1. It appears that a man that was not circumsized due to family danger (past problems) cannot be a mohel due to "circumsized, he shall be circumsized." Is this correct?
2. If a Jew lives or lived in a remote place where no Mohel would come in his lifetime, does a nonJew do the Bris or is he without one all his life?
Barry Epstein, Dallas, USA
1) No. Only someone who does not have a Bris because he does not want to have a Bris cannot do a Milah (see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 264:1 and Shach ibid.).
2) All Poskim agree that a Nochri should not do a Bris Milah. However, the Shulchan Aruch (ibid.) Paskens that if a Nochri did do the Milah, one would not have to have Hatafas Dam Bris. The Remah (ibid.) argues. Although this is a complicated question, I would think that it would be appropriate in this theoretical case for the Jew to have a Nochri do the Bris (my reasons are somewhat lengthy for this forum). This assumes that the Jew cannot travel at all to a place where there are Jews who can perform the Bris Milah (read: he is obligated to spend a lot of money to do so).
Take Care,
Yaakov Montrose