One who performs circumcision on a Jewish male as a religious rite.
[Mishnaic Hebrew môhēl, active participle of māhal, to circumcise, from Aramaic məhal; akin to Biblical Hebrew māl..]
|
Results for mohel
|
On this page:
|
One who performs circumcision on a Jewish male as a religious rite.
[Mishnaic Hebrew môhēl, active participle of māhal, to circumcise, from Aramaic məhal; akin to Biblical Hebrew māl..]
A mohel (מוהל in Hebrew, mo'el in Ashkenazic pronunciation, mohel in Sephardic pronunciation which is the pronunciation used in modern Israel) is a Jewish ritual circumciser who performs a brit milah ritual circumcision on the penis of a male who is to enter the Jewish covenant.
For Jews, circumcision is mandatory, as it is prescribed in the Torah:
Circumcision is usually performed by a specially trained mohel, a specialist in circumcisions and the rituals surrounding the procedure. Many mohelim are either doctors or Rabbis (and some are even both). However, all have received appropriate training both from a religious and a medical point of view.
Biblically, the infant's father is commanded to perform the circumcision himself. However, as most fathers are not comfortable or do not have the training, they designate a mohel as a delegate. It is customary that, if possible, a mohel will perform his first circumcision on his own son, under the supervision of his own teacher. Even if his first circumcision isn't on his own son, if he has a son, he must perform the circumcision himself and not ask another mohel to do so.
Mohelim are well represented in popular culture, often in a comedic sense.
References to circumcision on television shows include an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Bris", an episode of The Nanny titled "The Unkindest Gift", a two-part episode of Freak Show titled "Mohel-Me-Not", and an episode of South Park titled "Ike's Wee Wee". Also on NBC's Today, a guest described a certain wine bottle opener as a "foil mohel".
In literature, Leo Rosten's book, The Joys of Yiddish, features a couple of Mohel stories.
In film, Mel Brooks appears as the mohel Rabbi Tuckman in Robin Hood: Men In Tights.
Also in film, Porky's II: The Next Day includes references to mohelims and threats of forced circumcision.
In the song "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" by
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "mohel" at WikiAnswers.
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mohel". Read more | |
![]() | Misspellings. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
Mentioned In: