When Kimba Wood, The Judge On Michael Cohen’s Case, Celebrated A Circumcision

Image by Getty Images
Michael Cohen is asking Judge Kimba Wood to suppress legal documents related to his relationship with Donald Trump in his trial over payments to the pornographic actress Stormy Daniels.
Wood, a federal judge, has certainly seen lighter moments in her time on the bench.
In 2010, Wood gave a Jewish defense attorney the day off from court on the day his third grandson was born so that he could attend the bris.
Bennett Epstein announced the birth of the child with aplomb: “Judge, I have an announcement to make: Hoo hah!” he said in court.
Epstein asked for the day off if the child were a boy, but if she were a girl, there would be no bris to attend. So Wood cut him a deal.
“If a daughter is born,” Wood wrote, “there will be a public celebration in Court, with readings from poetry celebrating girls and women.”
But the celebration was not required. Epstein called Wood “a terrific judge, a wonderful person with a great sense of humor.”
Wood also officiated at a non-denominational wedding service for billionaire George Soros in 2013.
She was nominated as Attorney General by President Bill Clinton but withdrew in a flap over her hiring of a nanny who was not eligible to work in the U.S. As a cash-strapped student she once spent five days in a training course to be a Playboy bunny.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.