{"id":865,"date":"2013-11-28T23:26:21","date_gmt":"2013-11-28T23:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/?p=865"},"modified":"2013-11-28T23:28:49","modified_gmt":"2013-11-28T23:28:49","slug":"865","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/news\/865\/","title":{"rendered":"It cuts both ways: A Jew argues for child rights over religious circumcision"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/jewish-world\/the-jewish-thinker\/.premium-1.560244<\/p>\n

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It cuts both ways: A Jew argues for child rights over religious circumcision<\/h1>\n

Censuring circumcision in Europe is about child protection, not anti-Semitism.<\/h2>\n
By\u00a0Dr. Rebecca Steinfeld \/ Jewish World blogger<\/a> |\u00a0Nov. 26, 2013 | 12:45 PM\u00a0|\u00a0\"\"\u00a048<\/div>\n
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Circumcision without consent violates a person\u2019s right to bodily integrity, a cornerstone of post-Holocaust human rights law. \u00a0 \u00a0Photo by Dreamstime<\/div>\n

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Two years ago, in response to an\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0I wrote questioning circumcision, the British historian Geoffrey Alderman dedicated his\u00a0column<\/a>\u00a0to my character assassination, describing me as \u201ca leading anti-Jewish Jew of the younger generation.\u201d Though I appreciated the attention, I was disappointed \u2013 why not \u201cthe\u201d leading anti-Jewish Jew? It would have brought my parents such\u00a0nachas<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Still, I was luckier than the Council of Europe: After it passed a\u00a0motion<\/a>\u00a0declaring the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons \u201ca violation of the physical integrity of children,\u201d Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry accused it of fostering \u201chate and racist trends in Europe.\u201d With accusations flying, the Council\u2019s special rapporteur, Marlene Rupprecht,\u00a0countered<\/a>\u00a0that the \u201cvote does not intend to stigmatize any religious community or its practices,\u201d but to reach \u201ca wide consensus on the rights of children.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, who\u2019s right? Those who say censuring circumcision is a manifestation of anti-Semitism, or those who say it\u2019s a necessary step in child protection?<\/p>\n

I think the latter are right, but I also understand why some think it\u2019s anti-Semitic: Circumcision is a profoundly meaningful Jewish practice imbued with great cultural value. Consequently, attempts to limit it have sometimes been part of broader efforts to suppress Jewish practice. Antiochus Epiphanes, the draconian ruler of Judea in the second century B.C.E., imposed severe penalties on circumcision as part of his attack on Judaism. The Spanish Inquisition and Nazism were both accompanied by restrictions on circumcision. In 2011, an attempt to ban infant circumcision in\u00a0San Francisco<\/a>coincided with the publication of a cartoon calledForeskin Man<\/a>, replete with anti-Semitic imagery.<\/p>\n

Understandably, this has left its imprint on Jews\u2019 collective memory. It makes sense that the journalist Tanya Gold\u00a0asked<\/a>\u00a0whether the recent motion is \u201can attempt to achieve with paper what other methods could not \u2013 the removal of Jews from Europe?\u201d<\/p>\n

These are grave concerns. But do they stand up to scrutiny? It seems ethnocentric given that two thirds ofthe world\u2019s circumcised males<\/a>\u00a0are actually Muslims and only 0.8 percent are Jewish. If anything, in Europe, hostility toward Muslims is a more likely motivator, as the anti-circumcision\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0recently introduced by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party could suggest.<\/p>\n

Rather than prejudice against religion, I think it makes more sense to interpret criticism of circumcision as theconsistent application<\/a>\u00a0of human rights to both boys and girls. This is clear in the special rapporteur\u2019sExplanatory Memorandum<\/a>. Concern about the genital cutting of children is best understood within thecontext<\/a>\u00a0of Europe\u2019s, especially Germany\u2019s, focus on human rights and medical ethics following the atrocities of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Hard though it may be to hear, irreversibly removing a healthy body part \u2013 in this case, part of a boy\u2019s genitals \u2013 without consent, violates a person\u2019s\u00a0right to bodily integrity<\/a>, a cornerstone of post-Holocaust human rights law. It also undermines that child\u2019s\u00a0right to an open future<\/a>, since a boy who has been circumcised must live forever with his parents\u2019 choice.<\/p>\n

