You may be planning to circumcise your son because it seems the Jewish thing to do.” Now think about this: circumcision is a mitzvah, a commandment. Indeed, it is one of the most important commandments in Judaism. Some scholars say it is more important than all the other commandments combined (which is quite a claim – that circumcisi9on could be more important than, say, respecting one’s parents, not committing murder, or not committing adultery). Many regard it as more than a mitzvah. It is a commandment to honor a contract – a covenant – between God and a Jewish male. It is also a physical sign – on a penis! – that such a contract has been made. Further, the actual shedding of blood during the circumcision is what is considered the seal of the contract, making the covenant “sealed in blood.”

All the biblical covenants – including this Covenant of Abraham – are solemn agreements between God and the people of God. In each covenant, God makes promises to the people and commands certain behavior in return. For example, the covenant that God made after the Great Flood that destroyed nearly all human and animal life on earth is between God and all future people on earth. In contrast, the Covenant of Abraham (the circumcision covenant) is only between God and the Jewish people.

The Covenant of Abraham, which commands a Jewish father to circumcise his son, is in the Torah, in the book of Genesis, Chapter 17, verses 10 to 14. It is mentioned again, as a commandment, in the book of Leviticus, Chapter 12, when the laws that the Jewish people were commanded by God to obey were spelled out, at Mount Sinai, just before the Jews were able to enter the Promised Land of Canaan.

Defining covenant
A covenant is a special contract in which each participant agrees to fulfill his or her part of the agreement.

In the Covenant of Abraham, the father agrees to circumcise his son (or to appoint a substitute circumciser), and God promises to make of Abraham a great nation. If the father fails to fulfill the covenant, then the son, as an adult, is required to have himself circumcised. (Actually, the interpretation later was that if the father doesn’t do it or doesn’t appoint someone, the mother is supposed to do it or have it done. If she doesn’t, then the boy’s Jewish community has the responsibility. So, for example, when the Soviet Jews immigrated to the United States, most of whom were not circumcised, the Jewish community welcoming them made provisions for thousands of them to be circumcised.)

Circumcision marks the eternal covenant – the sacred agreement – between God and Abraham, and continuing, between God and Isaac, then between God and Isaac’s sons, then between God and every single male born to a Jewish parent or converted to Judaism – through the ages. Every single Jewish boy is included in this covenant, this agreement, with God.

If you are a lawyer, you will probably get the idea of covenant right away, but for me (a non-lawyer), it took a while to see how a covenant differs from an ordinary agreement or a contract between two parties. Covenants are special contracts between two or more parties. And that’s the distinction. 

In ancient times, a ceremony marked the agreement of a covenant, probably to ensure that each or all parties understood – and accepted – the seriousness of the covenant, and therefore would do their best to honor it. One common way to solemnize a covenant during Abraham’s time was to slaughter an animal, then spit the animal in half. Next, both parties to the agreement would pass between the two parts of the animal, to emphasize the seriousness of the covenant, and to signal that if either party broke the agreement, that party would be in deep trouble! After “sealing the covenant” in this manner, the parties involved often shared a celebratory meal. (Clearly this is an early example of the Jewish tradition of marking every event with food. Or, as the joke around Passover Seder goes, “They were slaves. They were freed. Now let’s eat!”) To return to the seriousness of the discussion, though, it is worth repeating: Circumcision is both the sign, as well as the seal, of the most essential contract between God and the Jewish people. 

The seal of a covenant
Today, a transaction between Jewish jewelers, in New York’s Diamond District, may be “sealed” with a handshake. An agreement to buy a 50-story office building, howe3ver, may be signed at a 5-hour – or longer – session between lawyers and bankers, and buyer and seller, an involve numerous documents, signed and witnessed, and sometimes sealed by a Notary (an official sealer of documents). In Abraham’s day, deals were often sealed with a cut that produced blood. This could be because many people didn’t know how to write; therefore, sealing an agreement in blood took the place of their signatures.)

You may be thinking that a Torah covenant sounds like a legal contract, and it does because it is. But covenants in Torah carry more significance than a mere legal contract. The relationship between the parties runs deeper. Let’s say we sign a contract to buy a house. While both parties – seller and buyer – are expected to fulfill their end of the deal, there is no requirement of a warm, friendly, protective and lasting relationship between them. In contract, a marriage between two people is a contract, and is also a covenant because there is more to the union than a mere contract. The covenant of marriage implies a deep, loving relationship between two people. So to sum this up, what distinguishes a covenant from an ordinary legal contract or mere agreement is the understanding that this is a special agreement, one not to be taken lightly. And, moreover, it is an agreement based on trust, sincerity, and faith.

Other covenants in the Torah
The early history of the Jewish people – as told in the Bible – tells of a series of covenants made by God. The first covenant was with Adam. Later covenants were with Noah, then with Abraham, then with Jacob, with Moses, and with King David. After each covenant, the people (being human) failed to fulfill their part, a failure that angered God. After punishment for breaking the covenant (in Adam’s case, it was exile from Eden; in Noah’s, the Great Flood, and so on), the people pleaded with God for forgiveness. And God offered a new covenant.

The covenant with Noah. As in marriage, God became a partner in a loving relationship with all of humanity. But when the people angered God, by returning to their ways of wickedness, God sent the Great Flood to destroy all life on Earth. He spared only Noah and Noah’s family and the animals on the Ark from this decree, this penultimate punishment. The human side of this deal was to obey what came to be known as the “Seven Laws of Noah.” These seven laws are:

• Do not murder another human being and have respect for life.
  
• Abstain from adultery and other sexual acts condemned by God.
• Do not worship idols.
• Do not steal.
• Do not blaspheme God.
• Do not eat the flesh of an animal while it is still alive. (In other words, you can’t tear the limb off a live animal in order to eat that limb.)
• Establish courts of justice.
  

