Jews are called the “People of the Book” for a reason – they rely on books to instruct them in righteous living, and on how to bring justice into the world. Their books advise them on the details of life – from which foods to eat or not eat to suggestions on civil behavior, such as not raising your voice in conversation in order to keep the discussion more pleasant.

The major books that Jews turn to are quite familiar: Torah, which is the first five books of Moses that are read from a hand-written (perfect) scroll, usually in shul, temple, or synagogue each year. My father tells me that his parents owned a Torah, which is mother’s parents kept in their apartment and which my great-grandfather studied all the time, often with other Jewish men. And after their oldest son died in a pogrom in Latvia, in the early 1900s, my mother’s father’s parents, who were quite well-to-do for Jews living there then, had a Torah commissioned to honor that son, Israel. Then, when my grandfather and his best friend Gilbert (who eventually married one of my grandfather’s younger sisters, here in the States) got Bar Mitzvahed – at the same time, by the way – in my great-grandparents lavish apartment (for those times; Mother always tells me how they had sterling silver flatware and a grand piano and she was right – they had these things when others were living in one or two-room dwellings with dirt floors) they used that Torah. It is in a synagogue in Philadelphia now and I asked for it when we had no Torah in our little temple, but alas, that temple didn’t want to part with it. Anyway, the point here is that many people had their own Torahs to study; it wasn’t just a congregation that owned them. And today, what is in the Torah can be read by anyone, even on line.

So back to Maimonides, our dude who is one of the few Jewish scholars to ever address the issue of circumcision and have his musings recorded in a book that has survived hundreds of years. The other important books that Jews study is the Talmud, which a compendium of laws and commentary, and the Midrash, which is the book that retells Jewish stories, then interprets them and adds commentary of individual scholars. Along with three major works – Torah, Talmud, and Midrash – are other books, from prayer books to books by individual rabbis, scholars, commentators, poets, essayists, and novelists. We clearly are the “people of the Book!” In fact, when I got into writing, back in the late 1970s, the publishing industry in the U.S., located primarily in New York City but also elsewhere in a few other cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco, was so dominated by Jewish editors, publishers, and agents that one of my Catholic editors used to joke about her inclusion. It’s not like that anymore but it is rare to go into a Jewish home and not find avid readers among the people living there.

For Jews, study and learning are as important as prayer. Indeed, it was study that helped the Jews survive the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E. (I know I keep repeating that event but it is that important to our history!) The priestly caste of Sadducees lost power to the Pharisees, who were the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism. Their rabbis, who studied and taught in local synagogues and yeshivas (Jewish schools), helped sustain the Jews as a people through the following two thousand years of homelessness and exile. One of the most interesting things I learned about Jewish study was the respect any teacher had for the brilliant student  -- and for the poor student – and for women students. Let me explain. The first thing a Jewish group of at least 10 did was establish a school and a cemetery in the place they were exiled to – not necessarily a place of worship, though that would eventually come. Instead the school was more important that the place of worship. In addition, as I explained in an earlier post, males had compulsory education – by age 6, all Jewish males had to be in school and learning how to read Hebrew and to study, ask questions, and basically become a Jewish scholar even if they were eventually to become a peddler, merchant or tavern owner, as many did become. But – and this is what is also so interesting – women were not compelled to study but were allowed to study – and many did learn to read, write and study Jewish texts. One of my great-grandmothers was one of four daughters of a rabbi, who lived in a small shtetl in Latvia. Because he had no sons, he educated each daughter in Talmud and other texts. Basically, he taught them how to be judges because in those days, civil suits between Jews could only be settled in “Jewish courts,” so my great-grandmother (and her sisters) learned enough about Jewish law to settle cases. My grandmother settled them in the shtetl, Einselhof, where she and her husband lived in the early years of their marriage, before their eldest son was killed in that pogrom. 

The last thing I want to mention, although it will be told in the following story, is the respect for the brilliant student, who was often asked to teach, once his brilliance was revealed!