Supporters of circumcision counter that parents\u2019 rights to religious freedom, and the significant cultural value they ascribe to the practice, must take priority. They argue that even if the\u00a0intention\u00a0<\/em>behind those censuring circumcision in Europe is not to harm Jews, harm to Jewish life and traditions will be the\u00a0outcome<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that censuring circumcision could curtail the expression of an until-now definitional Jewish practice. But the right to\u00a0manifest\u00a0<\/em>one\u2019s religion is not absolute \u2013 it is limited by the harm caused to others. In 2011, 11 boys under the age of one were\u00a0treated<\/a>\u00a0for life-threatening hemorrhage, shock or sepsis relating to circumcision in Birmingham Children\u2019s Hospital in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it\u2019sestimated<\/a>\u00a0that 100 boys die as a result of circumcisions every year. Can religion per se justify this?<\/p>\n

Supporters of circumcision also say it\u2019s an ancient, meaningful practice. But\u00a0neither longevity nor meaning<\/a>\u00a0is usually accepted as sufficient moral justification to override individual rights. As one Orthodox Jewish father, Elie Jesner,\u00a0puts it<\/a>, \u201cMankind has been doing horrendous things for thousands of years: slavery, capital punishment, condemning homosexuals, oppressing women. That is not a club of actions I want to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a Jewish perspective, there are other issues. First, circumcision does not confer Jewish status. As Shaye Cohen, professor of Hebrew literature and philosophy at Harvard University,\u00a0explains<\/a>, \u201cMale and female offspring of a Jewish mother are Jewish by birth under Jewish law; the male offspring are Jewish by birth even if they are left uncircumcised.\u201d Second, biblical circumcision was\u00a0not as extensive<\/a>\u00a0as today\u2019s variant, which is actually an innovation of rabbis in the Hellenic period trying to stop Jewish men from restoring their foreskins. Evidently, definitional Jewish practices can and have evolved.<\/p>\n

Given all of this, it\u2019s not surprising that some Jews are questioning the practice. A 2006 online survey reported in Haaretz\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that nearly a third of parents of boys would prefer to forgo circumcision, but have it done primarily for social reasons. Israel is now home to the intact support group\u00a0Kahal<\/a>, while in the United States,\u00a0Beyond the Bris<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jews Against Circumcision<\/a>\u00a0have sprung up.<\/p>\n

Jews who question circumcision from the point of view of human rights and medical ethics should be respected, not demonized. But all critics of circumcision must be vigilant about the company they keep, distancing themselves from anyone not exclusively motivated by child protection. There is no place for anti-Semitic arguments or imagery.<\/p>\n

Equally, well-intentioned Jews who continue to circumcise their sons should not be maligned. The significant religious and cultural value they ascribe to circumcision must be appreciated and understood. But reconsidering the practice in light of its human rights and ethical implications should be encouraged, as should non-surgical rituals, such asbrit shalom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I know this isn\u2019t easy \u2013 the weight of God, history and human rights hangs in the balance \u2013 but what we need in Jewish communities is debate, not denunciations.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe should stand firm. If it backs down and denies some children their rights because their parents adhere to the Jewish tradition, it would single out only those children for lack of protection. Now that really would be anti-Semitic.<\/p>\n

Dr Rebecca Steinfeld is a political scientist at SOAS, University of London. She tweets\u00a0@beccasteinfeld<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/jewish-world\/the-jewish-thinker\/.premium-1.560244   It cuts both ways: A Jew argues for child rights over religious circumcision Censuring circumcision in Europe is about child protection, not anti-Semitism. By\u00a0Dr. Rebecca Steinfeld \/ Jewish World blogger |\u00a0Nov. 26, 2013 | 12:45 PM\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a048 Circumcision without… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,10],"tags":[24,14],"class_list":["post-865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-jewish-intactivism","category-news","tag-human-rights","tag-jewish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions\/870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}