Open Search form

Hayim Leiter

Apply for a Blog

Jun 18, 2018, 11:20 AM

‘Thank you’ doesn’t seem enough

Iceland nearly banned circumcision this year. It all began last February when MP Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir of the Progressive party proposed a bill threatening a six year prison sentence for anyone who performs a circumcision on an individual under...

May 30, 2018, 4:05 PM

Half off on circumcisions

Philip Veerman gives only half the story in his recent blog post, ‘Law proposal in Iceland heats up: Children’s rights debate on circumcision not on ice.’ There he stated, “On April 28, The Times of Israel gave the impression...

May 2, 2018, 11:50 PM

Should we stay or should we go?

The Jews of Iceland should get out now. I posed this as a question on Facebook last week when the Icelandic legislation to ban circumcision was scrapped. I’m sure we all agree that the legislation being shot down is a...

Apr 12, 2018, 2:07 PM

The bris of silence

What do you expect on Yom HaShoah? But it didn’t begin that way. In truth, it was a simcha of diametric opposites. The anticipation of a Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) brit is caught up with the stress of balancing...

Apr 10, 2018, 10:50 AM

The mother of all lies

Illustrative: A baby after the brit milah ceremony (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Brit milah can be traumatic -- for a parent; the babies simply do not experience 'near-death distress'

Feb 26, 2018, 1:25 AM

European Jewry is in serious trouble. For those of you who don’t get Google Alerts on circumcision, let me bring you up to speed. Almost two weeks ago the news broke that the Parliament in Iceland has proposed a...

Jan 28, 2018, 8:25 PM

In Your Blood, Live

Rabbi Raziel Shevach was brutally gunned down two weeks ago while driving near his home in Havat Gilad. The terrorist behind the crime died in a gunfight with the Israeli Defense Force a short time after. The news coverage...

Jan 1, 2018, 11:45 AM

Mending Old Wounds

My last Brit Milah was a complicated one. The father was raised in Israel, born to Jewish parents, while the mother had undergone a Reform conversion in the States. When they finally found me, they had already been turned...

Nov 27, 2017, 1:37 PM

Like Father, Like Son

My phone rang as I was walking out of my daughter’s school. An unidentified number. Most people hesitate to answer such a call, but that’s not my reality. A call from a number like that is most likely a...

Sep 18, 2017, 11:54 AM

The Apple of My i

The first Apple event I’ve ever watched was last week and it was an eye-opening experience. Maybe I’m missing something because I’m not the biggest techie or maybe I’m still having trouble understanding why I should be excited about...

Load more

About Me

Hayim Leiter is a Rav and a Mohel in Jerusalem, as well as a Jewish Educator working as the Shoel U'Meishiv at The Pardes Institute. He made Aliyah in 2009 and lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children.