New Haven - gets a Mohel

JL: Rabbi Dov Greer of New Haven has traveled around the world in his quest to become a mohel (one skilled in performing ritual circumcisions).A graduate of Yale University, Greer notes that he was always interested in mila-so much so that he would take off time from his studies at a yeshiva in Israel to "follow "around" a respected Yemenite mohel.Greer, whose father is a rabbi and teacher in New Haven and whose brother is trained in shechitah (Jewish ritual slaughter), was born in Jerusalem.The Greers spent some time in New York before settling in New Haven when Dov was three years old. In New Haven, Dov attended the Yeshiva of New Haven, the school founded by his parents Rabbi Daniel and Rebbetzin Sarah Greer. Dov continued his high school studies at the Yeshiva of New Haven, followed by a year of learning in Rabbi Tzvi Kushelevsky's yeshiva in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Shaul.Dov again returned to New Haven, where he attended Yale University and studied military history.with Professor Paul Kennedy. Upon his graduation from Yale, Greer went back to Israel for two and a half years, where he studied at the Brisk Yeshiva for two and a half years. Greer next moved to Lakewood, N.J., to continue his yeshiva studies.Next, he decided he wanted to "learn in-depth the laws of family purity, which are important to know if you are going to be a rabbi."Greer then went to Israel to study both the laws of family purity and the laws of intricate laws of Shabbat; he learned with Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovitz, a well-known posek (decider of Jewish laws).The last two years have been quite eventful in the Greer family: son Moshe and daughter Rachel were born, wife Sima completed her bachelors degree in Jewish studies, and Greer received smicha from Rabbi Zalmen Nechemia Goldberg. Recently, Greer has taken over some of the rabbinical responsibilities for the Yeshiva of New Haven shul for his father.And he has been busy with mohel training and responsibilities."When I decided I wanted to study to be a mohel, I did research on the best courses," recounts Greer..............Greer now serves as a mohel in New Haven and throughout Connecticut."To be a mohel, you must learn three things," reports Greer. "The technical aspects, the halachot (Jewish laws), and menschlichkeit (bedside manner) -- you must be sensitive to the parents and the child."