How to become a Jew

Published on May 8, 2013

There are a variety of options for how to begin the process, but all involve study with a rabbi. Some people study with an individual rabbi for a period of time, and other people enroll in group classes designed especially for converts.

German Parliament passes law guaranteeing legality of ritual circumcision

Published on December 12, 2012

The German Parliament passed a law protecting the right of Jewish and Muslim parents to choose a ritual circumcision for their sons, after months of heated debate over efforts to ban the practice.

German Cabinet schedules circumcision amendment

Published on October 5, 2012

Germany's Cabinet has scheduled a discussion on an amendment that would formally legalize ritual circumcision but place some restrictions on who could circumcise and how.

Jewish groups weigh in on N.Y. board’s planned vote on waiver for circumcision ritual

Published on September 10, 2012

A Conservative rabbinic group is supporting a proposed New York City Board of Health measure that requires parental consent for a controversial circumcision practice, while an Orthodox group opposes the regulation.

German state of Berlin declares circumcision legal

Published on September 5, 2012

The state of Berlin declared circumcision legal. Berlin became the first of Germany's 16 states to declare the practice legal following a Cologne court ruling in June that non-medical circumcisions on children amounted to a criminal offense, according to the German news agency DPA.

German rabbi criminally charged for performing circumcisions

Published on August 21, 2012

A rabbi in Bavaria has been slapped with criminal charges of committing bodily harm, in the first known case to arise from an anti-circumcision ruling in May.

Israeli chief rabbi visits Berlin on circumcision issue

Published on August 21, 2012

Israel's chief Ashkenazi rabbi said in Berlin that medical training for mohels, or ritual circumcisers, could resolve concerns in Germany regarding circumcision of male children.

Report: N.Y. mohel apparently tested positive for herpes

Published on April 9, 2012

A New York mohel who performed the circumcision of one newborn who died of herpes and of three other infants who contracted the disease apparently tested positive for herpes, The New York Jewish Week reported.

Report: N.Y. mohel apparently tested postive for herpes

Published on April 9, 2012

A New York mohel tied to the death from herpes of one newborn and to three others who contracted the disease, apparently tested positive for herpes, The Jewish Week reported.

Mohel performs 4,500th brit

Published on August 17, 2011

A mohel in Ukraine performed his 4,500th ritual circumcision.

The great California foreskin fight of 2011

By Jonah Lowenfeld
Published on June 21, 2011

As luck would have it, the day local Jewish leaders gathered in Santa Monica to discuss the community’s response to a proposed ballot measure aimed at banning circumcision in that city was the very same day the proposition was rescinded by its proponent. Twenty-five people came to the meeting at the Milken Family Foundation offices on Fourth Street on June 6, including high-ranking Jewish professionals, local rabbis of all stripes and other Jewish community leaders.

San Francisco’s Curious Attachment to the Male Foreskin

By Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Published on May 26, 2011

Circumcision—the Ed Hardy way [VIDEO]

By Orit Arfa
Published on December 18, 2008

Saaks is the exclusive T-shirt mohel (circumciser) for the fashion lines of French designer Christian Audigier. He specializes in Ed Hardy, the line incorporating designs of American tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy.

The great T-shirt circumciser

By Jay Firestone
Published on December 18, 2008

VIDEO: The Bris Saver

By The Web Guy
Published on August 11, 2008

It was an ordinary brit milah -- until the mohel passed out cold . . .

First Person - Snips and Snapshots

By Lori Gottlieb
Published on May 11, 2006

Few Females Filling Mohel Role in U.S.

By Sue Fishkoff
Published on January 26, 2006

Weiss-Ishai is one of just a few female mohels in the United States. There are about 35 Reform female mohels and just four trained by the U.S. Conservative movement, as well as a handful who learned outside the United States.

The Mohel’s Wife

By Felisa Billet
Published on July 7, 2005

When I congratulated "Julie" at her son's bris, I couldn't believe that she looked better than I did at my wedding. Like most of the other women attending the ritual circumcision, we were amazed that anyone could be so put together eight days after giving birth. Trim and graceful with manicured nails and perfect make-up, Julie went out of her way to insist that I sample the blintz soufflé on the elaborate buffet table, making me highly doubtful that this could be the same woman who had just shared her horror story describing 30 hours of excruciating labor -- and four of them were spent pushing!

Women like Julie shouldn't shock me anymore but somehow they still do. As the wife of a mohel, I have seen them all. From moms who fit into their pre-pregnancy Size-6 suits to others who still generously fill their maternity clothes that make me wonder if they already had the baby, meeting new mothers is routine as grocery shopping.