Local rabbi becomes certified mohel
"It’s about education and the communication of ideas, which really brings inspiration and conversation and relationship, which is really important."
Pittsburgh’s newest mohel is on a mission to not only help families fulfill the mitzvah of brit milah, or circumcision, but to help educate them about the procedure along the way.
“I’m a passionate educator,” Rabbi Zalmen Raskin said. “That’s really the focus and the ideology of anything I do. It’s about education and the communication of ideas, which really brings inspiration and conversation and relationship, which is really important.”
Raskin moved from his native Melbourne, Australia, to Pittsburgh to teach at the behest of Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, CEO of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.
It wasn’t until January, though, that Raskin hung a shingle on his door advertising services as a certified mohel.
Raskin began thinking about becoming a mohel after Rabbi Moshe Barrocas, whose children he taught, suggested it.
“We had a good relationship, and he said, ‘I think you would be an excellent mohel; would you consider taking it on?’ At first, I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s for me,’ but Rabbi Rosenfeld encouraged me — the rabbi of the community — and Rabbi Admon encouraged me as well.”
Rabbi Elisar Admon is also a mohel but, as an Army chaplain, he is sometimes unavailable to assist families.
It was more than just necessity, though, that caused Raskin to take on the new role.
“I had an experience with my child, my son,” Raskin said. “We had an episode where he had to be taken to the hospital and received care from an oncological doctor. The way he gave us care and the way he spoke to us and informed us — even now I get emotional. I was like, ‘If I can do those for other people in a different capacity and be there for people on a joyous occasion, let me take this on.’”
Of course, one can’t simply decide to become a mohel and start performing the ritual eight days after a boy is born. It takes training.
For that, Raskin traveled to the Centre de Circoncision Rituelle in Nice, France. He made the trek across the Atlantic, he said, because there he was able to be trained by both a doctor and a religious mohel.
The Centre de Circoncision Rituelle, Raskin said, was open every day, and between 20-30 families came each day.
Raskin also spent time shadowing a certified mohel both in Pittsburgh and in New York, observing the ritual and asking questions over several months.
“There were very prestigious mohelim,” he said. “Doctors consult with these mohelim, that’s how good they are. Very prestigious and knowledgeable in many different arenas.”
Raskin said he enjoys helping families connect with their heritage and educating them about the ritual.
“They know its importance, but they may not understand the specialness of this beautiful mitzvah,” he said. “This is heritage and committing ourselves to Hashem. We’re connecting our body to Hashem.”
And while the religious nature of the ritual was important to Raskin, so, too, were the medical aspects of the procedure.
“From a practical part, I studied the whole circumcision part. I really spent a lot of time researching and understanding all the components of bris milah, the medical aspects, all the different variabilities. I really worked to educate myself,” he said.
Being a mohel connects all Raskin’s interest, he said — Jewish culture, tradition, heritage and education.
“Families should feel strongly about what they’re doing, and they should be excited about what they’re doing,” he said. “That’s what made me decide to do this.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
comments