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SHEMOS (Exodus, 1:1-6:1)
“Mrs. Moses: Certified Mohelet??!”
Several years ago I was driving in
the car listening to a discussion on the radio about circumcision. Being a Mohel
myself, I was, of course, very interested in the conversation. I listened with curiosity and apprehension.
I get very uncomfortable when
religious Jews call radio shows. It is
very difficult to explain a profound religious concept in a cogent and
articulate manner when the host has his own ideas and can cut you off in
mid-sentence. Yet, the calls were coming
in, and the host maintained that circumcision is done for health reasons.
Then an Italian lady called and said
that she had her boys circumcised for health reasons, and was glad she
did. He said, “Thank you, dear,” and
hung up. Then he asked, “Hey, I wonder
if a lady is allowed to be a Mohel.”
I braced myself for the
responses. A short time later, the host
said, “Our next caller, from Rockland County, is Moysheh. Hello, Moysheh.”
“Hello, Mr. Grant. This is Moishe-the-Moyel
from Monsey!” (I recognized the voice
immediately. His name is not Moishe, but he is from Monsey.)
“First of all,” said “Moishe”, “I have to take issue with your statement that we
circumcise for health reasons. We
circumcise our children because the Bible tells us to.”
“Well, of course,” responded Bob
Grant, “the reason it says that in the Bible is that the ancient Hebrews
figured out that it is healthy to circumcise.”
Oh-oh.
Here comes the debate between the host and the caller where the host
will get the last word and go to a commercial.
“Moishe”
held his own.
“Well, Mr. Grant, I happen to disagree with you on that point, but this
is neither the time nor the place to debate it.
I also wanted to respond to your question as to whether a woman is
allowed to be a Mohel…”
“Yes?”
“Well, let me put it this way, Mr.
Grant. I’ll tell you what I tell people
who ask me that question. I wouldn’t put
a child though something I myself had not gone through! Thank you!”
And with that, he hung up.
Cute.
Well, Moishe-the-Moyel
survived the crucible known as being a caller on the Bob Grant Show. And he got to hang up on his own terms rather
than being hung up on.
But he didn’t answer the question.
I am often asked that question. I must confess that I have occasionally
borrowed Moishe-the-Moyel’s answer. It gets a laugh, but it really doesn’t cut
it. (pun
intended)
What, in fact, is the rule? We find today a large number of women,
usually doctors, advertising their services as “Mohalot.” One of the reasons for their popularity is
the claim that the nurturing nature of a woman lends itself to calming a
newborn who has just undergone minor surgery. (While this article is not meant to be an
advertisement for my own professional services,
I would humbly suggest that you ask parents who have used me if they would
agree that a 51-year old slightly overweight guy singing Carlebach to a
crying baby is just as nurturing as some MD Mohelet! J)
Typically, people like to point to
this week’s Torah Portion.
Moses and family were on their way
to Egypt. Their newborn son was as yet
uncircumcised. Moses had decided, for
various reasons (See “Pain
in the Ukraine” and
"Mrs. Moses
Goes Home to Father") to postpone Eliezer’s
Bris. It was an almost-fatal decision:
When he was on the way, at the inn,
G-d encountered him and wanted to kill him.
So Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the
foreskin of her son and touched it to his feet; and she said, “You are a
husband of blood to me.” So He loosened
His hold on him; then she said, “A husband of blood because of circumcision.”
(Exodus, 4:24-26)
There we have it. Zipporah, the
world’s first Mohelet.
Must be ok, right? After all, you don’t get much more religious
than Mrs. Moses, do you? Zipporah saved Moses from G-d’s wrath by performing her
son’s Bris. We see here Divine
endorsement of a woman’s role in performing circumcision. Right?
Well, not really. First of all, this was obviously an
emergency. Moses was supposed to do
it. He didn’t. This was a miracle situation where G-d
stepped in and demanded an immediate Bris for Moses’ son. There was no one else to do it. You can’t prove Jewish Law on the basis of a
precedent that was obviously a miraculous and emergency event.
In addition, it is important to keep
in mind that this incident occurred before the Torah was given on Mount
Sinai. While we have plenty of evidence
that pre-Sinai Jewry observed many of the Commandments, it is equally clear
that many of the rules changed at Sinai.
For example, Cain and Abel married their sisters. (Not much choice there!) Jacob married two sisters. (Some commentaries say he married FOUR
sisters! Moses’ parents were aunt and
nephew. After the Torah was given, these
relationships were off-limits. You can’t
prove Jewish Law on the basis of pre-Sinai events.
So what is the law? May a woman perform a Bris?
