Now that many brises have to be celebrated over Zoom, Emily Blake, Somerstein’s 64-year-old veteran mohel who has dedicated more than three decades of her life to this work, likes to begin the ceremony with a pun: they’re doing this “chai-tech” (“chai” means life in Hebrew). 

Dr. Emily Blake, a physician and a mohel, joins us to walk us through the specifics of the sacred ceremony, and share some of her tips to soothing anxious parents. Why is a bris on Shabbat a rare and special thing? Listen and find out.

“Dr. Blake is committed. She wanted to be a rabbi as a child. When she went to medical school, she studied to be an ob-gyn. But as someone deeply drawn to Judaism, Dr. Blake didn’t understand why she was performing circumcisions in hospitals as part of her residency, but not for Jewish families.”

We talk to Dr. Emily Blake, the mohel who performed Mark’s son’s bris, about why this biblical practice has remained so central to the Jewish experience, even among the nonobservant.

Emily was recommended as a potential mohel to Donald Trump’s grandson in an April 1, 2016 Jewish Telegraphic Agency article titled, “What role Donald Trump could play in his grandson’s Jewish circumcision”.

Emily Blake was quoted in a March 30, 2016 USA Today article about the birth of Donald Trump’s grandson titled, “Next up for Donald Trump? A circumcision ceremony”

“There’s not only no prohibition against women doing this kind of work, but it goes back to the Book of Exodus, when Tziporah, Moses’ wife, circumcised their son. It never struck me as something different or odd or strange. I was not somebody who thought: I’m not allowed to do that because I’m a woman.”

“I am not a cut-and-run. I’m touchy feely. I do a lot of talking to the family. I customize the service. I have a lot of alternative readings I offer that run the gamut from traditional Jewish all the way through Buddhist poems or Native American poems. I want the family to tell me what’s authentic to who they are.”

The Sisterhood blog of The Jewish Forward spoke to Emily in response to a San Francisco initiative to ban circumcision in an August 15, 2011 post titled, “A Feminist Mohel Speaks Out“.

“Through my medical training, I had become skilled in performing circumcision, but my Jewish identity led me to question the difference between a medical circumcision and the brit milah. I was moved to obtain the religious training that would allow my medical abilities to be guided by a profound spiritual intent.”

Emily Blake was quoted in a Nov. 19, 2010 CNN article titled, “‘Intactivists’ to San Francisco: Ban circumcision“.

“An obstetrician-gynecologist widely touted for her willingness to personalize ceremonies. Often includes English prayer translations and looks for ways to include extended-family members in the ceremony.”

Emily was featured in a Dec. 26, 2007 Forward article titled, “Mohels Give Non-Jewish Babies a Slice of Tradition“.

Daniel Sean Kaye blogged about Emily’s role in his son’s bris in his April, 2004 “Dadography” column.