page_title: Brit milah
section_title: Mohel
hierarchical_section_title: Brit milah / Ceremony / Mohel
caption_attribution_description: English: Circumcision bench, 18th century. Jewish Museum of Switzerland
context_page_description: The brit milah is a Jewish religious male circumcision ceremony performed by a mohel on the eighth day after the infant's birth. The brit milah is followed by a celebratory meal.
context_section_description: A mohel is a Jew trained in the practice of brit milah, the "covenant of circumcision." According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of a grown free Jewish male expert, anyone who has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision, provided that they are Jewish. However, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism allow female mohels, called mohalot (Hebrew: מוֹהֲלוֹת‎, plural of מוֹהֶלֶת mohelet, feminine of mohel), without restriction. In 1984, Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform mohelet; she was certified by the Berit Mila program of Reform Judaism.
caption: Circumcision bench, 18th century. Jewish Museum of Switzerland.
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