These fundamental, ethical laws were intended to apply to everyone – on earth. Accepting them, and living according to them, is what makes a person a righteous human being. This is because, Jews believe, that God means for every single human being to have respect for: life, religion, family, property; to avoid cruelty to humans and animals; and to pursue justice. 

The sign for this covenant is the rainbow. Why a rainbow? Because the rays of the sun shine through the water drops in the sky and bend and separate into different colors – like humanity, with its different skin shades, its different cultures and its individuals, all of whom are different and unique. Still, there is only one light behind the rainbow, just as there is only one God, whose love unites every human being on Earth. This Covenant of Noah, therefore, is between God and all people, not just between God and the Jewish people.

The next covenant mentioned in the Torah. Fast forward about 10 generations, and we arrive at the life of Abraham and the creation of the Covenant of Circumcision, or the Covenant of Abraham, as it is also known. The tricky part of this covenant is that God commanded that men, not women, carry the sign of the covenant on their bodies. Even though women are part of humanity, they are not required to have the “seal of the covenant” on their bodies. Why were they not included? Actually, this is a great question and one that modern women especially, including female rabbis, female mohels (called mohelim), and many Jewish mothers, ask. This is addressed in a future blog but if you are interested in learning about it now, read the book by Shaye Cohen, Why Aren’t Jewish Women Circumcised? Gender and Covenant in Judaism, published by University of California Press, in 2005. 

Now, back to Abraham! According to the Covenant of Abraham, all Jewish infant boys are to be circumcised by their father or by a substitute. Since an infant cannot be responsible for agreeing to a contract, or signing a covenant, a father or mother, or the parents’ Jewish community, is responsible for seeing that the infant is circumcised. A Jewish male who was not circumcised as an infant – and who has no medical condition making circumcision dangerous to him – is expected to get himself circumcised when he becomes an adult. It’s been this way since the beginning of Jewish history, is this way now, and, according to a number of rabbis and Jewish scholars my coauthor and I interviewed, it will be this way for a long time to come, despite questions and arguments put forth by those who oppose circumcision, some who are Jewish and some who are not.

Again (because it is important to understand if you decide to circumcise your son for Jewish reasons), a covenant is a promise between two parties – each party promising to fulfill certain conditions. When two people wed, they agree to the covenant of marriage, and the sing of that covenant between them is a ring. The sign of the covenant that God made with Noah and humanity is the rainbow. And the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham and all Jewish men is a circumcision.

Why is the covenant between Abraham and God sealed with circumcision?
Long before the establishment of Judaism, circumcision rituals existed in many cultures, and were definitely practiced in the Fertile Crescent, the area of the world where Judaism was founded. In Egypt, for example, the earliest known depiction of a circumcision was found on a cave. Dating to about 2,400 B.C.E., it shows an Egyptian temple priest cutting the genitals of two young men. But other ancient peoples, in various areas of the world, also practiced circumcision, albeit for different reasons. In Egypt, the origins of the practice may have been rooted in a search for purity and perfection. In other cultures, circumcision may have been a rite of passage into adulthood (and therefore, was often done at puberty or when a man was being initiated into a tribe as a warrior). Elsewhere, circumcision served as tribal identification, perhaps as a symbolic substitute for human sacrifice, including the custom of sacrificing a first-born child in order to “please the gods” and perhaps, to ensure the health of subsequent children.

Some scholars believe that circumcision was used for hygiene. Others suggest it was to make a man more fertile, that cutting off the tip of a foreskin enhanced his ability to achieve erections, that semen would not be trapped in a foreskin, and that the male would be less vulnerable to infections, especially sexually transmitted infections, that could harm his penis and prevent pregnancy. And a frequent suggestion is that circumcision was believed to help a male control his sexual impulses (something I’ll discuss in a another blog entry, by the way.) Whatever its origins were, circumcision was widely practiced throughout the ancient world, and is, in fact, the earliest known elective or plastic surgery.

A circumcision did – and does not – make a person Jewish, not even in the time of Abraham. After all, Ishmael was circumcised, and while God promised him much progeny and a great nation, God did not promise to include Ishmael in the nation of Jews. Ishmael’s progeny founded Islam (which is why Islam is called one of the Abrahamic religions, since Ishmael’s father was Abraham). Still, as Professor Sander Gilman suggests, “Circumcision defines the Jew, and the Jew defines circumcision.” While circumcision does not make a person Jewish, it does “mark” a person as Jewish – if he is Jewish.

The deal between God and Abraham
God sets forth the term of the covenant. God promises to give Abraham exceedingly numerous offspring. He also promises that those offspring will someday become a nation, with a land of its own (which is why Israel is often called the “Promised” Land, based on that promise of God). Abraham’s people, the Jews, in turn, must try to transform themselves (through discipline and self-control) and, in addition, transform the world (through Tikkun olam, righteous acts). What do the Jews promise God? To study Torah, to serve God, and to do good deeds – Tsedakah – all of which can bring justice and righteousness into the world.

For thousands of years, Jewish males (except weak or ill infants, or those living under repressive regimes) were expected to be circumcised. And while the Jewish soul is said to enter an infant at the time of his circumcision and his Hebrew naming, the responsibility of a Jewish man to observe the covenant between him and God continues throughout his entire life. Circumcision is a serious, solemn promise that Jews, starting with Abraham, have given – for themselves and their children and their children’s children.

Why is that part of the body to mark the deal?
For fertility. A serious promise needs a serious ceremony to seal it, and perhaps no body part is more significant to a man than his penis. Or perhaps the seal of the covenant is on the penis because it relates to God’s promise to make the Jews fertile – to make them “exceedingly numerous.”

