Mohel Reform Judaism. Mohel A mohel ( , Ashkenazi pronunciation , plural: "mohalim" , "mohala", "circumciser") is a Jew trained in the practice of "brit milah", the "covenant of circumcision." The noun "mohel" ("mohala" in Aramaic) "circumciser", is derived from the same verb stem as "milah" "circumcision." The noun appeared for the first time in the fourth century as the title of a circumciser (Shabbat 156a). For Jews, male circumcision is mandatory, as it is prescribed in the Torah. In the Book of Genesis as a mark of the Covenant between God and the descendants of Abraham: "Throughout all generations, every
What Is a Nation? and continues to be invoked. Political historian Karl Deutsch, in a quote sometimes mistakenly attributed to Renan, said that a nation is "a group of people united by a mistaken view about the past and a hatred of their neighbours". Benedict Anderson's 1983 work Imagined Communities, which states that a nation is an "imagined political community", argues that Renan contradicts himself when he says French people must have forgotten the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, yet does not explain what it is. In other words, Renan assumes that all his readers will remember the very massacre he says they have forgotten.