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"many Jews reject a brit milla as an archaic and barbaric ritual..."... Jewish Parents Rejecting Circumcision, are Keeping their baby boys intact

'Coming from a European background where routine circumcisions...are nonexistent, and where many Jews reject a brit milla as an archaic and barbaric ritual... This author grew up in France in a traditional Jewish family. Not a single male of her generation or her children's generation within her large family (or in her circle of Jewish friends) was ever circumcised.' - Nelly Karsenty, Humanistic Judaism - Summer, 1988

'According to modern scholars, circumcision is not even mentioned in either the earliest, 'J', version of Bereshth ('Genesis') nor the next three rewrites by other authors. Most importantly, the story of Abram is there in its entirety, except the part about the Covenant being 'sealed' with circumcision. The parallel Covenant story of 'a smoking kiln and its blazing torch' passing between the halves of animals and birds sacrificed by Abram is in J. Many biblical scholars agree on this point, and it is in accord with the mitzvot against desecrating the body.... It has even been suggested that early Judaism forbad circumcision!'
Case for Bris without Milah.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html

In Israel, opposition to circumcision has happened in just two decades, and now these “rebels” number in the tens of thousands, according to Ronit Tamir, founder of Kahal, a support group for parents who choose not to circumcise their children. Jewish World, (Israel) 3/11/10.

'as recently as the mid-nineteenth century, in Eastern Europe and Russia there was a widespread move to stop the practice... Led by women--what a surprise!--who thought the practice barbaric and patriarchal, the movement eventually even convinced Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, who refused to allow his own son to be circumcised.' - Michael S. Kimmel, TIKKUN, Volume 16, Number 3,
May/June 2001.

'As stated in the Encyclopedia Judaica, 'Any child born of a Jewish mother is a Jew, whether circumcised or not.'...'the Torah prohibits the torture or causing of pain to any living creature.' ...considering Hillel's encapsulation of Judaism: 'What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow-creature' (Sab. 31a), should we force circumcision on another? It is a violation of Torah law to physically assault or harm another person (Exodus 21:18-27)....according to Jewish law, the human body must not be cut or marked (Lev. 19:28). It appears that in some ways circumcision is not consistent with Jewish laws and values. '- Ronald Goldman, Jewish Spectator

'Betty Katz-Sperlich is a Jewish woman living in New Mexico, USA. A registered nurse, she is co-founder of Nurses for the Rights of the Child ( http://www.nurses.cirp.org ). She refused to circumcise her son, now aged 13.
'I've been called anti-Semitic by non-Jewish people. But as a Jew, how could I not speak up against Jewish circumcision? I would be letting Jewish babies down.'
Jenny Goodman, from north London, also refused to circumcise her son. ( http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/ ) She is a doctor and a psychotherapist as well as a Jewish feminist. 'I know at least a dozen non-circumcised boys whose parents are identified as Jews,' she says. She adamantly opposes circumcision, claiming that it is physically and psychologically damaging to the child and violates human rights: 'It also violates the most important of medical ethics, above all do no harm.' ( http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html )
Opposition to male circumcision in the UK had its first big breakthrough 18 months ago with the controversial Channel 4 documentary It's a Boy!, by Jewish director Victor Schonfeld. It slammed the practice of Jewish circumcision as unnecessary and barbaric, with potentially horrific consequences. Mr. Schonfeld claims that public consensus against it in the UK is growing.'
Nursing Times, 2/19/1997, p. 12-13. (UK)

'Rothenberg, a Brooklyn social worker and high school guidance counselor, has helped hold a bris-sans-circumcision for more than 100 local families, “It's a welcoming ceremony, a celebration of the newborn,” that usually includes prayers, naming and — depending on parental preferences — tree-planting, singing, dancing, blessings, or donations to plant trees in Israel... Rothenberg hopes to educate other parents to make decisions about their sons “on the basis of principle, not conformity.” - Daily News