Circumcision was believed to enhance fertility. In biblical days (and even now, on the kibbutz, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I pruned the lemon tree saplings in order to enhance their productivity later), men pruned fruit trees by cutting off extra branches to make the branches left more fruitful. The young trees were pruned for three successive years, during which time no one picked their fruit. In the fourth year, the fruit could be picked and given to the temple priests to consumer. Only in the fifth year, could the fruit be picked and eaten by anyone.

Jewish circumcision in ancient times removed only the tip of the foreskin that extended beyond the glans of the penis. Yet it is the tip, with its ridged band only there, which can be too tight to allow an erection and therefore allow a man to achieve a pregnancy in his wife. (And remember, in those days, no one knew that ovaries produce eggs. Rather it was thought that a man planted a “seed’ into a woman, which eventually grew into a baby.) There are other reasons that a foreskin can prevent an erection, mainly that it is still attached to the glans, but a tight tip is one of the most common reasons and the ancients seem to know that.

To control lust. Perhaps the covenant is sealed on the penis because that is the most important part of a man’s anatomy (aside from his brain?) in other ways beyond fertility. As Rabbi Michael Gold suggests, “We cannot transform the world until we learn to transform ourselves. Human perfection begins with self-control. The symbol of the covenant is placed right on the organ that most needs self-control.” Circumcision was thought to help a man be righteous and to help him improve his self-discipline and self-control. As circumcision was believed to decrease a man’s lusty, it could enable him to honor God’s commandment.

To improve the Jewish people’s chance of survival. Some uncircumcised men have foreskins that are too tight – or too long – to be pulled back during an erection. Or the foreskin  may still be stuck on the penis, which also prevents erections. Whatever the medical reason, people of the time may have concluded that a male with a slightly shortened foreskin (because, remember that they didn’t remove the entire foreskin but only removed its tip), or later, when they removed the entire foreskin, would have far fewer problems achieving an erection. In this way fertility for the Jewish people would be improved. Hygiene, also, was thought to be easier for circumcised men, in those days before indoor plumbing.

To make the world perfect. Another traditional suggestion is related to the idea of making the world perfect. Naturalists and pantheists (those who worship God through nature) may believe that nature is already perfect, that we are perfect just as we are born (we trust that none use makeup, have cosmetic surgery, or construct fake waterfalls in their backyards). But Jews believe that while God may be perfect, the world is not yet perfect. Circumcision may bring Jewish males closer to the perfection of God.

A symbolic meaning. As noted earlier, circumcision of the foreskin might have been a substitute for animal sacrifice or sacrifice of the first-born son. In some ancient cultures, when a man struggled to please or placate the gods, or a particular god a particular man worshipped, he might sacrifice his firstborn child, hoping that the god would then spare his later children either sickness or death. As in the story of Abraham, rather than sacrifice the child’s life, the only sacrifice was a part of the child’s foreskin – in those days, considered to be a great deal (small patch of skin for the entire person!). 

Why observe the Covenant of Circumcision?
If you are Jewish, and don’t believe in God, why commit to a promise to God? (I have to be honest and tell you this true story. I was at a cousin’s Passover Seder a few years ago. I asked everyone there – nine adults – who believed, for sure, in God. Many entertained the possibility and were there agnostics. A few were atheists who embraced Jewish ethics and Jewish laws and liked identifying with their Jewish families and communities. But if the truth be known, only one person that night knew for sure that God exists. Who was that person? The Presbyterian spouse of one of the Jewish guests!) Given how many Jewish parents, especially after the ordeal of the Holocaust and especially that most atheists happen to be the most educated and that the vast majority of Jewish adults have at least a college degree (according to my friend Joshua Halberstam, Ph.D., author of the fabulous book Schmoozing: The Private Conversation of American Jews. Indeed, nearly one out of three Nobel Prize winners is Jewish. So it wasn’t surprising to find out how many Jews doubt the existence of God but still embrace many of the laws, morals, and traditions of Judaism. Yeah, I know, “go figure,” as Yentyl might have said. “Go figure.” Back to circumcision. Even if you don’t believe in God, you might choose to circumcise your son believing there are health benefits or cultural reasons. Or you might circumcise because you want your son to “look Jewish’ to fit into with his Jewish family and community. Or you may want to honor or maintain an ethnic or cultural identity, or preserve a Jewish tradition that is thousands of years old. 

If, however, you circumcise because you believe in the Covenant of Circumcision, then remember that the procedure is a solemn sealing of the deal. Just as ancient people walking between two halves of a sacrificial animal were reminded (and it would be hard for them to forget) of their commitment, witnessing a son’s circumcision at a bris is surely a potent reminder that the son is Jewish. I just went to my cousin’s grandson’s bris. In fact, I was one of three “official” witnesses to the circumcision, who afterwards signed the document attesting to it. The mohel accomplished the circumcision rather swiftly, the infant had a stiff erection during the entire procedure (one I hope I can forget at his Bar Mitzvah but I’m not sure that will be possible!). His mother is Jewish; his father is not but has committed to having him raised Jewish and therefore was quite supportive of the covenant. And I have to tell you, that witnessing the solemn circumcision and blessings and naming did indeed feel like an important, highly important, solemn, serious, intention to raise this boy as a Jew. I could see the psychological and cultural and religious significance of the occasion and of the actual circumcision. It’s one thing to discuss, in the abstract, and quite another thing to witness. I know that witnessing a circumcision turns some people off and even makes them activists against it. But for me, it was seemed to put me back into Biblical days, into days when circumcision was in defiance of those who wanted to convert all Jews and end Judaism, in fact, into the present, when in an interfaith marriage, as is so common today, it is such an affirmation of the intention to raise this infant as a Jewish infant. Still, it’s your decision and I can fully respect those parents who decide not to circumcise their infants. In fact, I think (or maybe I am rationalizing!) that not circumcising a Jewish infant puts more responsibility – not less – on the parent to give that child a Jewish education, a Jewish home, and strive in other ways to keep that child Jewish, in ways that secular Jews who do have their sons circumcised but then neglect to remember the Sabbath, the holiest of Jewish holidays.

