author
Jacob Snowman
b. 1871
A London doctor and prominent mohel, he wrote a practical early-20th-century guide to ritual circumcision that reflected both medical training and Jewish communal life. He is also remembered for serving notable British families, including the future King Charles III.
1 Audiobook
The Surgery of Ritual Circumcision
by Jacob Snowman
About the author
Born on 24 November 1871 and later active in London, Jacob Snowman was a British doctor as well as a mohel, a specialist who performs ritual circumcision in Jewish tradition. His name is closely associated with the medical and religious worlds meeting in everyday practice, and he became well known in British Jewish life for that role.
Snowman is the author of The Surgery of Ritual Circumcision (1904), a book that sets out the procedure in a practical, clinical way. He also worked on medical writing and translation, showing how comfortably he moved between hands-on practice and publishing.
He died on 28 February 1959. Today, he is often remembered both for his book and for reports that he circumcised the infant who later became King Charles III, a detail that has kept his unusual career in public memory.