One of the basic requirements for one to convert to Judaism is to undergo a bris milah. What happens if the potential convert has hyper-coagulation or hemophilia and is unable to perform bris milah? If we rule like the Shevet HaLevi that a laser beam may be used to perform bris mila then we have a solution, but if we don’t, what is the din, is it still possible for him to convert?
In the early 20th century, R’ Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg sent this question to a number of leading rabbonim in Eastern Europe and Eretz Yisroel. R’ Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook (Da'as Kohen, Yoreh Deah 150), Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisroel, as well as R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, a leading posek in Vilna, responded. They both ruled that a non-Jew who cannot perform bris milah may not be converted. In his own Teshuvah (Seridei Esh 2:67–68), R’ Weinberg agrees, and this is also how R’ Tzvi Pesach Frank (Har Tzvi 2:220) and the Tzitz Eliezer (14:92) take on.
R’ Zalman Sorotzkin in his Oznayim L’Torah (Parshas Yisro), relates that R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzinski showed him the ruling of someone who permitted such a person to convert through tevilah alone, and he rejected that ruling. Interestingly, R’ Eliezer Waldenberg (Tzitz Eliezer 15:1:12) cites R’ Mordechai Dov Eidelberg, who related that he originally suggested that a non-Jew who cannot have a bris milah performed may be converted through tevilah alone, but after consulting with R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, he concluded that such a conversion cannot be performed. Apparently, it was this source that R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzinski had shown to R’ Sorotzkin.
There are, however, a number of poskim which disagree and maintain that in such a case, it’s possible to convert without a milah. Should such a shailah be practical, please consult your guiding halachic authority.