'Also the singer and literary critic Menachem Ben didn’t arrange a Brit Milah for his sons—in spite of his firm belief in God and the Bible. “It is possible to do a Brit Milah at a level specified in the Torah: ‘And you circumcised the foreskin in your heart,’ ” he claims with insistence. “I circumcised my sons my own way, without cutting, by reading verses from the Bible.” - Yediot (Israel)

Rabbi Steven Blane writes: 'It is a violation of Torah law to physically assault or harm another person (Exodus 21:18-27). Jewish law recognizes a newborn infant as a person if the infant has been born after a full-term pregnancy.
With circumcision though, we generally overlook the humanity of the newborn infant and his awareness, perception, sensitivity, and meaningful responsiveness, though these abilities have been thoroughly documented by the latest research.'
- Rabbi Steven Blane

'an article in the January 1999 British Journal of Urology reported
that women who had slept with both circumcised and intact men preferred sex with men who were not circumcised. The article reported that the women achieved orgasm faster, and were more likely to achieve multiple orgasms.' - Michael S. Kimmel, TIKKUN, Volume 16, Number 3,
May/June 2001.

The Kindest Un-Cut Feminism, Judaism, and My Son's Foreskin by
Professor Michael S. Kimmel
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/

Challenging Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective by Dr Jenny Goodman
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html

conservative conversion to intactivism libertarian traditional covenant intact AIDS Rabbi cantor brit neonatal remove HIV prayer STDs Herpes bris Gilgal intactivist mila Hungary pray grandfather orlah culture Ohio Metzizah reform foreskin Germany Italy temple Orthodox France cut circumcision synagogue cultural Spain history Mexico Russia milah Chabad tradition Priah grandmother judaism lament virus

'AS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF AMERICANS – including a sizable number of American Jews – question the act of male circumcision, a group of San Francisco activists are advocating to ban circumcision, or what they call male genital mutilation... Many of the leading activists against circumcision around the country are Jewish ( http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm ).'
- Jerusalem Post, Challenging the Circumcision Myth, (Israel) 04/10/2011

'[Dr. Ronald] Goldman pointed out that Jewish circumcision is not universal, as some Jews in South America and Europe do not perform it. Some contend that the commandment to circumcise is at odds with the Torah's prohibition against marking or altering the human body, and against causing pain to any living creature.' - Daily Hampshire Gazette

'The myth is that all Jews circumcise. But in Europe, South America and Israel, as well as here, there are Jews who do not circumcise their sons.' - Dr. Ronald Goldman, Baltimore Jewish Times

'it would be anti-Semitic of us if we didn't defend Jewish babies along with other children. We respect what is beautiful in every religion or culture and speak out against what is brutal. All cultures and religions are capable of evolving.' - Mary Conant, R.N. and Betty Katz Sperlich, R.N., founding members of 'Nurses for the Rights of the Child'
http://nurses.cirp.org/Interview_by_Professor_Sam.html

'Some families that have opted not to have their sons circumcised are resorting to an alternative ceremony called Brit Shalom -- meaning covenant of peace. This ritual is a baby-naming ceremony done without removing the infant's foreskin, explained Rabbi Adam Chalom of Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in Chicago. The Brit Shalom is similar to a traditional bris in that it welcomes the baby boy into the covenant of the Jewish community. During the ceremony, parents talk to the child, sing songs, read poetry and share wine.' - Religion News Service

'Nancy Wainer is one such mother. When her son was born 34 years ago, Wainer and her husband had him ritually circumcised. She has regretted it ever since. 'I can still hear his cries,' she said. 'He cried for hours. He was inconsolable.' Now, as a midwife in Massachusetts, Wainer advises mothers to leave their sons' foreskins intact... 'There are ethical questions about forcing an unconsenting person [to be circumcised].' - Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh

Nurses for the Rights of the Child, the largest organization of nurses
who refuse to circumcise, and who are working to ban genital
mutilation in the medical profession, begun by a Jewish mother and
nurse.
http://www.Nurses.cirp.org

Rabbi Nathan Segal Writes That Jews Should Abolish Circumcision
http://www.rabbinathan.com/writings/circum.shtml

Rebecca Wald's Jewish Intactivist Parenting Blog
http://www.beyondthebris.com

The Case for Brit without Milah
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html

