The Mohel of The Moment

New York Times, 12/96

He has done his thing at the Four Seasons Hotel, private tennis courts and Wilshire Boulevard penthouses and even appeared on the old "Joan Rivers Show." His clients have included top Hollywood agents, directors, producers, Jake (Body by Jake) Steinfeld and Michelle Pfeiffer, a non-Jew who wanted "a nice little secular" circumcision for her son.

He is Dr. Fred R. Kogen (pictured below), and he is the most popular non-rabbinic mohel (pronounced moyle) in Los Angeles - meaning, for the untutored, that he is an M.D. who performs the bris, the natural circumcision of 8-day-old Jewish boys. Kogen, 37, works all of California but concentrates on Los Angeles, where there's a high demand for an attractive, surgically competent mohel. "I'm the alternative," he says, "to the guy who shows up dressed like a Hasid and should not be holding a scalpel." Kogen,who in his 12-year career has also performed brises for Hell's Angels in the Mojave Desert, says the celebrity event is a particular challenge. "At any bris, there's anxiety," he says.

"People are holding their breath, watching you. But in L.A., Brandon Tartikoff is watching you, or whoever. I did the bris for the producers Wendy Finerman and Mark Canton, and, after, I'm outside and this guy comes over and says: 'A lot of that sounded pretty real. It was authentic.' And I realize, this guy is critiquing my performance. On, basically, a circumcision."

    For his part, Kogen respects, understands and, as it were, caters to his clientele. He wears a "not quite Armani" Italian suit, has call waiting on his cell phone and drives a Lexus. ("If the car's too junky, they think, How serious can he be?") He also takes the work very seriously and encourages his clients to do the same. "For everyone, movie stars included, it's a question of, How can I make this meaningful? So they try to make everyone feel involved - the relatives, people serving, the guy making the video, the industry connections."

And, of course, the mohel. "I always get an excellent parking space," he says with satisfaction.

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