What does a mohel do?

Answer 1

According to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), all Jewish baby boys must have a ceremony called Brit Milah, or circumcision. The mohel is the one who performs the ritual that introduces the male infant into the Convenant; as part of this ceremony, prayers are said, and then the mohel removes the foreskin of the penis, as instructed in the Scriptures (Genesis ch.17).

Answer 2

• Every Bris Milah must be performed by a properly trained and certified Mohel (Ritual Circumciser).

• A Mohel is formally trained both in circumcision techniques as well as in Jewish law and tradition.

• While he certainly must be expert in the latest medically approved surgical and sterilization procedures, being a Mohel requires much more than surgical and medical skill.

• Jewish law sees the moment of Bris Milah (Brit-Milah) as having a great spiritual impact upon the child. The Mohel, therefore, must be an expert in the way he performs this important mitzvah because if it is not done correctly, the removal of the negative energies is not properly accomplished. It is, therefore, important to choose an Orthodox, G-d-fearing mohel in order to insure that the bris is done to perfection.

• He must be a G-d fearing practicing, Sabbath observant Jew, who performs the Bris Milah in accordance with the intentions as well as the methods of Jewish law.

• In this way the Mohel is a specialist in the spiritual aspects as well as the medical aspects of circumcision.

• A male should perform the bris.

• If a non-Jew performs the circumcision, the bris is rendered invalid. The reason for this, is that since the bris is to imprint the "act of the covenant", it, therefore, must be performed by a member of the covenant.

• The way to rectify an invalid circumcision is to do hatafas dam bris - releasing a speck of blood.

• Once a Mohel has been appointed to perform a bris, one should not afterwards reject him and hire a second Mohel in his place. However, if the second Mohel is a close friend of the family or if he is an exceptionally righteous person, (and it is, therefore, obvious that he would have been chosen in the first place had the family known that he was available), the family may then go ahead and reject its original choice.

• It is important to stress that bris milah is a religious observance and not a medical procedure. For this reason, one should not use a Doctor Who is a qualified Mohel to do the bris.

• Some hold, however, that if the doctor's expertise as a Mohel is apart from his being a doctor, then it would be okay. There are those authorities, however, who have expressed the view that religious doctors should refrain from performing bris milah.

Advise is available. Go to the related link below USA Mohel: Why a Mohel
by Rabbi Nechemia Markovits

Answer 3

A mohel is a person who is trained to perform Jewish circumcisions. The person in question must be a religiously observant Jew.

Answer 4

A Jewish Shield.