HAGOZER, JACOB and GERSHOM

HAGOZER, JACOB and GERSHOM (first half of the 13^th century), father and son, mohalim (practitioners of circumcision, hence the name Gozer, a synonym for mohel) in Germany. Little is known of Jacob except that he composed a bookon the laws of circumcision which served as the basis for a more comprehensive work on the same subject by Gershom, who also made use of the work of his uncle *Jacob b. Yakar of Worms. Gershom's works covered every aspect of the subject. Large sections from it were copied word for word and incorporated into two works by two anonymous mohalim. All that is known of the author of the first is that he was a nephew of *Ephraim of *Bonn and that he knew Jacob personally, received oral traditions from him, and quoted his customs and conduct. This author added many aggadic passages in praise of the precept of circumcision and its virtues, many local customs and medical details concerning circumcision, and various sermons delivered at such ceremonies. The book is of considerable value for its picture of the life of the Jews of Germany at that time and also contains important quotations from earlier literature for which there is no other source.

This mohel, like Gershom, introduced hygienic improvements into the circumcision ceremony and brought about the abolition of many unsound practices of ultra-conservative mohalim. The author of the second work was a pupil of *Eliezer b. Joel ha-Levi, himself a mohel, and quotes him and Gershom freely. At the end of the book is appended a collection of relevant passages from other works. The two books were published by Jacob Glassberg in his Zikhron Berit la-Rishonim (1892). They were the first books in the rabbinic literature of Germany wholly devoted to the laws of circumcision, and probably the first works in the whole of German rabbinic literature dealing with one specific subject.

bibliography:

Mueller, in: J. Glassberg, Zikhron Berit la-Rishonim (1892), introd.

[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]