Brit B'lee Milah (Covenant Without Cutting) Celebrants
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html

Brit B'lee Milah (Covenant Without Cutting) - Covenant of Wholeness
http://www.nocirc.org/religion/Naming_ceremony.php

Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community by Moshe Rothenberg (New York, USA)
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html

Being rational about circumcision and Jewish observance by Moshe
Rothenberg (NY, USA)
http://www.noharmm.org/rationaljew.htm
[message edited by Homeopathy International 1 on Fri, 06 May 2011 00:32:12 BST]
 
  Homeopathy International 1 on 2010-06-08
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
'Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), referred to by his followers as The Rebbe, was a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi who was the seventh and last rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. Living to a ripe old age, The Rebbe was a great appreciator of homeopathy and used it throughout the latter part of his life. - ' Dana Ullman, MPH, Homeopathic Revolution.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'Removal of a healthy body part without medical indication has been viewed as being a violation of the Hippocratic oath, falling under the United Nations' definition of genital mutilation. As such circumcision is seen as being against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of the Child.' - Canadian Medical Assocaition Journal, Volume 152, Number 11, Pages 1873-1876,
June 1, 1995.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Michael S. Kimmel
TIKKUN, Volume 16, Number 3,
May/June 2001.
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/
Michael Kimmel is the author of Manhood in America and, most recently, The Gendered Society (Oxford University Press). He teaches sociology at SUNY Stony Brook.
'Actually, the historical record of medical opinion consistently pushed us further into the anti-circumcision camp. The more we learned about the medical history, the more we were convinced that concerns other than the health of the baby led doctors to make circumcision a routine practice. Before the 1870s, in the United States, routine medical circumcision was quite rare, hovering around 5 to 6 percent of all newborn baby boys. Subscribers to the new Victorian sexual morality sought to reduce what critics perceived to be rampant sexual promiscuity, and especially masturbation, which, they believed, resulted in all sorts of debilities and even death. Masturbation was said to cause all manner of emotional, psychological, and physiological problems, from bed-wetting to adolescent insolence, acne to mental retardation, insanity, psychological exhaustion, and neurasthenia.'
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'Thousands of Jews today are questioning circumcision. Some are deciding not to circumcise their infant sons. By my estimates, American rabbis are getting at least 3,000 calls every year from parents who are in conflict... The parents who contact rabbis because they find brit milah problematic, are often requesting symbolic ceremonies as an alternative to traditional brit milah. They believe the covenant need not be established through a literal biblical interpretation. They voice concerns about circumcision that invariably stem from Jewish thinking. In addition to those parents who contact rabbis about their conflict, others are making the decision not to circumcise without contacting a rabbi. For this reason rabbis may not be aware how common it is for Jewish parents to question this ritual.'
- Lisa Braver Moss, The Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments

The Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments
By Lisa Braver Moss
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/moss.html
Lisa Braver Moss, B.A., a free-lance writer, received her B.A. with Great Distinction from the University of California at Berkeley (1977) Several of her articles questioning the Jewish circumcision ritual., Brit Milah, have appeared in Jewish publications, including 'A Painful Case,' an article focusing upon the current circumcision debate, in Tikkun's September/October 1990 bimonthly 'Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture & Society.'

