# What Do Mohels Do With the Foreskins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992 "2004-09-03T18:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/41 "2025-08-26T02:34:10Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Lets just say you should stay away from the onion rings at bar mitzvahs. I thought that was calimari But seriously, what is the significance of burying it if only ceremonial? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/42 "2025-08-26T11:17:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > In one famous case, one was supposedly kept as a souvenir and even paraded around for a couple of millenia, until it was stolen by thieves in 1983. > > [The Holy Foreskin](http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Holy_Prepuce) I realize that this is a more than twenty year old zombie thread (zombie foreskin?), but I guess I missed it the first time around. I just wanted to add Alan Sherman’s comment on the story of the Holy Foreskin, as related in his book _The Rape of the A.P.E._ As he told it, the one to search for the foreskin was a nun who made it her life’s work. By that time the foreskin was centuries old . Said Sherman: “The author is 48 years old, and he would even know where to _begin_ to look for his foreskin.” ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/43 "2025-08-26T12:02:41Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I hope no one take offense at these questions. I’d hate to see someone making a mountain out of a Mohel. AH!!! Thou hast a clever tongue, knave. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/44 "2025-08-27T21:22:39Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > But seriously, what is the significance of burying it if only ceremonial? I’m not sure I understand the question. The significance is ceremonial. It’s a religious rite. Everything about it is ceremonial. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/45 "2025-08-27T23:49:39Z")
Foreskin tissue can be used to rectify or supply skin for grafting for some birth defects and damage, without the risk of incompatibility or rejection. Not sure if this seen as a respectful or acceptable use in a religious context. Examples cited in the literature include where digits are partially fused and need separation at birth, and eyelids where these have been damaged by burns. In the latter case the patient may be teased as cock-eyed, but imagine the foresight he’ll have [thank you Rodney Rude, your best joke ever]. ---
**Author:** ![yarmarkus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yarmarkus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yarmarkus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/46 "2025-08-28T02:42:39Z")
Legend has it that the surgeon in that case got the sack! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/47 "2025-08-28T18:30:22Z")
That’s nuts! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992/48 "2025-08-29T01:17:06Z")
Just for the record, by the way, since many jokes and anecdotes seem not to get this, foreskins are not erectile. They can stretch a bit when what’s inside them expands, but then, that’s true of cheeks, too. Or really, any skin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-mohels-do-with-the-foreskins/262992.md?page=2)