Legalize Foreskin: I'm so confused as to why circumcision is still a debate?
Should you cut a piece of skin off a baby boys penis while he is strapped to a table.
That’s the question. We are arguing if torture is OK..
What is with this world.Thank you.
I also learned in…
Like what?
It serves as a symbol of personal religious commitment and initiation, as well as a differentiator between Jews and other cultures. It also accentuates the different general expectations created for men and women. I think there’s also an analogy between the glans and the heart — something about “circumcising the heart” symbolically.
The other night I was skimming through the Wikipedia article on Jews in Ukraine, as it’s relevant to my personal and family histories, and I stumbled upon the following passage.
From 1919-1920, Jewish parties and Zionist organizations are driven underground as the Communist government seeks to abolish all potential opposition.[35] The Yevsektsiya Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party is at the forefront of the anti-religious campaigns of the 1920s that lead to the closing of religious institutions, the break-up of religious communities and the further restriction of access to religious education.[24] To that end a series of “community trials” against the Jewish religion are held. The last known such trial, on the subject of circumcision, was held in 1928 in Kharkiv.[25]
The bolded section is sourced to a book, so I couldn’t find out more about this trial online. What this highlights however, from my point of view, is the potential apparent similarity between between good and bad intentioned actions.
The group later changed its name to Whole Child. In 2000, Tamir helped found another group, the Forum for Parents of Intact Children. It was a kind of support network for parents who were still a little nervous about their decision to forgo the custom. “We thought that one day, when the babies will be grown-ups or teenagers, they will experience social problems, or maybe health problems, that are related to the foreskin,” she says. But no one ever had any problems, Tamir says. She used to keep a list of parents whose kids were uncircumcised, but five years ago the numbers were getting so large she stopped counting. There are no official statistics, but Tamir estimates about 20,000 boys in Israel — still a small number — are uncircumcised.
Mollins: lovelogicrainbows: Fun fact: Most of my family is Jewish. I’m still...
Fun fact: Most of my family is Jewish. I’m still against circumcision, not because I have anything against Jewish people, but because I believe a baby boy’s right to his own body trumps his parents’ religion. It has nothing to do with being against them personally. I’m…
My brother, who is almost 10 years younger than me, was circumcised in the traditional way when he was a newborn. I vividly remember seeing my mother handing him over to be taken into the men’s section of the synagogue for the operation. She went pale, clutched her stomach and said that she felt sick. There followed a period of waiting as she listened for his scream to indicate that the deed had been done.
Many of the progressive Jewish reformers of the 19th century rejected the practice of circumcision as barbaric. Even the legendary Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism and one of modern Jewry’s most iconic figures, refused to circumcise his son for this reason.
"THANKS DAD..." A PERSONAL REFLECTION ON GERMANY'S NEW CIRCUMCISION BAN
If you weren’t pressured into it, would you have your son circumcised? If you could really decide freely? My father in any case decided against it, and for that I am very thankful. Not because of the foreskin — I haven’t got a clue what it would be like to be without one — but because of the example of courage he gave me. Needless to say, his decision to turn down the Israeli job offer was not greeted warmly there, and he himself had very mixed feelings about returning to Germany. But he was not about to bow to group pressure — especially not at his kids’ expense.
Many who were circumcised
And versed in Jewish lore.
Perhaps the Germans have forgotten
For they are there no more.
—Rabbi David Wolpe
This is the final stanza from the L.A.-based rabbi’s poem in the Washington Post in which he responds to Germany’s decision to ban circumcisions. Stinging words. (via beingblog)
So, I haven’t yet written anything about Germany’s “circumcision ban” and it’s about fucking time.
1. I started getting emails to sign petitions against the ban when it came out. Honestly, I just stared at the screen thinking, “not only will I not sign a petition, I’m pretty sure I’d sign a petition to support the ban!” My, how things have changed.
2. The reason I’d support it is because it makes sense. Jewish parents are performing an unnecessary surgery on a baby. WTF?! Not only that, they’re cutting off part of the guy’s dick! WTF?! And it’s not a use-less part, it’s a very sensitive and enjoyable part, which I think is part of the reason it’s cut off! WTF?!
Doctors have an oath to “do no harm” and medical ethics - fuck, just Ethics in general - would argue that unnecessary surgeries performed on unwitting individuals is wrong.
3. The title of this article sums up this point quite well: German Circumcision Verdict To Delay Until Boy Can Give Consent, Jurist Says
4. Talking to a friend yesterday, he said he was surprised the Germans would do anything “anti-jewish” considering their… er.. history. I agree, but I also see how this reaction makes perfect sense: since the holocaust, germany has become quite liberal and quite concerned with human rights. So it’s not too surprising that they’d find ritual genital mutilation without consent to be a problem. In other words, unlike the stanza in Rabbi Wolpe’s poem, I don’t think they’ve forgotten the holocaust; to the contrary, I think they remember quite well and have therefore been thinking about ethics a lot more than most.
See my other post on circumcision here.
(via jewishatheist)
When I first saw the reblog note with your tumblr url I assumed that your commentary on the ruling would have been critical, so I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t a complete surprise, however, given that some of the more vocal and successful critics of circumcision have been Jewish. (I can count myself among them, although my Jewish identity is very secular so adopting an anti-circumcision perspective didn’t require much internal or interpersonal conflict.)
Given the considerable controversy any new anti-circumcision policy is likely to draw, it’s obvious that the historical context would magnify the controversy enormously. As such, a part of me wishes that this had happened in a different country, but at the same time I can agree with your perspective that the tragic loss of freedom suffered during the Nazi regime should serve as a reminder to protect freedom more stringently, even in such ambiguous and hotly contested cases.