Certainly – or rather, hopefully – witnessing a son’s circumcision, especially at a bris with family and friends present, is surely a potent reminder that the boy is Jewish. And a reminder, too, of what being Jewish really means – the commitment to Jewish ideals, to service to humanity, and to believe in justice, equality, and access to a decent standard of living for all.

Another reason to keep the covenant of circumcision comes from Orthodox teachings and from Kabbalah (mystical Judaism), which is to keep the soul in touch with the Jewish nation. Or rather, to prevent it from karet – from being “cut off” from the Jewish people, and, as some believe, from the perfect world-to-come. (Yes, anti-circs, I see the irony here of cutting off the foreskin to keep the child from being cut off Jewish people). (More about that in a subsequent blog article.)

One last cultural comment, which is: What is abhorrent to one culture may be acceptable to another, but that acceptance does not make it universally acceptable. So while some cultures tolerate killing and consuming dogs, others are horrified at the thought and deed. Perhaps male circumcision will one day be placed in the universal category of unacceptable cultural rituals, the way slavery has been placed, for example, and the way female circumcision is regarded by many (to be universally wrong). Whether or not circumcision of males survives the next four thousand or so years of Judaism or life on Earth, what is to be hoped for is that the original mission of the Covenant of Abraham – the mission all Jews inherit from their religion and culture, is the mission to study and learn, the mission to help others and, especially, the mission to live a righteous life. That, after all, is the true Abrahamic legacy.

A few interesting comments that are off the main subject
Hanukkah. Next time you celebrate Hanukkah and remember the victory of the Maccabees over their Syrian-Greek overlords, remember that part of the reason for their revolt was because circumcision had been outlawed. A woman, in fact, was lead around the city with her circumcised infant, then the infant was thrown over a wall, to his death, and his mother, too, was murdered. The holiday of Hanukkah, therefore, celebrates not just the overarching victory of the Maccabees, but also their reclaiming of their right to circumcise their infant sons.

The Christian departure from circumcising foreskins. “I will put my Law in their minds. And in their hearts I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” That’s from the book Jeremiah, Chapter l31, Verses 30 to 32. It’s actually a quotation about circumcision of the heart, rather than circumcision of the foreskin. Christians, starting, or especially, with Simon, the Jewish man who became a member of the Christian Jews and then proposed doing away with circumcision of foreskins altogether in favor of this circumcision of the heart (which became the basis for the baptism ceremony marking a child’s birth and marking conversion to Christianity). Simon’s name was changed to Paul, best known as the Apostle Paul, who also proposed remembering their Jewish roots, but becoming an altogether separate religion, known from then on as Christianity and not Christian Judaism. 

This new covenant – the covenant of purifying the heart and not the penis – became (and remains) a pillar of Christian faith. Brit Hadasha literally means “New Covenant, and New Testament comes form the Greek word for “new covenant.” Most of the tensions that grew between Christians and Jews, at least during the time immediately after the rise of Christianity in Europe and elsewhere, stemmed from the tradition that Judaism respects the Covenant of Circumcision. Christians believe that the Covenant of Circumcision became obsolete with the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Christian messiah.

What to make of all this? As I said, the circumcision at a traditional Jewish bris certainly lets you know where you stand with your religion and your tradition. No getting away from that. And that is what the original Covenant of Abraham was meant to do – make a strong commitment, a strong deal, to have that deal with God to walk in God’s ways and be a righteous human being. 

I fess up, as I have before, that out of tradition my husband and I did have our son’s circumcised, but did not have it done on the 8th day, at a bris, with Jewish prayers and blessings. Nor were we even present. And I have regrets, admittedly not deep regrets because we did go on to give each son a Jewish education, a Bar Mitzvah and even the habit of lighting Sabbath candles and remembering to keep the Sabbath, though in a very liberal, modern Reform Jewish way (if the truth be known). So my advice is to understand the covenant, that if you are Jewish, and if you are going to circumcise your son for religious reasons, then to do it at a bris. Remember that a quorum of 10 adults – a minyan – is not required. What is required, however, is some blood shed (remember the sealing of the deal is based on the blood shed and not necessarily the actual cut), certain Hebrew prayers and blessings to be recited by someone Jewish, and a commitment – from the parents – to raise their son Jewish. If you aren’t going to make that commitment, but still want a circumcision for cultural or other reasons, then the bris isn’t necessary. Still, I advocate waiting the 8 days because it gives the baby and mother a chance to bond, the mother a chance to recover from childbirth (and the child to recover, too), a chance to find out if (hopefully not) there is a bleeding disorder or other reason not to circumcise. By 8 days, most infants are gaining weight and not losing weight. And insurance should still cover the circumcision, which is usually just a few hundred dollars at most. Mohels may charge more – and may not be covered by your insurance, but honestly, that is not really a topic for this blog article. So to sum it up – before your decision to circumcise or to leave your infant intact, or if you are reading this to understand and perhaps to respect another person’s decision, then understand that why circumcision is so essential to Judaism and to individual Jewish parents and to individual Jewish men. And why a covenant is so much more than a mere shaking of the hands or even a typical legal document that can be contested or broken. Once circumcised, the deal is done! And maybe the ancients understood that – once marked as a member of the Jewish tribe a man was less likely to leave it or even take it for granted. Some men do leave and most modern Jewish men don’t wake up in the morning, look at their circumcised penis and remind themselves to follow Jewish laws.  Nor does an infant remember his circumcision or bris. But his parents will remember it and they are responsible for his Jewishness during the first part of his life. And the covenant is as much for them as it is between God and him, if I understand it correctly. And if I don’t, well, leave your comments and like the good Jewish student I’ve learned to be, I’m going to look at both minority and majority opinions!

