{"id":934,"date":"2014-07-11T20:19:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T20:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/?p=934"},"modified":"2014-07-11T20:19:40","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T20:19:40","slug":"to-cut-or-not-to-cut-finding-alternatives-to-circumcision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/news\/to-cut-or-not-to-cut-finding-alternatives-to-circumcision\/","title":{"rendered":"To Cut or Not To Cut: Finding Alternatives to Circumcision"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New rituals create ways to symbolically acknowledge Jews\u2019 covenant with God without actually circumcising infants<\/h3>\n
By\u00a0Marjorie Ingall<\/a>|<\/span>July 9, 2014 12:00 AM|<\/span>Shar<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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(Erik Mace<\/a>)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When my nephew Eli was born, there was no way on earth he was going to be circumcised. His father is not only not Jewish, but British, from a culture where circumcision is rare. And his mother\u2014my sister-in-law Ellen, a Jew who grew up Reform in the Milwaukee suburbs\u2014wasn\u2019t thrilled about the notion of\u00a0brit milah<\/a><\/em>anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was never important to me,\u201d she told me. \u201cTo me, circumcision is paranormal hoo-ha. I don\u2019t believe in God, so why would I chop off part of my child for something I don\u2019t even believe? It\u2019s like sacrificing a goat or something. I\u2019m not going to kill a goat.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the only part of Judaism she has negative feelings about. (\u201cHigh Holiday services felt hypocritical, like a fashion show where no one was paying attention,\u201d she told me. \u201cI didn\u2019t go to the sleepaway camp all the other Jewish kids went to; they all had this bonding thing and I felt excluded from it.\u201d) I\u2019ve often told Ellen how regretful I am that Jewishness to her symbolizes patriarchy and repression. I wish she\u2019d had the exposure to feminist Judaism, to questioning and intellectual debate and full-throated communal\u00a0birkat-hamazon<\/em>-singing that I grew up with.<\/p>\n

But compounding Ellen\u2019s ambivalence is the fact that in her early 20s she married an inflexible Jewish man who wanted a kosher home but wanted to do none of the work, who flatly refused to have an egalitarian\u00a0ketubah<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(one that promised a\u00a0get<\/em><\/a>, a Jewish bill of divorce) and made unilateral decisions regarding money and possessions. After Ellen married again and Eli was born, I didn\u2019t even try to sell her on\u00a0brit milah<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But my mother-in-law was in a tizzy. Unable to convince Ellen about Jewish ritual circumcision, she finally demanded, \u201cJust have it done in the hospital! It\u2019ll only take a second!\u201d Ellen\u2019s response was: \u201cWhat\u2019s the point? If it\u2019s not done on a religious basis and there\u2019s no medical reason to cut him, why would I do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact that this topic is so fraught and the emotions so outsized is ironic, given the size of the bit of flesh we\u2019re talking about. But Judaism has always been about debating mountains out of molehills.<\/p>\n

I feel fortunate that I have two girls, so I\u2019ve never had to ponder what I\u2019d do if confronted by a teeny-tiny intact Jewish schmeckel. But I had baby-naming ceremonies at home for both my daughters, with\u00a0rituals and prayers<\/a>\u00a0culled from the Reconstructionist site RitualWell. It was tremendously moving to introduce my babies to my family and friends\u2014in particular to announce that Maxine was named after my dad, who\u2019d died only two months before she was born. I\u2019m sad if by forgoing\u00a0brit milah<\/em>, families also forgo this opportunity to symbolically welcome their baby to the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

But some Jews have decided to skip the\u00a0brit milah<\/em>\u00a0and instead create new rituals that welcome their babies and symbolically acknowledge the covenant (or\u00a0brit<\/em>) between God and the Jews that dates back to the time of Abraham. These ceremonies go by different names:Brit shalom<\/em>\u00a0is the most common, but a site called\u00a0Circumstitions<\/a>\u00a0lists others, such as\u00a0brit chaiim<\/em>, \u201calternative\u00a0brit<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0brit ben<\/em>,\u00a0brit b\u2019li milah<\/em>. They all have one thing in common: None of them involve actual circumcision.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

