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About Circumcision

Brit Milah.

Image by Chesdovi.

A proposal to ban circumcision will be on the San Francisco ballot this November.

As a Jewish Mama, my response should fall somewhere along the lines of outrage and a head-tisk.

And as a bleeding heart Mama, my response should be somewhere in the range of agreement and an apology to my son.

I whole-heartedly feel all of these emotions. In other words, I’m conflicted.

I don’t agree with the circumcision ban. But you might be surprised why.

Read more at TCJewfolk >>

Galit Breen is an Israeli freezing her tuchus in Minnesota. She’s a Mama of three currently working on her first book about teaching children spirituality outside of religion. She blogs as the "Minnesota Mamaleh" for TCJewfolk.

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Yes I have a son and a grandson, both circumcised. Yes, it probably hurt for a bit--I suppose a pierced ear does too, though I don't know about that. But to ban circumcision (or pierced ears) seems a kind of autocracy that doesn't bode well. Circumcision is not a matter of personal adornment but rather a mark of belonging to an ancient tradition, a tradition (a belief system?) that has been threatened as long as circumcision itself has stood as a mark of belonging. It has been reported that males who have been circumcised seem to have some better chance to avoid sexually transmitted diseases; for some that might be justification enough for allowing the procedure. But the ban smacks of a covert attempt to deny to Muslims and Jews a part of their heritage. I hope Jewish communities in California and elsewhere will vote against the ban....

I had something to say about this issue, and ignited a firestorm of feedback - some of it quite virulent.

http://blogs.forward.com/siste...

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How to cite this page

Breen, Galit. "About Circumcision." 17 June 2011. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on March 19, 2024) <http://jwa.org/blog/about-circumcision>.