There's more than one way to circumcise a baby, and the modern Jewish family seems to have solved multiple issues. First, there's the rabbi that insists that God said circumcision was necessary, but pain was not. You go, rabbi! But the biggest new trend for the modern Jewish family is not circumcising at all. Nope, not at all.
Now this kind of reminds me of when my girlfriend had a baby, then three years later I did, and she was all, "What's up with BPA-free?" The point being, we're all trying our best and we're all working with what we've got. And what the modern Jewish couple with reservations about circumcision has that their friends did not a few years ago is the Brit Shalom. Which is a bris, without the cut.
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times -- please make up your own mind about circumcising your baby. It's your decision, it's all about your family discussions, religion, culture, sooo many things. But say you're Jewish, and you feel strongly about the covenant with God that is sealed with circumcision, but you're not sure you want to do that to your new baby boy. That, my Hebrew friends, is a predicament.
As a mixed religious family, this was a big issue in our house. I wish I'd known about this amazing solution for the conflicted Jewish family. I think it could solve some conflicts on the topic, although I'm not here to tell you what to do. Seriously! I will NOT tell you what to do when it comes to your baby boy's penis.
Also, the story about the traditional bris in this article is actually completely inspiring. But if you're lucky enough to find a rabbi that offers the ceremony without the cut, go for the Brit Shalom. It sounds RAD.
What did you do about circumcising?
Image via John Picken/Flickr
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Comments 11
I've already decided not to say on the internet whether or not my son is circumcised, because the state of his pee-pee is none of the entire world's business. :-) Seriously, would we be sitting around talking about my son's winkle if he was 14? No? Then let's not. Ever. Please and thank you. My son's widdle-diddle, my choice. Your son's widdle-diddle, your choice. Yippy skippy.
Melissa, I think the word you are looking for is "penis."
lol the comments on here are cracking me up lol.
I am glad Jewish parent have an alternative.
Wonderful article. More and more parents — including Jewish couples — are deciding to leave their baby boys intact. That’s because circumcision is now known to cause the infant pain and distress, as measured by heart rate, respiratory rate and cortisol levels. Circumcision involves surgical risks, and can adversely affect the mother-infant bond. And the foreskin, now shown to be comprised of highly sensitive tissue, serves an important physiological function.
From the point of view of Jewish law, any alleged medical benefits of circumcision are wholly irrelevant; circumcision is strictly a sign of the covenant. And yet, newly revealed risks, drawbacks and ethical concerns are of great Jewish pertinence. Judaism embraces new insights; indeed, there’s ample precedent for re-evaluation of our practices based on new knowledge.
Lisa Braver Moss, author of The Measure of His Grief, a novel about the circumcision controversy www.lisabravermoss.com
Every parent has to make the best decision they can for their child. I am glad that there is another alternative for parents.
Yet in most of the developed world, this is not "a decision parents have to make". It isn't offered and hardly ever asked for. And that's not because they're backward or dirty - the rest of the English-speaking world, tried it, found it did no good, and has virtually given it up. Though Australia and New Zealand used to circumcise more than 95% of babies, now it's hard to find a doctor willing to do it - and there has been no outbreak of any of the diseases it was supposed to be good against. A generation of men has grown up looking unlike their fathers, with no problems there, either.