Who is Jewish? To someone not Jewish this seems like an absurd question. But to someone Jewish, it’s not only valid, it’s one asked over and over again! Some of the “rules” for being Jewish are well known, like the one that says if your mother is Jewish, you are Jewish. Or the one that says you’re Jewish if you’ve had a “proper” Jewish conversion (whatever that means – this specific issue is being hotly debated in Israel). Other rules are debated and contested, like the rule that says if your father is Jewish, you are Jewish – but that rule only applies to liberal, Reform Jews, and comes with the caveat that you must be raised Jewish. This means you’ll need a Jewish education and some other public displays of Judaism in your life, like having a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or confirmed from Jewish religious school. The situation in Israel is more complex. Their Law of Return states that all those of Jewish ancestry – and their spouses – have the right to settle in Israel. But then they have the complex questions of who is Jewish and sometimes they insist on having you go through an Orthodox conversion just to be on the “safe side” of this issue.

If you’re thinking that this who-is-Jewish stuff doesn’t matter, think about a Jewish family in London, who, a few years ago, tried to enroll their son in the Jewish Free School, a private school that had been founded there, in 1732. The son’s mother had converted to Judaism but the school, which was run by an Orthodox Jewish Board of Trustees, refused to recognize her conversion, either because the conversion was too liberal, or probably, more likely because she had converted after his birth and not before he was born. Thus, when he was born, his mother wasn’t Jewish and therefore, according to the school board, neither was he. And if he wasn’t Jewish, they were not going to allow him to be enrolled in the school. 

Because private schools in England are subsidized by the government, the boy’s parents took the case to court – and won. The British Court of Appeals rules that the school’s definition of who is Jewish was wrong, that their admissions policies were unfair, and the boy was indeed Jewish. The school appealed the decision, but the British Supreme Court upheld it. Many in the British Jewish community of 300,000 protested the idea that the government could rule on the religion of a person. The case demonstrated that the who-is-Jewish question matters, even in contemporary times, and that it is difficult to determine, especially today, with all the intermarriage. (It also proves that no answer to the question will ever satisfy everyone, including Jews and non-Jews.)

Answers from Torah
The Book of Genesis (17: 10-14) clearly states that circumcision is part of the Hebrew’s pact with God, and clearly states, too, that if a son is not circumcised, he may be cut off from the Hebrew community:

But a foreskinned male, who does not have the foreskin of his flesh circumcised, that person shall be cut off from his kinspeople – he has violated my covenant!

This sounds pretty definite, if you ask me. Until four books later, in Exodus, when Moses, that patriarch of all patriarchs, that towering, but uncircumcised, by the way, figure of the Torah, fails to circumcise his two sons. Their mother, Zipporah, who was, of course, the wife of Moses, was not Jewish nor had she ever converted. Still, God sends Moses to Egypt to lead the his people out of slavery and bring them back to Canaan, the land God had promised them in the Covenant of Abraham. The Jewishness – or lack of Jewishness – of Moses’ sons is never questioned. (Although Zipporah eventually circumcises Gershon, their eldest son, herself. Clearly, the issue of whether a boy is Jewish if uncircumcised is not clear from this story.

Does a Jewish mother make a person Jewish?
In the Torah, Jewish identity was patrilineal, meaning it came through the father’s line. And many of the patriarchs, including Moses and the sons of Jacob, married women who weren’t Jewish. Yet their children were regarded as being Jewish. Later, Ezar, the Scribe, who was renowned for his knowledge of the Torah, observed that if Jewish men married non-Jewish women, and if their children could be Jewish, there was no incentive for these women to convert to Judaism. However, if Judaism were to become matrilineal, that is, if it were dependent on the mother’s religion, then non-Jewish women marrying Jewish men would have an incentive to convert to Judaism. (I know, this is troubling because Judaism teaches that no one should ever convert for either love for marriage; only because they want to be Jewish for Jewish sake. Go figure.) During the second century C.E., when Jews were living under Roman occupation, Judaism became matrilineal. The shift may have occurred because the identity of a boy’s mother – and therefore her Jewishness – is certain, whereas the identity of his father, before the days of DNA testing, was not. An alternative, or additional reason for matrilineal Jewish descent, may also have been that matrilineal rule was more consistent with Roman law of the day.

Today, both Orthodox and Conservative Judaism accept only matrilineal descent. For them, the only requirement that makes you Jewish is to have a Jewish mother. If the baby of a non-Jewish mother is adopted by a Jewish couple, the baby will need to a formal conversion in order to be Jewish. The child would, about the time of his Bar Mitzvah and age of moral agency, have to make a conscious decision to convert or be converted. In contrast, Reform Judaism will recognize a person as Jewish if only their father is Jewish, but even if their mother is Jewish and their father is not, according the Union of Reform Judaism, the child will require a “Jewish upbringing.” What does that imply? It means that there must be public evidence, such as a Bar Mitzvah or confirmation, or maybe a trip to Israel and Jewish camp or attendance at a Jewish day school – some sign of allegiance to Judaism, in other words, to be considered Jewish.

What is Judaism?
The Encyclopedia Judaica provides this basic definition:  Judaism is the “religion, philosophy, and way of life of the Jewish people.” Wikipedia adds: “Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh, and explored in later texts, such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel.”