'Circumcision is child abuse. It is a poor way to introduce a newborn male into the world and into the Jewish community.' - Moshe Rothenberg, CSW., Ending Circumcision In The Jewish Community?
By Moshe Rothenberg
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html
Moshe Rothenberg, CSW, is a social worker for the New York City Board of Education. He received his MSW in Social Group Work at Yeshiva University - Wurzweiler School of Social Work (1973) and did post-graduate work in group and family therapy at Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He coordinated a program involved with Affirmative Action for the National Conference of Black Lawyers, which helped win a positive Supreme Court decision in the Weber case. Mr. Rothenberg initiated and coordinated two parent groups providing advocacy and counseling services for the Miskon-Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in New York. He teaches Re-evaluation Counseling to adults on such issues as parenting, feminism, and racism, and lead parent support groups. He is an educator on the subject of Brit B'lee Milah both within and outside of the Jewish community in which he lives.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'The Talmud goes on to say (Hul. 10a) that ‘One should be more particular about matters concerning life and health than about ritual observances’... In the British Jewish community, a small but growing member of young parents are refusing to circumcise their baby boys. They are beginning to create alternative non-violent rituals, gentle ceremonies to welcome babies of both sexes into the Jewish community and the wider world... As more parents have the courage to say ‘no’, then the intact Jewish boy becomes no longer the exception, no longer the ‘odd one out’. In fact, the uncircumcised Jewish boys and their families have remained firmly within the Jewish community. Judaism has many joyful and life-affirming customs to maintain and pass on, and I believe Jewish culture will be strengthened, not weakened, by our outgrowing of neonatal circumcision.' - Goodman J. Jewish circumcision: an alternative perspective. BJU Int 1999; 83 Suppl 1:22-27.
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'When the Canadian Pediatric Society (CPS) reviewed the medical literature and came out against routine circumcision in 1996, I thought the matter was settled... Still, I believe a consensus against circumcision is steadily emerging. In this new era of patient rights, circumcision has come to seem like an anachronism. Among doctors, there is a greater emphasis on informed decision-making, the limits on parents' rights to make decisions about their kids' health and the rights of children to be protected from parents who make wrong decisions. Even some adult men who were unnecessarily circumcised as children are asserting their rights to restitution. And since the balance of medical evidence suggests those who oppose circumcision have the facts on their side, doctors are increasingly refusing to perform circumcisions. Complications from bleeding, amputation, renal failure, sepsis and death are powerful incentives to stop.

Indeed, the media coverage of the incident may speed circumcision for non-religious reasons into the dustbin of medical practice -- alongside many other once-popular procedures, such as the removal of the ovaries for hysteria, tonsillectomy for a sore throat, lobotomy for mental retardation, etc. In a few years, looking like dad or wanting to keep a boy 'clean' may no longer be legally legitimate rationales for circumcision. It's about time they weren't. But it is unethical to continue a practice that is no longer medically defensible and could harm our kids.'
- The growing consensus against circumcision by Jackie Smith, National Post, Toronto, 30 August 2002.
http://www.cirp.org/news/nationalpost08-30-02a/
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'Judaism, like all religious traditions, has many layers...support can be found from many Jewish sources for the view that circumcision of infants is unethical and should therefore be abandoned...in the final analysis, circumcision is not symbolic for the baby: it is horribly real. Now is the time to lay the knife aside and to move forward into the 21st century with a form of ritual that is truly welcoming and that is truly purely symbolic.'
- Goodman J. Jewish circumcision: an alternative perspective. British Journal of Urology Int 1999; 83 Suppl 1:22-27.
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'Jewish law is an evolving process that has always taken into account new developments in science and understanding, and attempted to integrate them. Given what is known about life-threatening complications of neonatal circumcision, there is an argument from within Judaism to adapt Jewish law, so that the circumcision of helpless, non-consenting babies becomes forbidden, not demanded.'
- J. Goodman, MA, MBChB, Jewish circumcision: an alternative perspective. BJU Int 1999; 83 Suppl 1:22-27.
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/

'Removal of a healthy body part without medical indication has been viewed as being a violation of the Hippocratic oath, falling under the United Nations' definition of genital mutilation. As such circumcision is seen as being against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of the Child.' - Canadian Medical Assocaition Journal, Volume 152, Number 11, Pages 1873-1876,
June 1, 1995.

