were mohels.

The rabbi’s path to becoming a mohel focused more on religious learning than medical studies. Following the recent medical report, he is less likely than some other mohels to have to convince parents to have a bris for their sons. However, an observant mohel still worries about losing some parents because he also performs the ritual for less religious Jews.

But most of the families who call Shechet need no coaxing. They are the ones who are most committed to circumcision for religious reasons--and are not dissuaded by medical missives.

For Shechet, the honor of being a mohel is worth the training and the vacillations in public opinion.

“A bris is the spiritual impressed upon the physical, through the organ that perpetuates the species so the next generation is brought into the covenant,” Shechet said. “If I have the honor to make the covenant between God and the Jewish people, that’s a great honor.”