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NOW SERVING GREATER CLEVELAND

Mohel in Cleveland, OH — A Bris at Home

Greater Cleveland has about 93,000 Jewish residents — the largest Jewish community in the four states we serve, larger than Detroit's. We travel here for brisim regularly.

The community we come to

Jewish Cleveland moved east over the twentieth century, out of Glenville and Cleveland Heights and into the eastern suburbs, and Beachwood is where it settled. The Mandel JCC is there, so are the day schools, the Maltz Museum and several congregations — close enough together that people talk about it as a campus rather than a set of addresses. A large share of the families who call us live inside that few-mile radius.

We come to Beachwood, Cleveland Heights, University Heights, Shaker Heights, Pepper Pike and Solon, and throughout Greater Cleveland.

Rabbi Tzvi Fischer is a certified mohel, trained in New York, certified by the International Bris Milah Association, performing circumcisions since 2001 — the seventh generation of his family to do this work. He comes to your house. Your son stays in your arms, with whoever you want in the room.

THE EIGHTH DAY

Why the Cleveland call should come early

Cleveland is a planned trip for us from Detroit, a couple of hours each way, and that interacts badly with the one fact that governs a bris: the eighth day is set by the calendar and does not move. Everywhere else on this site, calling late costs you some choice of date. For a bris there is only one date.

So the practical advice is narrower than usual. Call when you have a due date. Families who reach us before the birth essentially always get the day they need; families who call on day three sometimes find we are already committed elsewhere that week.

If your son is not well on the eighth day, the bris waits. Jewish law is explicit that the baby's health comes first — jaundice, prematurity, low weight or illness all postpone it, and that is correct practice rather than a compromise. We would rather tell you to wait than keep a date.

Cleveland bris questions

How far in advance should Cleveland families book?

As soon as you have a due date. Cleveland is a planned trip from the Detroit area, and an eighth day cannot be shifted to suit a drive, so the booking window is the only flexible part — and it closes.

Can you hold the bris somewhere other than our home?

Yes. A relative's house in Beachwood, a synagogue social hall, wherever the family is gathering. Give us the address and we bring the setup there.

Do we need to belong to a congregation?

No. We work with families across every level of observance and none, including interfaith families and those with no synagogue connection.

It is a real circumcision, properly done

A local anesthetic, sterile professional-grade instruments, and screening beforehand — prematurity, feeding, weight, jaundice, bleeding history, vitamin K. There are findings, hypospadias among them, that mean we decline and tell you why. What the visit involves · the ceremony in full · mohel vs. doctor.

If you want no religious element at all, that is also the visit — families who are not Jewish choose a mohel for the specialism rather than the tradition.

What it costs

A $980 professional fee, plus travel expenses, quoted upfront. No separate ceremony charge. Cleveland travel reflects the drive from metro Detroit and is on the quote before you decide.

Planning a bris in Cleveland?

A consultation is free and commits you to nothing. If you have a due date rather than a baby, this is the call worth making now.