'In Judaism, and in Islam, the human being is considered to be made in the image of God, and God is conceptualized as perfect. So one could not argue that interfering with God’s perfect creation is a form of blasphemy. In Judaism there is a law of ‘Shmirat Ha Guf’, the guarding or protecting of the body. Body-piercing, tattooing and amputation are all forbidden for this reason. Further, there is the Talmudic concept of ‘Tsa’ar ba’alei chayyim’, compassion for all living creatures. If compassion in all its fullness were applied to 8-day-old babies, circumcision would become impossible.'
- J. Goodman, MA, MBChB, Jewish circumcision: an alternative perspective. BJU Int 1999; 83 Suppl 1:22-27.
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/

*JEWISH & ISRAELI GROUPS*

Israeli Parents' Group, Kahal (website in Hebrew)
http://www.kahal.org

Israeli Association Opposing Genital Mutilation (website in Hebrew)
http://britmilah.org.il

'Judaism is a fluid religion that has been subject to change as it meets challenges and reaches new and better understandings. This is shown with the advent of non-traditional ceremonies, like Bat Mitzvah, and other significant changes to advance the roles of females including the ordination of women rabbis, chazzans and shamases.' - Jews Opposing Circumcision, http://www.JEWSAGAINSTCIRCUMCISION.org

Israel: Gonen Al Hayeled (Protect the Child) (website in Hebrew)
http://www.gonen.us
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Comments by Dr. Mark D. Reiss, M.D.

'I am a 72 year old retired physician, a Jew who is an active member of a Conservative synagogue, and a grandfather. Three years ago, as I was about to become a grandfather for the first time, my interest in the subject became more focused. I learned that more and more physicians now realize that any potential benefits of circumcision are far outweighed by its risks and drawbacks. Whether done by a physician in the hospital, or a mohel in a ritual brit milah, the procedure has significant complication rates of infection, hemorrhage and even death. Mortality may actually be higher than thought since some of these deaths have not been attributed to circumcision, but listed only under their secondary causes, such as hemorrhage or infection. I’ve learned of the very important role the foreskin has in the protection of the head of the penis in the infant, and in sexual functioning in adulthood.

Growing numbers of American Jews are now leaving their sons intact as they view circumcision as a part of Jewish law that they can no longer accept. Alternative brit b’li milah or brit shalom ceremonies (ritual naming ceremony without cutting) are being performed by some rabbis. Increasing numbers of intact boys are going to religious school, having bar mitzvahs, and taking their place as young adults in the Jewish community.

As a Jewish grandfather, I want to assure young couples about to bring a child into the world, that there are other members of the Jewish “older” generation, including other Jewish physicians, and even some rabbis, who feel as I do. If your heart and instincts tell you to leave your son intact, listen!

- Dr. Mark D. Reiss, M.D.
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/mposition.htm....

'For a growing number of Jews, circumcision raises serious intellectual, emotional, and ethical conflicts. A lot of parents end up regretting their decision to have their baby boys circumcised, especially if they witness the ceremony,' said Goldman. 'Those Jews that forgo circumcision are at peace with their decision. Jewish parents who are questioning circumcision have options.'
- Jewish Groups Call for an End to Circumcision
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/mgmbill.html
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Israeli Newsletter Against Circumcision
http://www.af-mila.org.il

Brit Shalom, a peaceful celebration: http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'What about religion? For boys and girls alike, under basic human rights principles, anothers right to practice a religion must end where that individuals body begins. Otherwise, individual protections carry little meaning. Many Jews and Muslims are involved with organizations working to stop male circumcision, and many are questioning whether removal of healthy tissue from the bodies of their children is required by or even consistent with their faith. When the child is of the age of consent, he or she can make up his or her own mind about his or her own body.' - Steven Svoboda, J.D., 'In Search of Fatherhood' Magazine Interview
http://www.arclaw.org/arc_activities/fatherhood-interview.ph....
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Resources from a different perspective...

http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/circarticle....
http://www.rabbinathan.com/writings/circum.shtml
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/mposition.htm....
http://www.fathermag.com/health/circ/jew-anti/

Jewish Women Speak Out: Miriam Pollack
http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm
'So we use the word 'circumcision,' but this is a euphemism What we are really talking about for females as well as males is culturally and religiously sanctioned sexual mutilation and child abuse. ...lest we open ourselves to the immense grief that inevitably follows the awakening to the profound injury we have caused to our most beloved treasures: our beautiful, perfect babies.

