Posted on 12/29/2013 12:50:16 PM PST by Steelfish
A Small But Growing Number of Jews Are Questioning The Ancient Ritual of Circumcision
By Michelle Boorstein December 28 When his pregnant wife first challenged circumcising their son, Mike Wallach had a gut reaction: “That’s what we do: We’re Jews!” But doubts about whether the surgery was medically necessary and concern over his wife’s opposition forced Wallach to confront some questions.
Can you be Jewish without Judaism’s oldest ritual? he says he asked himself. What does it mean to be Jewish?
Adults attending conversion classes at Sixth and I synagogue learn about the traditions behind the ancient Jewish practice of circumcision. Adults attending conversion classes at Sixth and I synagogue learn about the traditions behind the ancient Jewish practice of circumcision.
Speaking with God, the 37-year-old screenwriter and grandson of Holocaust survivors explained he was using the “free will and brain you gave me” to reject circumcision. God, he concluded, wouldn’t be impressed by the desire to do something simply “for tradition’s sake.”
“I wasn’t at peace until I had that conversation,” said Wallach, who grew up in Northwest Washington and now lives in Brooklyn.
Wallach is among a small but growing number of Jews who are slowly altering what has for millennia been considered perhaps Judaism’s core rite. The Bible says an adult Abraham circumcised himself to mark the covenant between him, his descendants and God. Any male who doesn’t circumcise, God says in Genesis, “that soul will be cut off from its people; he has broken My covenant.”
Many of these Jews, according to rabbis and the ritual circumcisers known as mohels, are rejecting the classic festive circumcision ceremony, called a brit milah, or bris. For thousands of years, Jews have performed the ritual removal of the penile foreskin on the eighth day of a boy’s life...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I don’t have a link handy but I am pretty sure that medical studies show circumcision results in fewer health problems.
Significantly fewer health problems.
More like the Washington comPost wants Jews to abandon circumcision. Looking forward to complementary stories in the Slimes, NPR, All Things Inconsiderate, ...
Better tell that to the increasing number of “Jews” in Africa who are getting circumcised to lessen the chance of AIDS transmission. Hmm.
God instituted circumcision specifically "for tradition's sake" - it was to be a sign of Abraham's covenant with God. Someone needs to actually read his Torah.
Most of those reasons are pretty weak.
Yes, apart from religious reasons, circumcision is definitely healthy. And if practiced on an infant, it’s a pretty minor operation.
I know, you occasionally read a terrible story, but there are probably more deaths every year from electrical sockets, or flies in your soup.
The left is pushing to stop this and many other religious traditions.
Circumcision is brutal.
I was circumcised, and couldn’t walk for a year!
(I’ll be here all week - try the veal)
I am not a Jew and I don’t know the rules, but IMO circumcision should be done by a Doctor.
I know as we get older we have a bit of shrinkage of the wedding tackle, and circumcision makes things a little easier to keep from peeing on the walls and floor.
They should take it up with God and Abraham.
>>”God, he concluded, wouldn’t be impressed by the desire to do something simply “for tradition’s sake.”<<
I heard a Rabbi on the radio one time give a great argument. he said “everyone asks me why we keep Kosher when clearly the rules were health rules and are not needed today? My answer is: Because My God told me to.”
So the answer is yes, God wants you to do it because He commanded it.
Yet liposuction and Botox (and breast implants, etc.) will remain popular for the privileged set. Circumcision will be demonized as it is a religious practice. What’s next, praying to God (see Darius the Mede)?
Let’s all design our own religions. (Sort of like pelosi and Reid and lots of others these days). I vote for chocolate cake for the Eucharist.
Many Jews don’t take Genesis “literally,” and this applies to many Christians as well.
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