The 15,000th brit milah (“circumcision”) performed under the auspices of the F.R.E.E. (Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe) Brit Milah Circumcision Center, founded in 1972 by Rabbi Rabbi Mayer Okunov, right, was requested by Pavlo Mischenko (seated), an immigrant from Ukraine now residing in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
An Émigré Jewish Community Celebrates Its 15,000th Circumcision
Many have never heard of it, but amid the hustle and bustle of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, N.Y., a neighborhood heavily populated by émigrés from the former Soviet Union, 15,000 lives have been changed and countless future generations affected.