This treatment of the newborn is not consistent with traditional Jewish values. Judaism places infinite value on life, particularly human life. The principal of pikuah nefesh is fundamental to Judaism; that is, for the sake of saving a life, even the Sabbath may be desecrated. Sh'mirat haguf, the protection of one's body, is a high biblical priority. Tattooing, cutting the flesh and amputation are all forbidden. Consciousness of animal suffering permeates both biblical and Talmudic thought as expressed by the concept of tsa-ar ba-alei hayim, or compassion for living things. In the fourth commandment, animals as well as humans are commanded to rest on the Sabbath and, according to the Talmud, Sabbath observance may be broken to ease the suffering of an animal. The laws of kashrut are specific and elaborate pertaining to permissible animal slaughter with the intention of reducing and regulating animal pain if we are to be a meat-eating people. The precept of ba-al tashhit also informs biblical and Rabbinic thought. We are not to destroy the fruit trees, even during a war. The notions of sh'mitah and yovel, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, require that every seventh year, and again in the fiftieth year, the earth be allowed to rest from deliberate economic use. The message seems to be clear: we are stewards of this earth and it is our task to protect it and, more than that, l'havdeel bain kodesh v'chol, to make distinctions between the holy and the profane, so that we may consciously and continuously sanctify life.

We must envision a Judaism that can welcome all of our children, nonviolently, into the brit b'lee milah, a covenant without circumcision.... Only in these ways will we begin the restoration of the holy and establish tikkun, healing, between the sexes.

Ultimately, we all must know that it is not possible to violate or suppress the sexuality of one gender without doing harm to the other. Opposing circumcision is men's work; but it is also most profoundly, women's work. Our babies know and we know: it begins with us. '
- Miriam Pollack from Jewish Women Speak Out, p. 171-185, Canopy Press 1995
http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'The code of the Jewish law is called 'halacha' (the way). Within the Code, there is a provision that if a mother looses a son because of circumcision, she is NOT obligated to circumcise her next son. I extrapolate from this, the inter-connection of my human family, that enough deaths and maiming have occurred because of circumcision. Therefore - circumcision is no longer a requisite! Just as we no longer practice the animal sacrifices in the traditional temple, so let us not sacrifice an important piece of our mammal in the temple of tradition.'
- Rabbi Natan Segal
http://www.rabbinathan.com/writings/circum.asp

'I am not Jewish (or Muslim), but I can assure you that many Jews are rethinking circumcision. (I do not have any information about Muslims). As a matter of fact, two of the most well-researched and eloquent books on the harmful nature of circumcision have been written by Jewish men. For more information, I urge you to read Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., (Vanguard, 1997) and Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy by Edward Wallerstein (Springer Publishing, 1980).'
- Christiane Northrup, M.D.
http://mensightmagazine.com/Articles/Northrup/lovecirc.htm

Jewish Childbirth: http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/circarticle....
Jewish Doctors: http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/mposition.htm....
Brit Milah: http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/
Bris & Baby Naming: http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/bris_shalom.html
Jewish Baby Boy: http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/
Torah Arguments http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/moss.html
Mothers & Women: http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm
Jews Against Circumcision: http://www.jewishcircumcision.org/spectator.htm
Brit, Bris Milah: http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html
Anti-Semitism: http://www.fathermag.com/health/circ/jew-anti/

'I am in favor of leaving the penis alone. Pediatric opinion is swinging away from routine circumcision as unnecessary and at least mildly dangerous. I also believe that there is a potential danger of emotional harm resulting from the operation. Parents should insist on convincing reasons for circumcision and there are no convincing reasons that I know of (as cited in Wallerstein, 1980).'
- Dr. Benjamin Spock, famed parenting author.
http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Jay Michaelson, Chief Editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture
Published in The Forward, Sept. 2005
That circumcision reduces sexual pleasure, and that it is fully experienced by the traumatized infant, is now well established. Jewish intellectuals have debated the practice's merits in magazines and at conferences, and even bloodless 'brit shalom' ('covenant of peace') rituals have been developed to replace circumcision surgery... 'the details of circumcision really are unsettling...as every new parent
knows, it's a brutal, bloody operation that, neonatal science now tells
us, is fully experienced by the newborn infant. It's trauma, it's
mutilation and it's done without consent...the evidence of the damage done by circumcision is sound. Yet few today really claim there is no harm done; the claim is that the harm is justified by various benefits... As these facts about circumcision become known, the practice may well become a source of controversy within the Jewish community. Every day, Jewish boys are having their sexual organs damaged without their consent — and even without the knowing consent of their parents... one wonders if the current wave of anti-circumcision backlash, formerly the domain of marginal eccentrics but now the purview of Oxford University Press, might cause the practice to diminish in importance.
- Jay Michaelson, The Forward, Sept. 2005
Jay Michaelson's next book is God in Your Body (Jewish Lights, 2006). He
is the chief editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture.


