Amid mohel-less lockdown, New Zealand man circumcises own son
A circumcision in an Orthdoox community in Berlin in 2013. Image by Getty
By Ari Feldman August 27, 2020
A Jewish couple in New Zealand decided to perform a ritual circumcision on their son themselves, after determining that the country’s travel restrictions would make getting a mohel to fly in for the procedure impossible.
Noam and Elisheva Fogel waited five months to conduct the circumcision ceremony, called a brit milah or a bris, which signifies an infant boy joining the Jewish people and usually takes place eight days after the boy’s birth. Their son, Eden Rafael, was born two days before New Zealand went into full lockdown, keeping all foreign travelers out of the country.
That left the Fogels with no mohel, or circumciser, inside the country to perform the procedure. New Zealand requires all mohels to be a medical doctor, according to the Jerusalem Post, so the community relies on mohels who fly in from Australia.
Noam eventually decided to do the procedure himself, in consultation with multiple mohels and under the supervision of a doctor and a rabbi. The doctor did the sutures to close the cut.
“This is definitely a happy and emotional moment,” Elisheva told Ynet. “We are waiting for the day when we can tell him what he went through.”
In June, New Zealand became one of the first countries to declare itself free of coronavirus after imposing its quarantine. At the beginning of August, however, when several reported cases emerged after more than 100 days free of community spread, the country re-imposed a stringent lockdown.
Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
