Amohel (Hebrew:מוֹהֵל[moˈhel],Ashkenazi pronunciation[ˈmɔɪ.əl], plural:מוֹהֲלִיםmohalim[mo.haˈlim],Imperial Aramaic:מוֹהֲלָאmohala, 'circumciser') is aJewish man[1][2] trained in the practice ofbrit milah, the 'covenant of malecircumcision'.[3] A woman who is trained in the practice is referred to as amohelet (pl. mohelot).
Thenounmohel ('mohala' inAramaic), meaning "circumciser", is derived from the same verb stem asmilah (circumcision).[4] The noun appeared for the first time in the 4th century as the title of a circumciser (Shabbat (Talmud) 156a).[5]
For Jews, male circumcision is mandatory, as it is prescribed in theTorah. In theBook of Genesis, it is described as a mark of thecovenant of the pieces betweenYahweh and the descendants ofAbraham:
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.'[6]
InLeviticus:
And theLORD 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.[7]
Biblically, the infant's father (avi haben) is commanded to perform the circumcision himself.[citation needed] However, as most fathers are not comfortable or do not have the training, they designate amohel ormohelet.Mohalim are specially trained in circumcision and the rituals surrounding the procedure. Manymohalim are doctors orrabbis (some are both) orcantors, and today are required to receive appropriate training, both religious and medical.
Traditionally,mohalim use a scalpel to circumcise the newborn. Today, doctors and some non-Orthodoxmohalim use a perforating clamp before they cut the skin. The clamp makes it easier to be precise and shortens recovery time. Orthodoxmohalim 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 toJewish law is dangerous to the child and strictly forbidden, and also renders theorlah (foreskin) as cut prior to the proper ritual cut.[8][9][10]
Under Jewish law,mohalim mustdraw blood from the circumcision wound. Mostmohalim do it by hand with a suction device,[11][12][13][14] but some follow thetraditional practice of doing it by mouth. TheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning in 2012 about the health implications of the latter practice, citing eleven cases of neonatalherpes simplex virus (HSV) and two recorded fatalities.[15] 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.[16]
Manymohalim continue the practice of listing the names and birthdates of the boys they circumcise inlittle booklets. These books have become important documents for genealogical scholarship. Increasingly, these notes on circumcision are being digitized.[17]
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.[18] Non-Orthodox Judaism allows women to bemohalot (מוֹהֲלוֹת, plural ofמוֹהֶלֶת,'mohelet', feminine ofmohel), without restriction. In 1984,Deborah Cohen became the first Reform Jewishmohelet to be certified (by the Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism).[19]
The term mohel (ritual circumciser) is derived from milah (circumcision).
Beginning with the fourth century, the term mohel (mohala in Aramaic) appeared for the first time as the title of a circumciser (Shabbat 156a).
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