Maimonides, the scholar-philosopher-physician 
One of the most respected scholars of Judaism during the two millennia between the destruction of the Second Temple and the exile of most of the Jews living in Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel and their return to the area was Moses Maimonides. Maimonides was born in Cordoba, Spain, in 1135, while Spain was under Moorish control. Later, as the local Spanish Muslim rulers grew less tolerant of the Sephardic Jews there (and eventually expelled them, in 1492), Moses spent most of his early years in exile, traveling first through Spain and Morocco, then settling in Egypt. Along the way, in addition to his Jewish studies, he also studied philosophy and trained in medicine. In Cairo, he became a physician to the court of the Muslim leader, Saladin, and also became an important figure in the Jewish community there.

Much of Maimonides' writing was centered on the difficulty of balancing faith and reason. With loyalty to both his religious and his medical training, he searched for a way to understand and justify circumcision. His best-known book was The Guide for the Perplexed, first written in Arabic and later translated in Hebrew. Finally, over a thousand years later, it was translated into English. While other rabbis and scholars have written about Judaism and circumcision, it is the ideas that Moses Maimonides set forth that are still very much valued and often followed as guides even today.

Despite the importance of circumcision in Judaism, many rabbis and Jewish scholars simply took the custom for granted. But Maimonides, aspiring to explain and comment on every single one of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot, or commandments, wrote rather thoughtfully on circumcision. His comments are so interesting – and so frequently cited – that they are being included in this blog, because a discussion about Jewish circumcision would be incomplete without them.

First, a quote from a letter Maimonides wrote to the “wise men of Marseilles,” in 1194 C.E. “A person should only believe what he can grasp with his intellectual faculties, or perceive by his senses, or what he can accept on trustworthy authority. Beyond this, nothing should be believed.” Wow! Maimonides is saying that is up to you to read about circumcision, and think about the issues that surround it. Granted, I’ve only been dealing with primarily the Jewish and a few cultural issues in this blog – there are so many more to deal with, including medical, cultural, personal, sexual, ethical and other issues.  

After learning as much as you can about circumcision, accept what makes sense to you and reject what doesn’t make sense. That’s what Maimonides advised – and how modern his advice sounds. How liberal, too, at least in some areas. And how wise.

Maimonides on circumcision
In his Guide to the Perplexed, Maimonides first delivers an interesting commentary on the crossbreeding of animals. He advised against letting an ox and an ass plow a field together, lest they have intercourse and produce a mule – an animal that is sterile. (While it is clear that Maimonides would have something to say about the popularity of cross-breeding today – of cockapoos and Labradoodles, remember that he wasn’t against the creation of a new breed per se, but rather the creation of a sterile breed that could never reproduce. One rabbi told us that while Jews should not do crossbreeding, though they may enjoy the fruits of someone else’s crossbreeding efforts (sounds hypocritical but who knows? I don’t!) This means that grapples, pluots, and ugli fruit can be relished, and trendy cross-bred dogs, ligers, and zonkeys can be admired.

Maimonides then turned specifically to the subject of circumcision, beginning with a statement of what he believed the purpose of circumcision to be. According to him, circumcision is “to limit sexual intercourse, and to weaken the organ of generation as far as possible, and thus cause man to be moderate.” (Remember, those are his words, translated.)

“Some people believe that circumcision is to remove a defect in man’s formation; but everyone can easily reply, ‘How can products of nature be deficient so as to require external completion, especially as the use of the foreskin to that organ is evident.’” Hmmmmm, that don’t-mess-with-nature is one of the most common reasons given for leaving an infant’s foreskin intact – and for being active in the fight to ban routine elective circumcision. What is important to note is that Maimonides recognizes the foreskin’s sexual sensitivity, which many mohels, doctors, and others do not. Yet critics of circumcision often site this sexual sensitivity as the major reason to leave a foreskin intact.

“This commandment (to circumcise),” continues Maimonides, “has not been enjoined as a complement to a deficient physical creation, but as a means for perfecting man’s moral shortcomings. The bodily injury caused to that organ is exactly that which is desired,” (note that Maimonides is acknowledging that circumcision is not an insignificant medical procedure) “it does not interrupt any vital function (he is also recognizing that a man can have sex and function quite well without a foreskin), nor does it destroy the power of generation (meaning that a circumcision does not make a man sterile).”

“Circumcision simply counteracts excessive lust…for there is no doubt that circumcision weakens the power of sexual excitement, and sometimes lessens the natural enjoyment. . .the organ necessarily becomes weak when it loses blood and is deprived of its covering from the beginning. Our Sages say distinctly: It is hard for a woman, with whom an uncircumcised had intercourse, to separate from him. This is, as I believe, the best reason for the commandment concerning circumcision. (Wow!) And who was the first to perform this commandment? Abraham, our father, of whom it is well known how he feared sin; it is described by our Sages in reference to the words, ‘Behold, now I know that though art a fair woman to look upon.’ [Genesis 12:2].”

