FURTHER ON CIRCUMCISION...

My recent post, ‘The Unkindest Cut? Maybe Not’ was picked up and published by Galus Australia, lightly edited in a way that probably removed most of the humor, and WOW didn’t the intactivists come out in force.

So after I have been accused of being ‘intellectually slack’, immoral, homophobic, pro-'genital butchery', and a child abuser as well as an incompetent doctor who knows nothing about being a male infant, I thought I would revisit the topic. Because I can’t wait to see what else they will accuse me of.

There are 2 branches to this anti-circumcision argument:

1-   It shouldn’t be done to children who are unable to consent to any procedure, and thus, circumcising a minor is a criminal offense. This is what I was writing about, and the German court was actually NOT outlawing circumcision, rather it was outlawing non-medical circumcision on a minor. In this  way, the German court that decided this cannot be accused of being anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim. ‘We don’t mind if you want to circumcise for religious reasons, just not until he is 18. (So you may observe your religion, as we see fit).’

2-   Circumcision should never be done for any reason that is not medical.

So for those charmers who demand to know my medical opinion on non-medically necessary circumcision? I’m against it. Yes, I agree that infants, young children or anyone in fact, should not have a circumcision unless there is a medical problem such as phimosis, or unless they live in Sub-Saharan Africa, where male circumcision has been shown in several controlled studies to lower the rate of HIV transmission significantly.

However, I am in favor of Brit Milah.

I am a Jew and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. I am a Jew because my mother was a Jew, and her mother was a Jew, and her mother was a Jew, and her mother was a Jew. Beyond that, I confess, I’m guessing, because the records were all destroyed in the pogroms. I’m not a Jew because I woke up one morning and thought that it would be cool to be a Jew. I didn’t look at the history of the Jews in the 20^th century, or the 19^th, or 18^th, or anytime in the last 2000 years and say, ‘Way-hey, I want me a piece of that!’ I didn’t ever think, 'Wow, cholent! That makes it all worthwhile'. It took me a long time and a lot of learning and living to love and appreciate the Jewish things, like Shabbat, Kashrut, Mikvah. (Well, as far as Mikvah is concerned, don’t get me wrong, it’s a real spiritual powerhouse, but let’s just say that there’s one or two things I love about menopause, and leave it at that.)

I have three beautiful sons (my daughters are beautiful too, for any who are reading this) and well do I remember the clutching of my heart and the lump in my throat and the strong desire to snatch my newborn away from the Kvatter and run. My precious, pink, soft and infinitely vulnerable little bundle with 10 tiny fingers and 10 tiny toes and a tiny little penis with a teeny-tiny little foreskin. And a Jewish mother; me. And 3,000 years of history. And an Eternal Covenant between G-d and the Jews. And the decision was made. The choice was made thousands of years ago, when HaShem chose the Jews to perfect the world and create a ‘Dirat beTachtonim’, a dwelling place for G-d on Earth.

I don’t know the mind of G-d. I don’t understand the Holocaust, or the Spanish Inquisition and Expulsion, or all the atrocities perpetrated on Jews for being Jews. All I know, as a human, as a mother, as a doctor, is that there are things which go beyond the rational, beyond the intellect. So much in Judaism doesn’t make sense, even though after the fact it might. I don’t keep kosher because it’s a healthy way to eat; I don’t avoid shellfish because they might be contaminated with E coli; likewise, I don’t keep Shabbat because studies have shown that it’s a good way for families to connect. I didn’t keep the laws of Taharat HaMishpacha because of a lesser risk of cervical cancer or because the separation made for fun reunions. These things may or may not be true, but they all depend on an intellectual appreciation of these practices.

No. I observe them because I am a Jew and they are an intrinsic part of G-d’s commandments. I may not be a perfect Jew and my observances may not be perfect at all times, but I am a Jew, and there are great responsibilities that come with it. One of those is to ensure that my sons have Brit Milah, preferably on the 8^th day of life, whether I agree with it or not as a doctor or a mother. And if that makes me an ignorant, superstitious savage, well, that’s some peoples’ interpretation. I will never be able to convince them otherwise, because the thing about Faith is that you need faith to have it. If you don’t believe, then you don’t believe, and there is nothing that I can say or do to make a non-believer have faith in G-d and His goodness. It cannot be argued logically, not by the likes of me, anyway. Maybe if Lord Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and, I don’t know, Moshe Rabbenu all got together in a room with all the intactivists, maybe that would convince them of the importance of Brit Milah, but I don’t think so.

So, for all those anti-circumcision crusaders, feel free to worship your foreskins and the physical perfection of yourselves and your sons. But leave Brit Milah alone, because it is about a lot more than a piece of skin.