How much does a mohel charge?
Costs for a mohel’s services vary around the country. Currently in the Boston area mohel fees range from $500 to $700. In New York City that figure is $650-$850. Parents should know the fee their mohel is charging before engaging him or her so as to avoid any misunderstanding or embarrassment on the day of the bris.
When you hire a mohel, you are paying him/her for several things:
- Their skill and experience in performing a safe circumcision
- Their knowledge of the Jewish ritual and prayers involved in the brit milah ceremony
- If the mohel is a physician, the time taken out of their practice to do your bris
- The travel time back and forth to the site of the bris.
Most mohels will give you a receipt that can be submitted to your health insurance company. If he/she does not, ask for one. Although health care insurers usually will not pay for a bris ceremony, they will almost always reimburse individuals the amount they would have paid a physician for doing a circumcision postpartum in the hospital.
How do you pay the mohel?
Most mohels like to be paid at the time of the brit milah ceremony but not until the ceremony is over and they are about to leave. The best way to make this payment is to put the agreed-upon fee (in either cash or check) into an envelope and hand it to the mohel as he or she departs. As the mohel is usually coming from his or her car to your house or synagogue, they will generally not have the facilities to accept credit card payments.
If you haven’t chosen a mohel yet, learn more about choosing a mohel here.