Subject: Mohels

Manuscript book containing 36 records of circumcisions performed by a mohel (ritual circumciser). Written in Ashkenazic Hebrew with names, places, and family names in English. The majority of the circumcisions were performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, beginning in 1836, with the last entry in New York City in 1850. This represents the most important extant Southern Jewish record of circumcisions from this early period. Early American mohel records are rare and are typically only found in institutional archives. This book predates the founding of the first synagogue in New Orleans (1827), and there is no evidence the first hazzan, Manis Jacobs, who served until 1839, also performed circumcisions.

Cabinet card photograph of Dr. Abel Lane, identified as a Mohel, at his office at 64 Loytle Street, Chicago, Illinois. The photograph, taken circa 1885, is a studio portrait and may be an advertisement for Scholl Studio, Chicago.

A one-and-a-quarter page letter dated May 28, 1858, from Morris Ehrlick, President of the Berith Shalom Congregation in Charleston, South Carolina, to Alexander Oelsner. The letter discusses the need for a hazan and a mohel, emphasizing the necessity of a single individual capable of performing both roles and reading in Polish. It also includes a request for blessings for Oelsner and the congregation. The letter features a stamped seal of the Brith Sholom Beth Israel Congregation.

Manuscript containing 63 inscriptions of circumcisions performed in Albany and Kingston, Ulster County, New York. Written in Hebrew and some English. The book includes a signed endpaper in German and Yiddish indicating ownership by David b. Segal (Loewy) of Bierstadt (Vinograd, Amsterdam 1585). Rabbi Segal emigrated to the USA in the mid-1800s and performed circumcisions in Albany and Kingston. The manuscript dates to around 1843.

Anti-Semitic cartoon on yellow card stock depicting a mohel and baby boy. The card is circa 1885 and was issued by Samuel Goldring.