What makes someone Jewish?
Merely believing in Judaism or feeling Jewish is not enough to establish Jewish status. Nor is Jewish identity determined purely by the individual – as a matter of personal belief or feeling of attachment to Judaism. One does not become Jewish merely by declaring “I am Jewish,” or I accept the Jewish religion,” explains Rabbi Mark Washofky, in his book, Jewish Living: A Guide to Contemporary Reform Practice. In Reform Judaism, individual rabbis and individual Jews don’t have to follow a set of rules, the way an Orthodox Jewish person is expected to obey halakha – traditional Judaism based on rabbinic literary sources. “Jewishness” is somewhat like citizenship in a political commonwealth, according to Rabbi Washofky. To be a citizen, one must either be a “natural-born” citizen or one must complete the formal process of naturalization – a process defined and governed by the laws of that commonwealth. Thus, the child of one Jewish and one non-Jewish parent may enjoy the presumption of being Jewish, but Jewish status must be established by “appropriate and timely public and formal acts of Jewish identification.”

In 1983, the Central Conference of American Jewish Rabbis (CCAR), the governing body of Reform Judaism, outlined the definition of who is Jewish, based on halakhic tradition, with a modern, liberal spin. Someone is Jewish who:

• if male, has entered in the covenant of circumcision.
  
• has acquired a Hebrew name.
  
• studies Torah.
  
• has a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
  
• has been confirmed.
  
• has performed public acts that affirm his or her Jewish identity.
  

According to these Reform guidelines, children in interfaith marriages are expected to observe mitzvoth (commandments) that lead them to a positive and exclusive Jewish identity. This means that children born to two Jewish parents are not obligated to prove their Jewish identity but those who have only one Jewish parent are. Moreover, the mitzvot are to be public and formal, such as a Bar Mitzvah or a confirmation, so that their “Jewishness” is demonstrated before other Jewish people. If a child’s parents (note: not if both parents are Jewish; only if one is Jewish) fail to provide a Jewish education and fail to provide public opportunities that demonstrate Jewishness during childhood, then a formal Jewish conversion may be required (by observant Jews or by Israel). In contrast, a very liberal Reform rabbi may welcome the child of an interfaith couple who did not give the child a formal Jewish upbringing. In the United States, at least, it is up to the individual rabbi to set the rules of who is Jewish and who is not.

And what does it mean to be Jewish?
After “what makes someone Jewish” comes the question: “What does it mean to be Jewish?” Indeed, what does it mean to live a Jewish life? Some say Jewish life begins with circumcision, then requires a belief in God, then includes study of Torah, living a righteous life according to Jewish law, and doing tsdakah (good deeds). But many Jewish people believe that you can live a righteous life – and do good deeds – without having to study the Torah, leaving its study, instead, to rabbis and scholars and Jewish people who like to get together on a Saturday morning, at their temple, to discuss the parsha, the Torah portion of the week. 

When is enough Judaism enough? Is having a Bar Mitzvah, or a family trip to Israel, Jewish enough? Or, must a son be affiliated with a temple, go to religious school for years, be confirmed, be married under a wedding canopy, and donate to Jewish causes to be Jewish – enough?

Halakha – Jewish law --  is based not just on Torah but also on the Talmud, and on decisions by rabbis. Sometimes, rabbis will have different opinions, or different interpretations of the law. For example, one rabbi may be unwilling to perform a wedding for a couple if one of the partners isn’t Jewish and is unwilling to commit to being Jewish but willing to raise their children Jewish. Another rabbi may perform a wedding for such a couple, or even allow the non-Jewish spouse to recite an aliyah – blessing – at a Torah reading but the first rabbi may not be willing to go that far.

The cultural norm
With circumcision so common in the United States, albeit becoming less common on the West and East Coast and among interfaith couples, for both Jewish and non-Jewish people, circumcision no longer sets a male apart as being Jewish. Tragically, during the Holocaust, a male’s circumcision was indeed a marker for being Jewish and as such, would be a tragic marker that sent him to his untimely death, to a prison camp or to a death camp. Today, however, remaining intact does not set a male apart from Judaism and the Jewish people, even though it is rare among Jewish males. Just look at the Jewish websites, such as Ron Goldman’s, that are devoted to ending the custom. And his is only one of a number that are devoted to active discussion and debate about the custom, In the San Francisco Bay area and elsewhere, where liberal Jewish communities have flourished, some Jewish parents are choosing to leave their sons intact, and the practice has been increasing, especially among couples choosing to have home-births or birth educators and physicians who believe circumcision is wrong. 

While it is acceptable for Jewish men to be uncircumcised for medical reasons, for a bleeding disorder, for example, the cultural norm is that the majority of Jewish men – estimates range from 90 to over 95 percent – are circumcised. Many converts to Judaism are circumcised today, even though many have been circumcised earlier, before converting to Judaism, since circumcision has been so common in the U.S. since the late 1800s and especially, since after World War II. While 20 to 25 percent6 of Reform Jewish women, and a smaller, but significant percent of Conservative Jewish women, are marrying non-Jewish men, most of these men have been circumcised for medical or cultural, if not for religious, reasons.

If no one in our society circumcised their sons, except for Jews and Muslims, then circumcision might again be a defining mark of someone Jewish, as it separated Christians from Jewish people in Europe, for nearly 2,000 years. (This is because shortly after Christ died, Christians stopped circumcising either their sons or their converts. Only when circumcision became common for medical reasons did they start circumcising again and then it was for medical not religious reasons. More about that in a future blog, by the way). But in our culture, while circumcision rates are on the decrease, many non-Jewish parents are still having their sons circumcised, as are most couples in interfaith marriages between someone Jewish and someone not Jewish.

