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Meet The Mohelim

These six Detroiters talk about performing the mitzvah of brit milah.

Barbara Lewis I Contributing Writer

Cantor Sam Greenbaum with his grand- Dr. Yosef Weingarden performs the brit of his son Yehoshua with his father, Dr. Saul
son, Justin
Weingarden, as the sandek.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Detroit is fortunate to have six practic-
ing mohelim as well as some who perform
the rite only for their own family mem-
bers and close friends.
The group includes a cantor, three
rabbi/educators and two physicians, rep-
resenting the Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform traditions.

Cantor Sam Greenbaum

law of brit milah.
One of his first brits was that of his
son, Alex, who was born shortly after the
Greenbaums moved to Portland, Ore., for
the cantor's first full-time job.
A few decades later, he did the brit for
his oldest grandchild, Justin, now 17,
just before Alex and his wife, Amy, were
ordained as rabbis at JTS.
He's done many more brits for the
sons of babies he has circumcised, and is

looking forward to doing his first third-

generation brit.

The Rabbis Cohen:
Avraham and Ezra

Detroit has father-and-son mohelim, both
rabbi/educators who live and work in
Southfield.
Avraham (Avi) Cohen, 62, became a
mohel in 1980, following in the footsteps
of his own father, who taught him the

Samuel Greenbaum of West Bloomfield,
cantor emeritus of Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park, is the dean of the
Detroit mohelim. He estimates he's per-
Being a mohel is a great profession. The pay's not so hot, but you get a lot of
formed more than 12,000 circumcisions
tips.
That's one of the few mohel jokes we can print in a family newspaper.
over 47 years.
Greenbaum became a mohel shortly
"At every bris, some uncle will tell me one of three mohel jokes and is always
before he graduated from the Cantor's
convinced I'd never heard it before. I defy anyone to bring a new
Institute at the Jewish Theological
0 joke," said Adam Cooper.
Seminary (JTS) in 1967.
His favorite is probably the one about a newborn talking to
"One of my teachers encouraged the
his
older brother. The infant remarks that there are a lot of
°
students to study brit milah because
people coming to the house. The older one says it's for the bris,
we could be going to an area where
and he remembers his own bris. The baby asks if it hurt. The
there were no mohelim," he said. And,
older one says, "I couldn't walk for a year!"
Cantor Greenbaum tells that one, too, and also likes to note that a phy-
he added, it's a good way to get close to
sician may carry a black bag but a mohel carries a bris-kit.
families.
Rabbi Ezra Cohen's favorite mohel joke is actually a true story. His grand-
Greenbaum studied with Harry
father was a rabbi/mohel in Rochester, N.Y., and one day he was stopped for
Bronstein, one of the busiest mohelim in
speeding. The officer asked him the name of his congregation and then asked
New York. "He was a master at what he
him if he knew a certain woman. The rabbi did. She was the officer's mother.
did:' he said.
"I did your bris!" said the rabbi. "I can't give my mohel a ticket," said the cop,
Greenbaum accompanied Bronstein as
and let him off.
he trained medical residents to do cir-
cumcisions and also studied the Jewish

MA O Jokes

..M.,

❑

Dr. Adam Cooper, after performing
the brit for Cullen Shih

laws and customs.
During a six-month stay in Israel as a
young father of two girls, the oldest of his
nine children, he was ordained as a rabbi,
studied scribal arts and learned to do brit
milah from Rabbi Yosef Dovid Weisberg, a
well-known Jerusalem mohel.
"It was very intensive he said. The stu-
dents did eight to 12 cicumcisions every
day. "We saw all kinds of unusual and
difficult cases. By the time I came back to
Detroit, I was completely proficient"
He's done thousands of brits since then.
His first brit as a mohel was for the son
of longtime friend, Rabbi E.B. "Bunny"
Freedman.
"It was very gratifying that he asked
me. I can't say I wasn't nervous; your heart
is always thumping. But I felt very good
about it," he said.
Shortly afterward, his son Ezra was
born. Rabbi Avraham performed his
brit and soon after, the brit of his wife's
cousin's son. "By that point, people in the
community were comfortable seeing me
do the bris," he said.
Rabbi Avraham works for Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah's Partners in Torah, leading the
popular Tuesday night one-on-one study
program.
One of his most memorable brits was
in Azerbaijan, south of Russia. A mother
and grandmother asked him to circumcise
a 1-year-old boy. The father, who was not
Jewish, was not too keen on the idea so

The Mohelim on page 10

8 July 3 • 2014

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