'Within the Jewish community, there is growing disagreement about circumcision. Some feel that circumcision contradicts other aspects of the Jewish religion. The Torah forbids the torture or causing of pain to any living creature, especially physically assaulting or harming another person (Exodus 21:18-27). Jewish law specifically forbids body modification, including the cutting or marking of the human body (Lev. 19:28). Jews are also required to help those who are helpless, such as newborn infants, and are exempt from performing religious duties that would cause harm to others.' - Ryan McAllister, Ph.D.
http://www.notjustskin.org/node/7


Dr Leonard Glick, MA, MD, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Hampshire College.
'A number of years ago I learned that infants undergoing circumcision cry – in fact, scream – in an entirely distinctive manner. That ought to have rung an alarm bell in my mind; instead it just left me feeling vaguely uneasy. Yet if anyone should have understood what I now call “the circumcision dilemma,” it was me. I’m a cultural anthropologist with a medical background, and I taught European Jewish history to college students. In an earlier book, Abraham’s Heirs: Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe, I mentioned circumcision incidentally a few times...it removes the most sensitive tissue in the male genitals. Mothers don’t have to be told that a normal newborn infant, male or female, is a perfectly formed little person, with nothing useless, nothing designed by nature for removal! If there can be no good reason for removal of a body part from any normal, non-consenting person, circumcision raises a serious ethical issue.
I think that’s unjust, and I wrote this book to try to explain why. Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America was published by Oxford University Press in June 2005. I hope it will help to show why routine circumcision should have no place in American society.'
- Dr Leonard Glick, MA, MD, PhD,. Compleat Mother Magazine, No. 79, Fall 2005, p. 25
Dr Leonard Glick, MA, MD, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Hampshire College.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Dr Jenny Goodman, Challenging Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective
'I am calm and comfortable in the knowledge that no one will ever take a knife to this baby's flesh in the name of religion, and that my child will be every bit as Jewish as I am, or as Jewish as s/he chooses to be, with no mutilating mark upon the body. I am confident that my people have such an abundance of life-enhancing, life-affirming and mind-opening traditions, that our identity and sense of cultural self-heed will happily survive our outgrowing of circumcision, a cruel relic which has always felt to me like an aberration at the heart of my religion. What can I say, I wonder, to all of you gathered in Lausanne, who already agree with me that circumcision of healthy, nonconsenting infants is an abuse of human rights?'
- Dr Jenny Goodman, Challenging Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html

Stacey Greenberg. My Son: The Little Jew with a Foreskin. Mothering Magazine #125 August 2004.
http://www.mothering.com/10-0-0/html/10-1-0/little-jew.shtml....


'Circumcision is not a guarantee of Jewishness. And yes, you can be Jewish with a foreskin.' - Rabbi Natan Segal, One Rabbis' Thoughts on Circumcision, February, 2007


'Coming from a European background... where many Jews reject a brit milla as an archaic and barbaric ritual... This author grew up in France in a traditional Jewish family. Not a single male of her generation or her children's generation within her large family (or in her circle of Jewish friends) was ever circumcised.' - Nelly Karsenty, Humanistic Judaism, 1988; 16(3): 14-20.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
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Israeli Related Links: (In Hebrew)
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JEWISH AND ISRAELI MOVEMENTS TO STOP CIRCUMCISION

'Eventually I think religious people, too, will stop doing it.'

From the JERUSALEM POST:

Kasher says, 'I don't see any reason why I should cut my son's genitals. There is no reason and I don't think I have the right, even as a parent, to cut a normal part of his body just because other people do it.'