Being Jewish and intact (with a foreskin)
Being intact – uncircumcised – because your parents chose to leave you uncircumcised, or because there health issues prevented circumcision, does not “undo” your Jewishness. What does “undo” it is ignorance of Judaism, as may be the case for a child raised with only Jewish parents who doesn’t belong to a temple, observe Judaism in the home (except maybe to get a Ruben on rye bread or have a Hanukkah party).

Consider the case of Madeline Albright, who was Secretary of State during the Clinton presidential administration. Her parents were Jewish and left Europe shortly before the Holocaust, escaping a fate that for many, if not most European Jews, was horrific. Maybe because of the fear of hatred again Jews, maybe for other reasons, they raised her as a Christian. She was even, presumably, ignorant of her Jewish heritage. She had two Jewish parents, but no Jewish education, no participation in Jewish life.  Instead she had a Christian upbringing, and identified herself as Christian. Ms. Albright is regarded as Jewish by the Orthodox and Conservative Jews, since she had two Jewish parents. But she is not regarded as Jewish by the majority of U.S. Jewish people, namely Reform Jews and others who constitute more than half of all Jews. For only about 1 in 10 Jewish Americans are Orthodox, about 1 in 4 are Conservative; the rest are Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, unaffiliated, or Jew-Bu’s (Jewish Buddhists). (Look, even before reading the book about the Jewish group that visited the Holy Dali Lama, during his exodus from Tibet, when he was living in India and wrote that wonderful book The Jew and the Lotus, I know about Jewish Buddhists, and Jew-Hu’s (Jewish Hindus, I’ll tell that joke about the woman who treks to the Himalayan mountains, to find the guru. When she finally reaches the summit and finds him, she says, “Sheldon, would you come home already???” I know the sense of humor here because I am married to one of them. I married a yoga/mediation teacher who took me to Ceylon and India on my honeymoon, having been raised Jewish but found out he was adopted when he was in college. Oh, did I mention that we also worked on a kibbutz at the beginning of the honeymoon, since he was raised by a Jewish family, who was quite active in Jewish causes, including the founding of Israel. A few years after marrying him, he became truly unique (or meshuganah!) when he got an M.A. in Philosophy and Comparative Religion, then became an interdenominational, but Jewish, minister of a religious group he founded in 1978. Yeah, go figure, as my Jewish grandmother would say. ) And people are confused about Madeline Albright’s background! Wait until they hear my husband’s!

In Jewish tradition, what counts most is whether you live a Jewish life, and that, like many aspects of modern Jewish life, eludes an easy, clear definition, and can be debated almost endlessly!

Interestingly, many Jews believe they can identify another Jewish person when they meet one. It’s called “bageling,” this “knowing” or finding out that the other person is Jewish. Maybe it’s because being Jewish is as much cultural, or ethnic, as it is religious. Jews are a “people” and a religion, but Jews are not just a people, nor are they just a religion. So a person can say “I am Jewish,” but that doesn’t make him or her a member of the tribe. Still, Jews are people who are Jewish, and all Jewish people understand that.

Can you be Jewish and have a foreskin?
Yes. Yes because a health problem, such as a bleeding disorder, could have made your circumcision medically unsafe. If you were born prematurely, or your birth weight was too low, you might not have been circumcised, although you might have been circumcised later, when you were an older and could handle the surgery better. Indeed, as we have said, Jewish law precludes a circumcision – always precludes a circumcision – if there is a health risk.

Here’s the good news – and some qualifications
Circumcision is not an induction into Judaism. Circumcision is, however, a powerful mark of a man’s Jewishness. California-liberal-on-circumcision Rabbi Yeshaia Charles Familant writes, “A Jew is a Jew because of a combination of beliefs and behavior, a combination that does not necessarily entail circumcision. Circumcision does, however, symbolize the bond between a Jewish male and God.” Or, as the online Encyclopedia Judaica explains, “Circumcision is an outward sign of the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people, and also a sign that the Jewish people will be perpetuated through the circumcised man.”

At times in Jewish history, when circumcision was forbidden by repressive governments, many parents risked their lives to have their sons circumcised. Starting in 1917, when Russia outlawed organized religion, millions of Russian Jews could not safely circumcise their sons – or practice Judaism. Uncircumcised, and often barred from any public worship, those Russian Jews were still considered Jewish. When hundreds of thousands were permitted to leave the Soviet Union, starting in the 1970s and into the 1980s, many of them arranged to have their sons, some of whom were already teenagers, and themselves circumcised, as adults. Yet those who chose not to be circumcised are still considered Jewish.

In contrast to this previous example of moderate and flexible attitudes about the requirement of a circumcision for being Jewish, there are still times and situations when an uncircumcised Jewish man may face some obstacles. In the earlier days of Judaism, uncircumcised males could not participate in certain rituals, such as serving as a priest in the original temples. Even now, Jews who believe in an afterlife say that only circumcised males can be part of that World to Come. In fact, this is the reason that circumcision is often a requirement for burial in a traditional Jewish cemetery. Even stillborn infants are circumcised before burial. That’s because of the belief that uncircumcised males, called arel, in Hebrew, will find no place in the (perfect) World to Come. And exclusion from that world, called kareti, which literally means “cut off from.” Yes, this is ironic in that having your foreskin cut off is a ticket to Jewish heaven but being intact gets you cut off from the place.

Some rabbis will refuse to perform a Bar Mitzvah for an uncircumcised boy (don’t ask how they know but as you may know, keeping secrets from other Jewish people is well, a bit of a challenge). Other rabbis will refuse to perform a wedding under a chupah, the traditional open-sided wedding canopy, for an uncircumcised groom. Again, I don’t know how the rabbi knows who is circumcised and who isn’t unless it is a standard question. Hmmmmmm.

