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The Mohelim from page 8
Brit Basics
What about women?
Who takes part in the ceremony?
T
here are several ceremonial roles
in the brit milah: the kvatter and
kvatterin, usually translated as
godparents, bring the baby to the mohel.
The sandek, a position of high honor, tra-
ditionally holds the baby in his lap during
the circumcision. If the parents or the
sandek are nervous about this, the sandek
can stand next to the mohel and hold the
baby's hand.
What else is involved?
The brit milah ceremony includes several
blessings about the ritual itself and the
wish: "Even as this child has entered into
the covenant so may he enter into the
Torah, the marriage canopy and good
deeds:' The baby's Hebrew name is formally
they did it semi-secretly.
Ezra Cohen, 33, did his first brit for his
son, Avraham, who will be 8 in August.
He was living in Israel at the time, but his
father was at his side. He hadn't yet had
any formal training, though he'd been
accompanying and assisting his father for
years.
When he was young, his father referred
to him and his brothers as "MMITs" —
miniature mohelim in training, said Rabbi
Ezra. Three of the boys did become mohe-
lim; the others are in Long Branch, N.J.
and Israel.
"Of course, I was nervous: Ezra said,
recalling the event, "but I was also excited.
Having my father next to me was a very
comforting thing:'
When he returned to Detroit from
Israel shortly after his son was born, he
started going to every brit his father did.
He regards the brit for his second son,
Shlomo, in January 2009 as "the bris
where I became a mohel."
Rabbi Ezra now has seven children,
including three boys.
"I feel my training was the best it could
be. My teacher watched every one of the
first 30 or so brissim I did. It was continu-
ous training: he said.
In addition to being a mohel, Rabbi
Ezra teaches seventh grade at Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah.
Rabbi Ezra and Rabbi Avraham still
attend each other's brits when they can
and cover for each other when one is
unable to do a requested brit or make a
follow-up visit.
Yosef Weingarden
Like Rabbi Ezra Cohen, Rabbi Yosef
Weingarden followed his physician father
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JN
announced after the circumcision. The cer-
emony is followed by a festive meal.
Is anesthesia used?
Most Orthodox mohelim do not use
anesthetics, although there's no religious
prohibition against doing so. Rabbi
Avraham Cohen feels injecting anesthetic
is more painful than the snip; not only
is it an injection, but the solution can
burn before it numbs. Craig Singer uses
lidocaine buffered with bicarbonate to
eliminate the burning sensation.
How long does it take?
The brit milah ceremony takes about
15 or 20 minutes. The actual snip takes
about 20 seconds.
as a mohel. Dr. Saul Weingarden has been
a mohel for 36 years, though he now per-
forms brits only for family members and
friends.
"My father was my primary teacher
and still attends most of my brissim,"said
Weingarden, 34, of Southfield.
He also studied with a number of
mohelim while he was learning in New
York and, in 2009, he did an intensive
three-week apprenticeship in London with
a rabbi. In addition to studying the laws of
brit milah, he did three or four circumci-
sions every day in hospitals, under close
supervision.
When he returned from London, a
friend called and said, "I had a baby boy,
and you have your first job: Weingarden
said. "I was nervous, but I felt if I were not
nervous there was something wrong. It
gets easier every time, but you still need
to concentrate:'
Now he does several brits a month,
fitting them in around his position as
director of development and teacher at the
Mesivta of West Bloomfield, an Orthodox
boys' high school.
He's proudest of the brit he did on his
own son, Yehoshua, (born in July 2013),
with his father and grandfather looking
on: four generations sharing the oldest
Jewish tradition.
Dr. Adam Cooper
Obstetrician/gynecologist Adam Cooper,
52, of West Bloomfield was looking for
a way to combine his medical training
with his commitment to Reform Judaism.
Becoming a mohel seemed the perfect
choice.
He was living in Florida and enrolled
in a 12-week course through the Reform
There's no religious prohibition against
a woman serving as a mohelet, but the
only women now practicing have been
trained in programs sponsored by the
Conservative and Reform movements.
