Brit Kodesh — A Sacred Covenant: Rabbi Glantz's Training at JTS

Brit Kodesh — A Sacred Covenant was a conference on brit milah hosted at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, designed with physicians in mind — specifically physicians whose practices serve communities underserved by non-physician mohalim.

Rabbi Howard K. Glantz was one of the rare exceptions admitted to and certified by the program. He was accepted due to the quality of his prior hospital training and his existing experience as a working mohel.

A Two-Way Education

Most of Rabbi Glantz's classmates in this intensive training at JTS were not yet familiar with the Mogen clamp technique, and they had not yet encountered the religious issues and ceremonial circumstances that are commonplace for working moyels.

While Rabbi Glantz was able to share his expertise on the ritual and clinical side, the physicians in turn furthered his understanding and ability to recognize the physical conditions — hypospadias, chordee, wandering raphes, and others — that can delay or rule out a bris on the eighth day.

That blend of clinical depth and ceremonial grounding is what families experience at every bris Rabbi Glantz performs: a careful clinician who is also a devoted mohel.