A lot of Jews, like my mother-in-law, can\u2019t really articulate why\u00a0brit milah<\/em>\u00a0is important. Rabbi Joshua Ratner can. He wrote a\u00a0piece<\/a>\u00a0for the nonprofit My Jewish Learning called \u201cTo Snip or Not To Snip: Why I Say Yes to Circumcision,\u201d quoting Genesis 17 about God\u2019s commandment to Abraham and affirming the value of following the mitzvah. In an interview, he told me, \u201cBrit milah<\/em>\u00a0is tied into identity-making, the linking of one generation to another. It makes sure the idea of covenant is not only historical, not just something we read about, but something we act upon. It\u2019s an individual grounding of the covenant with God as well as a tangible, visceral way to connect us to our ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, Ratner did an interview with\u00a0Beyond the Bris<\/a>, a Jewish site for \u201cintactivists,\u201d people who advocate against circumcision. I asked him why he was willing to engage with those who fervently disagree with him. \u201cAs a Conservative rabbi, I want all Jews to feel they have a home within the Jewish community,\u201d he told me. \u201cIf someone goes to that site and has questions about the\u00a0halakhic<\/em>\u00a0position on something before they make a decision, I thought it was good for them to read my perspective, since it wasn\u2019t otherwise represented there. And I think we have to connect and be inclusive and work on outreach and make someone feel that regardless of the decisions you\u2019ve made on any subject, whether that\u2019s circumcision or intermarriage, there is always room in the Jewish community for you.\u201d (I commended Ratner for putting himself out there and suggested he not read the comments after his\u00a0interview<\/a>.) (I wonder if the \u201cnever read the comments\u201d\u00a0necklace<\/a>\u00a0my dear editor bought me is available as a tie tack.)<\/p>\n

To be clear, medical evidence in favor of circumcision is mixed. Three randomized controlledstudies<\/a>\u00a0in Africa found that circumcision was associated with a lowered risk of acquiring HIV, genital warts, and type-2 herpes in adults; American studies have suggested similar results. But intactivists said that those studies were flawed and\u00a0biased<\/a>\u00a0and that merely focusing on cleanliness and\u00a0condom use<\/a>\u00a0would have had the same effect. A core argument for a lot of intactivists, in any case, is that parents have no right to subject babies to a procedure they are too young to consent to.<\/p>\n

And look, even if the medical benefits were clear, that\u2019s not what\u2019s driving most observant Jews to follow religious law. Whenever someone tells me that the reason to keep kosher is because it\u2019s cleaner or healthier, I roll my eyes. That may have been true back in the day, but today, between Jewish slaughterhouse\u00a0scandals<\/a>\u00a0and the availability of free-range, grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free meat, this argument doesn\u2019t cut it anymore. Argue in favor of tradition, argue for the importance of a perpetual reminder of difference from majority culture, argue \u201cbecause God said so, that\u2019s why\u201d\u2026 but do not use the Torah to argue science.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the inconclusive medical evidence about circumcision is why U.S. circumcision rates have been\u00a0dropping<\/a>\u00a0for 30 years. Since 1979, the percentage of circumcised American male infants has dipped to 58.3 percent from 64.5 percent. (Changing demographics and the fact that many state governments have\u00a0eliminated Medicaid coverage<\/a>\u00a0for the practice may also be a factor.) There\u2019s no way to learn how many Jewish families are opting out, but Rebecca Wald, who runs Beyond the Bris with Lisa Braver Moss, says that the number of hits and inquiries the site has gotten has risen incrementally since its founding in 2010. (The Israeli newspaper\u00a0Haaretz<\/em>\u00a0estimates<\/a>\u00a0that 1 percent to 2 percent of Jewish babies born in Israel in the last decade have not been circumcised\u2014there is an intactivist movement in Israel, too. A 2006 survey conducted by the Israeli parenting site Mamy found that the number was higher: 4.8 percent of Israeli boys weren\u2019t circumcised, for reasons including parents\u2019 objection to disfiguring the body\u2014the reason cited by actress\u00a0Alicia Silverstone<\/a>\u2014and not wanting to cause the baby pain.)<\/p>\n

Actress\u00a0Mayim Bialik<\/a>\u00a0is an attachment-parenting activist who seems to fit the profile of the non-circumcising Jewish mother \u2026 but she did circumcise her sons. And she finds herself attacked for it so often that she generally won\u2019t discuss it. \u201cThe holistic community has made it virtually impossible to speak about \u2026 meaning there has not been any place for dialogue when speaking about it,\u201d she\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the website Evolutionary Parenting. \u201c[It] only leads to me being called a mutilator.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there are thinkers like Jay Michaelson who don\u2019t wish to do away with\u00a0brit milah<\/em>entirely, but who wonder if there\u2019s a compromise: a way to perform the mitzvah in a way that removes less flesh. (Ponder his\u00a0modest proposal<\/a>\u00a0with your legs crossed, gentleman readers.)<\/p>\n