Actually, it is a matter of
dispute. This question is not addressed
directly in the Talmud. However, the commentaries
extrapolate upon another discussion in the Talmud. (Avodah
Zarah, 27a)
The dispute hinges upon the reason that one may not use a non-Jewish
Mohel. The Talmudic Sage Rabbi Yochanan states that the reason a Gentile may not
circumcise is based upon the requirement that a Mohel be part of the “Nation of
Circumcisers.” On this basis, it would
be permitted for a woman to circumcise.
Rav, on the other hand says that the circumcision is to be done by those
to whom the Mitzvah directly applies.
Hence, someone who is not descended from Abraham may not do a Bris. As well, a woman, who is not obligated to
have a Bris, may not do the Bris either.
(Maybe Moishe-the-Moyel wasn’t so wrong after
all!!)
(More details on this discussion may
be found here.)
Some authorities rule like Rabbi Yochanan. (Shulchan Aruch. Y.D. 264:1)
Others rule like Rav, or at least prefer to be strict and avoid the dispute by
using a man, which is acceptable according to all opinions. (Rema, Ibid)
However, when all is said and done,
this is a moot point.
A Bris is a Covenant. It is a contract between G-d and the children
of Abraham. Our contract with G-d is
about a lot more than removing a little sleeve of skin from the male
anatomy. Our contract is to observe the
Sabbath (also called a Bris), Kashruth, and every Mitzvah that applies.
A young Jewish boy’s first Mitzvah
is supposed to introduce him to a life of Torah, living according to the
dictates given to Abraham and his progeny.
It is the Mohel’s job (actually the father’s job) to induct this young
man into our clan of Mitzvah observers.
It is only appropriate the person who initiates the child into the
Covenant should be a person who respects and honors that Covenant.
A Mohel serves as the agent of the
father. Before I start a Bris, I inform
the father that the Mitzvah of circumcision is his personal obligation, but
that he has the option of appointing me as his agent to do the Mitzvah in his
behalf. On rare occasions, fathers ask
me to set up the Bris and for them to do the actual cut. While I discourage this idea for many obvious
reasons, there have been rare situations when I have agreed.
One father who asked me if he could
do the Bris was not a Sabbath observer.
I consulted with a Halachic authority who told me that although
performing the Bris is his personal Mitzvah, he was not qualified to do it because
he does not live his life in accordance with our Bris, our contract, with our
Creator. Therefore, he had no choice but
to appoint an agent to do it for him.
A person who is not totally devoted
to Halacha, Jewish Law, is not considered to be an
upholder of the Covenant. If a baby is
circumcised by a non-Jew, he has to have blood drawn by a religious Jew as a
symbolic “repair.” Similarly, if the
family uses a Mohel, man or woman, who does not fully respect and embrace the
full gamut of Jewish Law and philosophy, it is quite possible that the same
repair must be done.
The reason the question of using a
woman Mohel is a moot point is that there is no such thing as a Halachically observant Mohelet. The ladies
out there are not disqualified because of their gender; they are disqualified
because of their philosophies.
Yes, I have painted with a very
broad brush. Surely, you may say, there
must be SOME lady out there who is religious enough to be acceptable. I doubt it.
When the Rema, cited above, who is basically
the last word in Ashkenazic Jewish practice says to use a male Mohel to avoid a
questionable Bris, and someone chooses to ignore that ruling, he/she has
already identified oneself as someone who shows little respect for Halachic
authority.
To be sure, we could isolate some
far-fetched “desert island” situation where the only one who can do the Bris is
an orthodox woman. But certainly in 99+ percent
of the situations this is not a necessity.
(It is interesting to note that there are commentaries who state that even
in the emergency when Zipporah supposedly circumcised
her son, she actually handed the sharp stone to a man and he did the Bris.)
Here is the bottom line. Don’t use a Mohel, male or female, who does
not observe the highest standards of Jewish Law and integrity. I sometimes get calls from people who think
about using me and decide to use one of my colleagues. And that’s ok. But I often tell them, “Whether you use me or
not, make sure you use a Mohel who is totally observant. Even if you are not so
religious. Don’t you want to do
it right? Don’t you want to make sure
that your son doesn’t some day ask questions, and then wonder about whether he
needs a ‘redo’?”
Some of my non-orthodox and/or
feminist readers may take issue with my column.
This is a simple issue. This is
not about women’s issues in Jewish Law. This
is about every Jew having a Bris that is acceptable according to all opinions.
No one disallows a Bris done by a
religious man. Just ask Moishe-the-Moyel!
Have a great Shabbos.
Rabbi Yerachmiel Seplowitz