Prominent Jewish advocates against child circumcision
During the past few days I was asked about the existence of Jewish ‘intactivists’, of which there are actually quite a few, and I decided to put together a post that lists some of the most prominent. As someone who identifies as Jewish, I find this question particularly curious as well, although I’ll admit that Judaism has never played a significant role in my personal or family life. Let’s get started.
- Edward Wallerstein - author of Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy, and regarded as one of the first American critics of circumcision.
- Ron Goldman, Ph.D. - psychologist and author of Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma and Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective, as well as the founder of jewsagainstcircumcision.org.
- Dean Edell, MD - retired physician and prominent radio talk show host who frequently brought up the issue on his the air.
- Howard Stern - has discussed the subject numerous times on his radio show
- Eli Ungar-Sargon - Orthodox-Jewish filmmaker and creator of Cut: The Film and frequent advocate against circumcision. Last year he debated prominent American rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and I also met him at his film tour.
- Rebecca Wald - creator of Beyond The Bris, a website that interviews Jewish people who oppose circumcision, and one of my favorite intactivist websites.
- Lisa Braver-Moss - author of The Measure of His Grief, and of a recent OpEd in the HuffPo.
- Kevin Kopelman - NYC resident known as Barefoot Intactivist who runs in intactivist t-shirts to raise awareness.
- Rebecca Steinfeld - Co-author of this article in The Guardian, which promptly resulted in her being expelled from a seat at a local Jewish council.
- Mark D. Reiss M.D. - retired physician and proponent of the alternative (and controversial) Jewish naming ceremony Brit Shalom which replaces the cut with a symbolic pin-prick.
- Brian Levitt - prominently testified in California legislature to keep last year’s proposed circumcision age restriction on the ballot in San Francisco.
- Jonathan Friedman - Founder of IntactNews.org.
- Miriam Pollack - well-known in the intactivist community, and author of ”Circumcision: Identity, Gender, and Power”
- Shea Levy - author of this open-letter to the mohel that performed his circumcision.
I’m sure that I’m leaving some prominent people of this list, but here are a few links to similar compilations, for those who wish to dig deeper.
There is no question that, but for the “freedom of religion” claim, holding down a baby boy and cutting off part of his penis constitutes a forcible physical and sexual assault, with visible and permanent consequences. Defending this practice by relying on a literal interpretation of a religious text ignores the fact that democratic law—while tolerating diverse beliefs—must protect those who cannot protect themselves. To label, or even suggest, that those who would protect babies from harm are anti-Semitic (or anti-Muslim) is a tactic of pure intimidation.
Georganne Chapin, Intact America Blog
Metzitzah B'peh Circumcision Ritual Inconsistent With Jewish Principles
Jewish author Lisa Brave Moss writes about a controversial Jewish circumcision practice: Metzitzah B’peh, in which a baby boy is circumcised and the mohel uses oral suction on the open wound. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published a report of the numerous baby boys who became infected with herpes from the mohel, and some of the babies died from complications.
In my view Metzitzah B’peh should be criticized as an extension of a practice that’s harmful and abusive overall, rather than a separate entity (that is discouraged, while the cutting away of the prepuce remains acceptable). Thankfully, Lisa Braver-Moss does this in her editorial.
(Source: restoringtally.com)
I am so impressed and delighted to find your work, and your articulate arguments against Jewish circumcision. Thank G-d, actually. I am a recent graduate of Harvard’s Divinity school where I earned a Master’s in Theological Studies. My focus was on Women, Religion, Gender and Sexuality. One of the main reasons that I decided to attend HDS was to study Jewish Circumcision with the intention of fighting against it as a Jewish mother. I am beyond thrilled to see that a talented Jewish man is willing to stand up for his beliefs, and fight to keep little boys intact.
Can’t say that I am not surprised to see such a comment, even on Eli’s blog.
So far, Jewish feminism vis-à-vis circumcision has concerned itself with two things: providing naming ceremonies that welcome baby girls into the covenant, and allowing women to serve as mohels. Neither addresses the most obvious feminist issue from my perspective: the mother’s experience of the ritual. A mother who is huddled sobbing in the next room at her son’s bris, or gulping down wine or sedatives to get her through, is not having a spiritual experience. She is being subjected to a trauma. I’m not suggesting that every Jewish mom feels traumatized when her baby is circumcised, but many do. It’s 2011 and women are being patted on the head and told to calm down—i.e., that their
Author Lisa Braver-Moss in her interview at Beyond the Bris. Curious if if people have thoughts.
At the same time, people come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I don’t think we should judge people based on the way they look on the outside and I don’t think we should live our lives in fear of others judging us this way. If I were to circumcise my child based on my own fear of prejudice, what would that say about me? What would it say about my values, my tolerance, my biases—my gumption? What message would I be sending to my son if I allowed what I felt to be the wrongheaded opinions and actions of others to guide my important life decisions?
Rebecca Wald, Beyond The Bris
After officiating at [traditional bris] ceremonies for over three decades, I’ve concluded that it’s just too painful and traumatic for me to inflict on a neonate. If I doubt it’s something I’d subject myself to as an adult, I’m certainly not keen on inflicting it on a baby.
Rabbi Jay Heyman
(Source: wwrn.org)
Reading the news in the United States, you’d be forgiven for believing that the jury is still out on the medical benefits of circumcision. The truth of the matter is that there never should have been a jury to begin with. When considering the practice of female genital cutting, we don’t start from a neutral position of “I wonder whether there are any health benefits to permanently altering the genitals of baby girls? Let’s set up some studies and see what kinds of diseases cutting off clitorises can prevent!” We don’t do this, because we understand the very basic concept that cutting away healthy, functional tissue in the hopes of preventing potential disease is just bad medicine.
Eli Ungar-Sargon from his debate with Rabbi Boteach
(Source: beyondthebris.com)