Do converts need to be circumcised?
The Reform Jewish movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis elected to do away with “initiatory rites” – such as circumcision or immersion in a mikveh – for converts. Today, therefore, adult males with Reform or other liberal rabbis converting them are not necessarily required to be circumcised, although some rabbis prefer that they be circumcised. Even if they are already circumcised, no convert will have had a bris, so many rabbis will ask for a ritual pricking to draw the blood that marks the sealing of the covenant. 

Orthodox and Conservative rabbis require adult men and adopted children born to non-Jewish mothers, who are already circumcised and converting to Judaism to have that ritual pricking, called a hatafat dam. As explained, it is actually a prick of the skin that draws a symbolic drop or two of blood. Most liberal rabbis do not require the procedure, but some do. Nor is it usually required of infants who are circumcised in the hospital but still having a Hebrew naming, although some rabbis, mainly Orthodox and Conservative again, will require a hatafat dam ritual pricking to draw blood.

As also mentioned previously, no one is ever supposed to convert to Judaism because they are in love with a Jewish person, or are planning on marrying a Jewish person, or are already married and think being Jewish will help them fit into the Jewish family better. The only legitimate reason for converting to Judaism is the wish to live life as Jews, and be part of the Jewish people. Actually, even this alone is insufficient for converting to Judaism. For a person desiring to convert must study – with a rabbi – and must learn about the practices of Judaism. Only when the rabbi deems the student ready, can the student of Judaism proceed with a formal conversion to Judaism, by an ordained rabbi. On the other hand, what is not required, not be most Reform and liberal rabbis doing conversions, is a circumcision, though as we stated earlier, individual rabbis differ in their practice of this.

Who is Jewish, by the rules
The traditional rule still stands, that it is a Jewish parent’s responsibility to circumcise a son. If the parent fails or cannot, the Jewish community may take on the responsibility, or the son, himself, is supposed to get himself circumcised – before his Bar Mitzvah or before his marriage. But in liberal Judaism, the rules are not as rigid as in less liberal branches, which include the Orthodox, Chabad, and some Conservative congregations.

One thing is for sure – if your son is born to two Jewish parents – and is circumcised at a bris, no one is likely to question his Jewishness.

If your son has a Jewish mother, the less liberal branches will consider him Jewish, even without a circumcision, although they will, as already explained, expect him to get himself circumcised when he is old enough to make the decision.

If your son has a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, but has a circumcision, at a bris, if he also has a Bar Mitzvah, receives a Jewish education, perhaps in religious school on Sundays, perhaps at a Jewish day school, if he marries a Jews, no one – except perhaps a rabbi in Israel or your Orthodox cousin – will question his Jewishness.

If your son has one Jewish parent, especially if that parent is the father, is circumcised in the hospital without a bris, ritual prayers or a Hebrew naming, if he never goes to religious school, then his children are likely to be. . .Christian, or so an old joke goes.  Yes, today, that joke would include atheist, agnostic, Muslim, or Buddhist in the punch line.

If your son has one Jewish parent, no circumcision, some Jewish education, and maybe a Bar Mitzvah, he will be Jewish – in the eyes of some, but not in the eyes of others. And for those, his lack of a circumcision may well be the determining factor.


Are the rules fair?
Is it fair that someone who is born to Jewish parents but never lights Shabbat candles, never goes to temple, and never recites a Hebrew blessing can be considered Jewish, while someone else who lights Shabbat candles, goes to temple regularly, knows some Hebrew blessings and prayers, but was not born to a Jewish mother, or was adopted but never formally converted to Judaism, is not Jewish? Fair, yes, because the person who wants to be Jewish faces no obstacles except the formality of studying to convert, then going through a formal conversion. Judaism is not an exclusive club that doesn’t allow new members. A new member can join – it’s just that joining requires a formal initiation.

Undoing Jewishness
A Jewish person can renounce their Judaism to the point where he or she is regarded as an apostate – a Jew who deserves to be excluded from the Jewish community. (Happened to the philosopher Spinoza, by the way.) Even for an apostate, who incidentally, remains technically at least, Jewish, a return to the Jewish community is not viewed as a conversion back to Judaism. This is because “once a Jew; always a Jew.” That is, unless a person publicly defames Judaism, and is formally excommunicated by the leaders in his or her Jewish community. This is very rare, of course, but as already mentioned, did happen to philosopher Spinoza.

Ensuring that your son will be Jewish
Here is an informal list of suggestions of Jewish mitzvot and traditions that may help to establish a Jewish identity – for an intact, uncircumcised Jewish male child:

• Place a mezuzah on your doors, then teach your son to use it on entering.
  
• Light Shabbat candles and say blessings on Friday nights.
  
• Serve challah French toast, matzo ball soup, and other traditional Eastern European Jewish foods. 
  
• Use Yiddish expressions, such as nuknik, oy vey, shlemeil, shlemazel, and kibbutz
  
• Cook a Passover Seder, or be sure to take him to one.
  
• Light Hanukkah candles, and celebrate the holiday – without a Christmas tree!
  
• Use a Kiddush cup for wine on Sabbath and the holy days.
  
• Attend service on the High Holy Days, and fast on Yom Kippur.
  
• Send him to Jewish day or overnight camp, and religious school.
  
• Send him on a group trip to Israel, such as Birthright, or take there yourself.
  
• Teach him to appreciate the teachings of the Torah, and encourage him to watch www.G-dcast.com on his computer or smart phone.

If you do these things, few people will care about your son’s penis not “looking Jewish.” And if they do – or he does – it will be his responsibility – and his choice, later, to remove what your decided to leave on.