I asked Wald why there\u2019s all this new concern and anxiety about an age-old practice. \u201cLook, Jewish people have always been concerned about their kids\u2019 well-being,\u201d Wald told me. \u201cWe all want to do what\u2019s best for our kinderlach. And the evidence is growing that circumcision isn\u2019t that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

She continued, \u201cConsider the anatomy of the penis. If you deprive the penis of its covering, it externalizes what should be an internal organ. Some people are uncomfortable comparing circumcision to female genital cutting, but removing the external labia, while it may be more complicated, is not entirely dissimilar to removing the foreskin; you\u2019ve changed mucosal tissue into non-mucosal tissue. If you know this, it\u2019s hard to defend the practice.\u201d I wondered whether Wald, a law-school graduate, had been lambasted for her views, which still run counter to mainstream Jewish tradition. She laughed, \u201cI\u2019m not intermarried, I\u2019m very secure in my Jewish identity, I\u2019m educated about both medicine and what the Torah says\u2014when people talk to me, it\u2019s hard for them to dismiss me because they realize, \u2018Ooh, it\u2019s like she\u2019s a real Jew!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Incidentally, Maimonides agreed with Wald\u2019s opinion that\u00a0brit milah<\/em>\u00a0has a negative impact on sexual pleasure. In \u201cThe Guide for the Perplexed,\u201d he\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0of circumcision, \u201cI think that one of its objects is to limit sexual intercourse, and to weaken the organ of generation as far as possible, and thus cause man to be moderate. Some people believe that circumcision is to remove a defect in man\u2019s formation; but every one can easily reply: How can products of nature be deficient so as to require external completion, especially as the use of the foreskin to that organ is evident \u2026 [?] The bodily injury caused to that organ is exactly that which is desired; it does not interrupt any vital function, nor does it destroy the power of generation. Circumcision simply counteracts excessive lust; for there is no doubt that circumcision weakens the power of sexual excitement, and sometimes lessens the natural enjoyment.\u201d And there is\u00a0scientific evidence<\/a>that circumcision decreases sexual sensitivity. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed its\u00a0stance<\/a>\u00a0on circumcision from neutral to a position that the data available are insufficient to recommend routine neonatal male circumcision.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

At Beyond the Bris, Wald and Moss suggest alternate ways to celebrate the birth of a Jewish boy. There is no blueprint, and suggestions\u00a0abound<\/a>\u00a0online. Some families do the ceremony on the\u00a0eighth day<\/a>\u00a0of the baby\u2019s life, like a conventional\u00a0brit milah<\/em>; some don\u2019t. Some bring in rituals such as\u00a0Kiddush<\/em><\/a>, communal\u00a0candle-lighting<\/a>, anointing the baby, washing the baby\u2019sfeet<\/a>, putting out a chair for\u00a0Elijah<\/a>, or doing\u00a0Havdalah<\/em>. Most parents share and explain their child\u2019s name at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Wald and Moss have established a crowdfunding\u00a0campaign<\/a>\u00a0to publish a book of original\u00a0brit shalom<\/em>\u00a0ceremonies, along with suggestions about dealing with family members who may be quietly sticking their heads in the oven. If funded (it\u2019s more than halfway there now), the book will come with a downloadable album of\u00a0brit-shalom<\/em>-compatible songs produced byJason Paige<\/a>, singer of the original\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon theme<\/a>\u00a0and former lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears.<\/p>\n

One ceremony Wald and Moss created involves a new symbolic ritual act: the cutting of a pomegranate. \u201cThe pomegranate represents fertility and abundance,\u201d Wald said, \u201cand it bleeds when you cut it. Some people might want to actually cut something if they want a ritual that closely mimics a\u00a0brit milah<\/em>. It\u2019s a way to acknowledge the role circumcision has played in the history of the Jewish people; it\u2019s not just giving the baby a Hebrew name and moving on. And the pomegranate has long been a Jewish symbol.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re creating a ceremony for a boy in which the knife is used only to slice bagels, I don\u2019t see why you need an expert present. But for many Jews, it\u2019s not a real event unless you have a rabbi or cantor leading it. The site Circumstitions has a\u00a0list<\/a>\u00a0of 187 officiants in the United States, Israel, and nine other countries.<\/p>\n