Kasher thinks that's only just the beginning, even though right now his movement is a fringe one. He foresees a time when the practice will be relegated to history books. 'Eventually I think religious people, too, will stop doing it. But it will take years.'

'Hopefully they will succeed and they will be the first nation in the world to recognize circumcision for what it is - a crime,' enthuses Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin, who leads the Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation < http://www.britmila.org.il >.

'There's a very strong feeling in Sweden that the Swedish people and government should be at the forefront of [protecting] rights, especially children's rights,' he says. The law passed after a local Muslim boy died from complications from medication administered in connection with a circumcision.

The issue, according to opponents of circumcision, includes the moral ramifications of cutting one's child and the psychological impacts stemming from the trauma. They claim that the level of discomfort experienced by the child increases his later response to pain and hurts the bond between the baby and his mother. They also maintain that circumcision diminishes sexual pleasure and that there is no medical reason to remove the foreskin.

Ben-Yami counters that 'Jewish identity can survive without circumcision, in fact, even better without it because more and more non-religious Jews have an aversion [to the religion] because of some of the things it contains, like circumcision. Judaism has enough content in it to survive without circumcision.'

'It's something that came into Judaism from other religions and other tribal [customs] and it will pass from Judaism [too],' Udi says.

Kasher of Af-Mila agrees. Though he acknowledges that his opinions are minority ones, he points to growing interest in his publication and awareness of the subject in the media, as well as the quick increase from four founding families in Kahal to its current size.

'It's going to vanish by itself, from the people,' he says.

A group of 35 American Jews that claims members from secular to Orthodox tries to find ways of reconciling Judaism to a circumcision-free life. The organization, Jews Against Circumcision > http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org Kahal / Jewish Intact Israelis' Parents' Rights Group (Israel, International, in Hebrew) <
> http://www.kahal.org <

> Israeli/Jewish Association Against Genital Mutilation (Israel, International, in Hebrew) <
> http://www.britmila.org.il <

> Gonen Al Hayeled / Israel's Protect the Child (Israel, International, in Hebrew) <
> http://www.gonen.us <

> Af-Milah - Second Thoughts on Brit Milah <
> The Israeli Journal Against Circumcision (in Hebrew) P.O. Box 207, Rosh-Pinah 12000, Israel (Israel, International, in Hebrew) <

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Related Links: (In English)
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> Jews Opposing Circumcision: Conservative, Orthodox, Reform and More (Israel, UK, USA, International) <
> http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org <

> Ending Circumcision In The Jewish Community By Moshe Rothenberg, CSW. (International) <
> http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html <

> A Jewish, Conservative Rabbi Speaks Out Against Circumcision, 2007 (Israel, UK, CA, International) <
> http://www.rabbinathan.com/writings/circum.shtml <

> Brit Shalom - A Jewish Covenant of Wholeness Text (Israel, UK) <
> http://www.nocirc.org/religion/Naming_ceremony.php <

> Bris B'lee Milah & Bris Shalom Ceremony Text (International) <
> http://www.noharmm.org/nontrad.htm <

> Brit B'lee Milah & Bris Shalom Ceremony Text (Israel, UK, USA, International) <
> http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/bris_shalom.html <

> List of Brit B'lee Milah & Bris Shalom Rabbis by Dr. Mark D. Reiss, M.D. (International) <
> http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html <

> Women's Perspectives: Dr. Ron Goldman's Website (Israel, UK, USA) <
> http://www.jewishcircumcision.org/women.htm <

> The Case Against Circumcision by Dr. Paul M. Fleiss, MD. (USA, UK, International) <
> http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/fleiss.html <

> Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments by Lisa Braver Moss (UK, USA, International)<
> http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/moss.html <

> A Jewish Woman Denounces Circumcision by Laura Shanley. (Israel, UK, International) <

> Dr. Ron Goldman's Site <
> http://www.circumcision.org <

> Jewish Women Speak Out: Miriam Pollack (UK) <
> http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm <
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Homeopathy International 1 last decade

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