Circumcision knife

According to Jewish tradition, every newborn boy must be circumcised at the age of eight days by a mohel, or circumciser. This is a religious obligation and signifies the boy’s acceptance into God’s covenant with the Jews. Circumcisers in the Judengasse worked on a voluntary basis; they were sometimes given the surname Mohel, from which the names Mohler, Mehler and Müller were later derived.