The Chief Rabbinate of Israel will be announcing a new regulation for a mohel with a Shabbos bris – that the mohel must be available for the parents during the Shabbos of the bris.

According to the new procedures that will be approved in the near future, parents will be able to make contact during the Shabbos of the bris with the mohel who performed it, for fear of a problem or pikuach nefesh. The decision means that mohelim will soon be expected to carry a cellular phone or beeper device during Shabbos and/or receive calls at home.

Speaking with Kol Berama Radio host Noam Zeigman on Tuesday morning 19 Sivan, Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for accreditation and Overseeing Mohels, said that the committee had proposed this and it was approved by the Chief Rabbis.

“There is no problem in doing this and we even encourage
it,” said Rabbi Steinberg. “It happens that parents take off their
bandages and panic, and a mohel can solve the problem from a distance [on the phone].”
According to Rabbi Steinberg, “The prohibition of carrying a cellular phone or
a pager is only a matter of carrying muktzah d’rabbonon and any doubt (sofek) [of]
pikuach nefesh on Shabbos remains pikuach nefesh”.

The new regulation that is going to be announced in the coming days will instruct parents to call the mohel in any case of emergency including Shabbos and Yomtov, including a case in which the child continues crying and cannot be calmed; or becomes apathetic; of more serious cases of high fever or bleeding.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)