Armed with only a scalpel, a clamp and a metal probe, Philip L. Sherman routinely performs his surgical mission in about 15 seconds, leaves within 10 minutes and hotfoots it to his car, which is probably illegally parked but maybe. saved a ticket with an inspired placard on his windshield: “Mazel Tov! Bris is currently underway. Please do not ticket.”
Mr. Sherman, whose website (as well as his vanity license plate) is email.com, claimed to have performed some 26,000 ritual circumcisions, mostly in the New York metropolitan area, during his 45-year career. He was trained in the Jewish religious practice of brit milah — a profession commonly spelled “mohel” in English and pronounced “moil.”
His record, he said, was 11 in one day, including two sets of twins — a major scheduling task, considering the ritual was to be performed on the eighth day of the baby’s life and in broad daylight.
Mr. Sherman has also performed ritual circumcisions on Muslim and Christian baby boys, as well as the son of a man he circumcised as an infant and the grandchildren of two Israeli prime ministers, and in all sorts of places, including Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and a bar on Third Avenue (for a family living upstairs).
He died on August 9 at his home in Englewood, NJ. He was 67 years old. His daughter, Nina Sherman Green, said the cause was pancreatic cancer.
Made by Mr. Sherman had his first circumcision when he was 21, in Brooklyn during a blizzard (carefully, he stayed nearby that night). After his cancer diagnosis, he began what he calls a sabbatical in June.
Using his signature bow tie, Mr. Sherman did everything he could to postpone a ceremony that was not for the faint of heart. For Mr. Sherman, it is a life — and, above all, it is the fulfillment of a strong and sacred religious covenant, immortalized in the biblical verse “And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son.”
“I am there to fulfill a commandment of the Torah, to teach, to let them know what is important, in short, appropriate, delicious,” he said. The New York Times in 2012.
He performed so many brisas for Jewish families in New York that he became a boldface name and wrote about him like a celebrity.
His services are not cheap. “You pay $800 for a steady hand and a good reputation,” Scott Stringer, the former New York City comptroller, told The Times after her son, who was born in December 2011, was circumcised by Mr. Sherman. “It’s not the kind of thing where you’re looking to save money.”
But Mr. Sherman said he did not turn away families who could not afford his fees.
Philip Lloyd Sherman was born on April 26, 1956, in Syracuse, NY. His mother, Malvina (Jacobs) Sherman, was an English teacher. His father, Paul Sherman, was a factory worker.
He was inspired to study brit milah by his grandfather Isadore Jacobs, who was a mohel and also a rabbi, a cantor, a dayan (a religious judge) and a shochet (a ritual murderer). After studying with Rabbi Yosef Hakohen Halperin, a noted mohel, in Jerusalem, Mr. Sherman graduated in 1979 with degrees in music and biblical studies from a joint program run by Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary.
He also served as a cantor in several synagogues in New York, including the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Manhattan from 1985 to 2019. He also occasionally works as an actor.
She acted as a judge in the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” and appeared in an episode of the Amazon Prime show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” He was also cast in the 2011 Paul Rudd movie “Our Idiot Brother.”
“I played a mohel, but the scene was cut,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “How ironic.”
He described himself as the only rabbi on a motorcycle at the Screen Actors Guild.
At the actual religious ceremonies at which Mr. Sherman presided, he was not the only star; he also feeds the supporting players their lines.
“Let me tell you my secret,” he regularly confides in new fathers, according to an interview with The New Yorker in 1999. “After that, be sure to thank your husband for doing a great job and giving you a perfect child.”
In addition to his daughter, Mr. Sherman is survived by two sons, Reuven and Elan Sherman, from his marriage to Naomi Freistat, which ended in divorce; his brothers, Steven and Martin Sherman; and six grandchildren. His 1994 marriage to Andrea Raab ended in divorce in 2022.
Made by Mr. Sherman the brises for his sons and his grandsons, taught that in addition to obeying the biblical command to Abraham (instead of deferring to a doctor and turning the religious ceremony into a strictly medical procedure), he underwent a full year of training.
Yes, he admits, of course the baby feels pain during it. But, he added, “when it’s done right, it’s only a matter of time.”
And, yes, he said, it is also true that sometimes even just imagining removing the baby’s foreskin, one of the parents or visitors may faint. But, he cheerfully suggested, “usually in a bris, there is no shortage of doctors or lawyers.”
When actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg told him she didn’t want to attend a bris, Mr. Sherman’s suggestion.
“Next time you go to one,” he advises, “do what I do: Close your eyes.”
Just kidding, he added.