What about adults who need
a brit?
Men who are not circumcised and who
convert to Judaism must undergo sur-
gery by a urologist. None of the Detroit
mohelim is qualified to do the surgery on
an adult, but they will handle the related
ritual aspects of the brit. For a convert
who was circumcised as an infant, the
mohel will take a symbolic drop of blood
(hatafat dam) from the tip of the penis to
make the previous circumcision kosher.
What happens to the foreskins?
Most of the local mohelim feel Jewish
law requires the foreskins to be buried
movement, which started certifying physi-
cians as mohelim in 1984. He was the first
Reform mohel in South Florida, some-
thing so novel that first brit was covered
by the Miami Herald.
Because he'd already done so many
non-religious circumcisions he wasn't
concerned about the snip, he said. "I was
more nervous about pronouncing every-
one's names correctly:'
(Cooper was also the first Reform
mohel in Detroit when he moved here
in 1998, and was the subject of a feature
story in the Jewish News on May 29,
1998.)
Cooper, who is on the staff at Botsford
Hospital in Farmington Hills, has done as
many as three brits in a day, including a
set of triplets.
He often brings his guitar with him to
accompany himself as he sings parts of
the brit milah ceremony.
For one memorable brit, he traveled to
Paradise Island in the Bahamas, home to
about 40 Jewish families. The family asked
him to bring along bagels, lox and other
Jewish foods unavailable there.
He also remembers the brit for a baby
named Dylan. An aunt and uncle printed
T-shirts for the family that said "Dylan's
Mommy: "Dylan's Grandpa: "Dylan's
Cousin" and so on.
"I jokingly mentioned during the cer-
emony that I felt a bit left out: he said.
"Three years later they called me to
perform their next son's bris and, upon
arrival, they presented me with a T-shirt
that said 'Noah's Mohel.""
Dr. Craig Singer
Craig Singer of Bloomfield Hills became
interested in brit milah during his medical
in earth. The Rabbis Cohen use a flower-
pot. Sam Greenbaum buries them in his
flowerbed. Craig Singer buries them next
to a tree. Some families like to bury the
foreskin themselves and plant a tree in
the same spot.
Adam Cooper tells parents that the
foreskin is perceived as an imperfection,
placed there to give parents the opportu-
nity to remove it and, in so doing, act as
God's partner in the work of perfecting
the world. So unless they request the
foreskin to bury, he says, he disposes of it
as medical waste.
Cost?
The services of a mohel in Detroit will cost
about $300 to $350. The Orthodox mohe-
lim do not charge a fee because perform-
ing a brit is a mitzvah, a commandment.
But they will happily accept gifts from
parents who have the means to make one.
The gifts can range from a few dollars to
$1,000, but average $300 to $350.
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residency in pediatrics.
"I had a mentor who
was a pediatrician and a
mohel. I think somehow
he planted the seed: he
said. "After my son was
born and after watch-
ing his bris, the idea
Dr. Craig
of becoming a mohel
Singer
became a dream of
mine:'
His son, who has two younger sisters, is
now 15.
Singer, 44, became certified as a mohel
in 2001 through a correspondence course
run by the Reform movement's Hebrew
Union College. He was sponsored by
Rabbi David Castiglione, who at that time
was at Temple Beth El.
"Over the course of seven months we
studied together, researched texts and
debated issues of philosophical and theo-
logical content: he said. He read every
Talmud reference to "brit" or "circumci-
sion: along with the rabbinic interpreta-
tions. In addition to traditional Jewish
texts, he studied the Reform responsa and
texts dealing with Jewish identity. He also
studied with Rabbi Alon Tolwin at the
Orthodox Aish HaTorah.
He learned the medical aspects by
working with 20 physicians at William
Beaumont Hospital and a physician in
Vancouver, B.C.
He estimates he's done more than a
thousand brits and at least another thou-
sand non-ritual circumcisions.
After seven years in pediatrics,
Singer trained in dermatology, and
now works fulltime as a dermatologist
with Northwest Dermatology Group in
Southfield.
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