One of those officiants is Elyse Wechterman, a Reconstructionist rabbi based in Massachusetts. (She also leads inclusive services for families with special needs in Rhode Island.) She calls her ceremony a\u00a0brit atifah<\/em>, a Covenant of Wrapping. The ritual involves wrapping the baby in a\u00a0tallit<\/em>, as a sign of the covenant between God and humanity\u2014the ritual can be used with boys who aren\u2019t being circumcised, boys who are, and girls. For Wechterman, the fact that the ritual is so broadly embracing is important. \u201cI feel like this normalizes the conversation and welcomes the child into the Jewish people in a way that is meaningful, speaks to the needs of the parents and is reflective of the wisdom and depth of the traditions,\u201d she told me. \u201cFor many people, the\u00a0tallit<\/em>\u00a0is a symbol of protection, a loving embrace under the \u2018Wings of Shechinah.\u2019 I\u2019m framing what I do in the positive: What authentic Jewish wisdom and insights can we bring to the welcoming of this child?\u201d<\/p>\n

For Wechterman,\u00a0brit atifah<\/em>\u00a0lacks the defensiveness that sometimes defines\u00a0brit shalom<\/em>\u00a0and those who advocate for it. \u201cI\u2019m not saying\u00a0brit shalom<\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t meaningful,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it seems more defined by what it isn\u2019t then what it is. I am not interested in doing \u2018not-circumcision\u2019\u2014I\u2019m interested in welcoming the next generation of Jews into the covenant in the most meaningful ways possible, which does not necessarily have to include\u00a0brit milah<\/em>\u00a0for boys.\u201d (The fact that different practitioners of circumcision-free rituals have issues with other practitioners of circumcision-free rituals reminds me of the joke, \u201ctwo Jews, three synagogues.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Wechterman enumerated some of the reasons people choose not to do\u00a0brit milah<\/em>: \u201cOne of the biggest impetuses is the growth of the natural childbirth movement; parents are questioning a whole bunch of previously held conceptions, for good reasons. And I think the impact of feminism can\u2019t be understated. A core predicate of contemporary feminism is the notion of bodily integrity and physical self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

And having a ceremony, rather than simply doing nothing, can help distressed family members process. \u201cI\u2019ve seen grandparents who were so shocked and upset that their children weren\u2019t circumcising, and I do a ceremony that affirms a Jewish life for their grandchild and they\u2019re moved to tears,\u201d Wechterman said.<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cI\u2019m not opposed to circumcision. But if I were going to stake a claim on what\u2019s essential for Jewish people to do, I\u2019m not sure\u00a0brit milah<\/em>\u00a0would be it. I\u2019d rather focus on getting people to observe Shabbat and make meaningful choices about food. Jewish continuity is more about embracing Jewish practices that enhance our lives, not this one moment of a son\u2019s life.\u201d The resistance to opting out of\u00a0brit milah<\/em>, she thinks, has manifold reasons. But one of them is that the deciders have always been men who are circumcised. \u201cMen who are circumcised can\u2019t imagine not doing it, just as men who aren\u2019t circumcised can\u2019t imagine doing it,\u201d she pointed out. \u201cBut with significant numbers of women rabbis, things are changing.\u201d And with more parents questioning everything from\u00a0vaccines<\/a>\u00a0togenetically modified food<\/a>\u00a0to the need for\u00a0organized religion<\/a>, things may be changing pretty rapidly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Marjorie Ingall, a Life & Religion columnist for Tablet Magazine, is the author of\u00a0<\/i>The Field Guide to North American Males\u00a0and the co-author of\u00a0<\/i>Hungry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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http:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/jewish-life-and-religion\/178356\/alternatives-to-circumcision<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New rituals create ways to symbolically acknowledge Jews\u2019 covenant with God without actually circumcising infants By\u00a0Marjorie Ingall|July 9, 2014 12:00 AM|Shar (Erik Mace) When my nephew Eli was born, there was no way on earth he was going to be… <\/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":[8,14],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-jewish-intactivism","category-news","tag-circumcision","tag-jewish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934","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=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":935,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/circinfosite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}