(Mohel Book).

(CIRCUMCISION RECORD-BOOK)

(Germany)

n.d

Partial printed text followed by 22 pages in manuscript, written on paper in Hebrew with some German, recording the performance of 78 circumcisions between the years 1835-42.

The manuscript commences with an account how after ten years his prayers were answered and he became a Mohel. Although the Mohel does not record his name, he mentions his father-in-law Moshe Gisten (no. 5). Listed are the performance of circumcisions in various towns and villages in Germany, especially Halle, Bernburg, the village of Werbzig, Gisten, Kothen and others. Family names include Levenberg, Lehman, Steinthall, Rudolf, Hertzberg, Rothschild and others. The Mohel makes note of illegitimate births, with no mention of the father, and referring to the mother as HaPesulah (“unfit”), a play on the word Besulah (“virgin”) (see nos. 4, 55 and 64).