Why Does Rabbi Rappaport Prefer the Mogen Clamp over the Gomco Clamp and Plastibell?

The sacred day of your son’s Bris Milah is quickly approaching! Naturally, as a concerned parent, you want to make sure that everything about your son’s circumcision procedure, from the ceremony to the actual procedure and recovery, goes by the books. But do you know everything about how the mohel will perform the Bris Milah or Circumcision on your newborn son? What about the technique they will employ? How will the technique impact your son’s recovery? These are all questions you should seek answers to before entrusting your son’s Bris Milah or Circumcision into the hands of a mohel.

Rabbi Avraham Rappaport, a second-generation expert mohel currently active in the MD/DC/VA area, is here to enlighten us on the different circumcision methods. As an expert mohel, Rabbi Rappaport understands the subtleties between each circumcision method and how to employ only the quickest and safest techniques available. 

In one of our past articles, we’ve extensively discussed the differences between the primary circumcision techniques: the Mogen clamp, the Gomco clamp, and Plastibell. Today, it is our intention to teach you why Rabbi Rappaport has built his mohel career around the Mogen clamp and why this circumcision technique triumphs over all the other methods. By the end of this article, you will learn everything about Rabbi Rappaport’s technique and your son’s future Bris Milah procedure!

What Is the Mogen Clamp Technique?

The Mogen clamp is one of the most common circumcision techniques in the United States, alongside the Gomco clamp and Plastibell. Numerous American mohels, including Rabbi Rappaport, often use the Mogen clamp for its simplicity and effectiveness. The entire procedure happens in the blink of an eye, leaving behind no bleeding or chances for postoperative infection. This method, used tens of thousands of times, is the fastest, most painless, and precise method and thus supports a perfect experience.

What Is the Mogen Clamp?

The Mogen clamp is a circumcision device designed by Rabbi Harry Bronstein in 1954 for circumcisions in both neonatal and older children. The device receives its name from the Hebrew word magain, which means shield. It contains two sharp, flat blades around 2.5-3.0 mm in size. Through the Mogen clamp, Rabbi Bronstein envisioned a standardization of the medical equipment used by both mohels and hospital doctors during circumcisions.

How Does Rabbi Rappaport Perform Circumcisions Using the Mogen Clamp?

Rabbi Rappaport has mastered the way expert Mohels employ the Mogen clamp during circumcisions. Under the guidance of Rabbi Moshe Weisberg, Chief Mohel of Jerusalem, and his father, Rabbi Moshe Rappaport, Rabbi Rappaport learned how to take advantage of the Mogen clamp’s precision and effectiveness and limit the circumcision procedure time to a minimum.

Once he receives the parents’ consent, Rabbi Rappaport places the baby on a flat surface and employs only one straight hemostat to expose the glans penis and place the Mogen clamp safely. Once the device is securely across the prepuce, Rabbi Rappaport will verify one more time that the glans of the penis is under the clamp and not exposed. Finally, Rabbi Rappaport will excise the upper portion of the skin fold with a surgical scalpel. The procedure being over, Rabbi will apply Bacitracin on gauze to the circumcised area and let nature run its recovery course.

Why Does Rabbi Rappaport Prefer the Mogen Clamp over the Gomco Clamp and Plastibell?

The Mogen clamp defines Rabbi Rappaport’s approach to a perfect circumcision procedure. As mentioned earlier, Rabbi has the honor to train under Rabbi Moshe Weisberg and his father, Rabbi Moshe Rappaport, and learn the ins and outs of the Mogen clamp. Under their leadership and guidance, Rabbi Rappaport saw the Mogen clamp tested thousands of times with fantastic results. For him, there’s no alternative to the only device that can support a perfect circumcision experience!

Rabbi Rappaport explains the Mogen clamp’s advantages to the Gomco clamp and Plastibell:

1. Procedure time: The Mogen clamp requires no more than 30 seconds to bring the circumcision procedure to an end. Compared to the Gomco clamp (at least five minutes) and Plastibell (8-10 minutes), the Mogen clamp is the quickest circumcision tool available.
2. A minimum number of instruments: Rabbi Rappaport needs only one hemostat, the Mogen clamp, and a surgical scalpel to perform the circumcision procedure. The other methods usually require at least three hemostats and have multiple additional steps.
3. No redundant tissue: The Mogen clamp leaves no redundant foreskin or leftover mucus membrane on the procedure site as it’s much easier to confirm the right amount of foreskin and mucus membrane is removed. The Gomco and Plastibell methods are much harder to set the proper angle, and instead of all the foreskin lying beneath the glans, as it should in a perfect scenario, either there’s a lot of redundant skin around the entire circumference, or there’s too much removed on the bottom side or too little on the upper side. Plastibell also leaves a part of the device on after the procedure, leaving the parents anxious and responsible for it in their home a couple of days later without any professional to support them if there’s an issue.
4. No headaches for the parents: The Mogen clamp allows Rabbi Rappaport to perform the circumcision procedure in peace, without any requests for the parents, who can rest assured that their newborn son’s Bris Milah is going to be a perfect experience.

All of these reasons make it easier for us to understand why Rabbi Rappaport employs the Mogen clamp in all of his circumcision ceremonies!

Choose Rabbi Rappaport for a Perfect Circumcision Experience!

Rabbi Rappaport is more than ready to put his expert mohel training at your newborn son’s service! Unparalleled training and mastery of the circumcision field recommend him as the optimal mohel choice for Bris Milah ceremonies in the MD/DC/VA area. Thousands of successful circumcisions and grateful families helped build Rabbi Rappaport’s expert mohel reputation! So don’t hesitate to contact Rabbi Rappaport and allow him to help your newborn baby enjoy his first covenant with a perfect experience! We also invite you to read or write a review of your experience with Rabbi Rappaport!

 “We have nothing but the highest praise for Rabbi Rappaport. He made a potentially stressful event both meaningful and inspiring. The Rabbi was very flexible and allowed us to incorporate our own words into the ceremony so that it would feel more personalized. His follow-through was above and beyond the call of duty—he visited our son both before and after the ceremony. Perhaps most importantly, Rabbi Rappaport is very skilled, and we are very pleased with his work.” – Jennifer, Josh, and Ari Kefer.

Let Rabbi Rappaport do the job if you plan to organize a ritual circumcision for yourself or your child. Contact him anytime on his cell at: 443-790-6541. You can also send him an email at rabbi@mdmohel.com or visit his website. He will be happy to support you in making sure you have a perfect experience!