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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Cleveland OB-GYN is Ohio's only female mohel performing bris ceremony 



Her full-time gig is as an OB-GYN who practices at University Hospitals Suburban Health Center in South Euclid. But when duty calls, Dr. Karen Jaffe becomes a mohelet, or a female mohel, a central figure in one of the most revered traditions in the Jewish religion.

The brit milah -- or bris, as it is more commonly known -- is the ritual circumcision of a newborn Jewish boy, usually performed on the eighth day of life. The procedure, the surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis, is an outward sign of the covenant between God and Jewish people.

Jaffe is the only female mohel (rhymes with "oil") in Ohio and one of only a few dozen mohelets in the United States. Traditionally, mohelim were Orthodox men who received special training to perform circumcisions. Often that training was handed down from father to son.

The need for more mohelim became apparent as the number of American Jews belonging to the religion's Reform and Conservative movements grew. Two problems existed:

One was a religious issue. If the father is Jewish but the mother is not, for example — or if the mother is a convert but is not recognized as such by Orthodox Jews — many Orthodox rabbis or cantors choose not to perform the bris.

The other was the scarcity of people qualified to do a bris.

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2009/09/cleveland_obgyn_dr_karen_jaffe.html

Comments:
When Tziporah circumcized her son, she didn't even bother asking anyone whether, as a female she can do it.
As though she never heard of anything that a woman is not authorized to do.

 

Circumcision on an unconsenting minor is disgusting and inhumane. I don't care whether the tradition has been around for thousands of years! The baby has the RIGHT to a fully intact body. Whether or not he has his foreskin really has NOTHING to do with whether or not he is Jewish. Look it up, do your research, it is in the laws of Judaism. It is technically not required. I suggest a more peaceful naming ceremony the Brit Shalom, without the needless cutting!

 

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