Maimonides continues, “ There is, however, another important object in this commandment. It gives to all members of the same faith, i.e., to all believes in the Unity of God, a common bodily sign, so that it is impossible for anyone that is a stranger, to say that he belongs to them. [Note: this is not true in the United States, but how could Maimonides have foreseen the popularity of circumcision among non-Jews, when in his time, many Christians abhorred the ritual. And clearly, Maimonides saw circumcision as a way of setting Jews apart from everyone else.] For sometimes, people say so for the purpose of obtaining some advantage, or in order to make some attack upon the Jews. No one, however, should circumcise himself – or his son – for any other reason but pure faith. [This is worth repeating because it is what my coauthor and I believe and the reason we wrote our book: “No one, however, should circumcise himself – or his son – for any other reason but pure faith”]. For circumcision,” says Maimonides,” is not like an incision on the leg, or a burning in the arm, but is a very difficult operation. It is also a fact that there is much mutual love and assistance among people that are united by the same sign when they consider it a covenant.” [Note that it is when circumcision is not just a medical procedure, but also a covenant that gives it so much power to unite.]

“Circumcision is likewise the covenant which Abraham made in connection with the belief in God’s unity. So also everyone that is circumcised enters the covenant of Abraham to believe in the unity of God, in accordance with the words of the Law, ‘To be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.’ (Genesis 17). This purpose of the circumcision is as important as the first, and perhaps, more important.

“This law can only be kept and perpetuated in its perfection, if circumcision is performed when the child is very young, and this for three good reasons: First, if the operation were postponed till the boy had grown up, he would, perhaps, not submit to it. Secondly, the young child has not much pain, because the skin is tender and the imagination weak; for grown-up persons are in dread, and fear of things which they imagine coming, sometime before these actually occur. [Maimonides was wrong about the pain but absolutely on target about the dread – babies don’t dread nor can they imagine what may occur in the future, as boys and men can – and do.] Thirdly, when a child is very young, the parents do not think much of him; because the image of the child, that leads the parents to love him, has not yet taken a firm root in their minds. That image becomes stronger by the continual light; it grows with the development of the child, and later on the image begins again to decrease and to vanish. The parents’ love for a new-born child is not so great as it is when the child is one year old; and when one year old. . .it is less loved by them than when six years old. The feeling and love of the father for the child would have lead him to neglect the law if he were allowed to wait two or three years, whilst shortly after birth, the image is very weak in the mind of the parent, especially of the father, who is responsible for the execution of this commandment.” You may disagree with some of Maimonides observations, especially about loving a testy six-year old more than an adorable newborn, but he does have some rather interesting observations for someone observing nearly a thousand years ago!

To continue with Maimonides: “The circumcision must take place on the eight day (Leviticus, 12:3) because all living beings are after birth, within the first seven days, very weak and exceedingly tender, as if they were still in the womb of their mother; not until the eight day can they be counted among those that enjoy the light of the world. That this is also the case with beasts may be inferred with the words of Scripture: ‘Seven days shall it be under the dam’ (Leviticus 22:27), as if it had no vitality before the end of that period. In the same manner, man is circumcised after the completion of seven days. The period has been fixed, and has not been left to everybody’s judgment.

“The precepts of this class include, also, the lesson that we must not injure, in any way, the organs of generation in living beings (Leviticus 22:24). [Does this mean it is wrong to spay cats and dogs? Interesting.] The lesson is based on the principle of ‘righteous statutes and judgments’ (Deuteronomy 4:8); we must keep in everything the golden mean; we must not be excessive in love, but must not suppress it entirely; for the Law commands, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply’ (Genesis 1:22). The organ is weakened by circumcision, but not destroyed by the operation. The natural faculty is left in full force, but is guarded against excess. It is prohibited for an Israelite ‘that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off’ (Deuteronomy 23:2) to marry an Israelite woman; because the sexual intercourse is of no use and of no purpose; and that marriage would be a source of ruin to her, and to him, who would claim her. This is very clear.” [Let’s not tell the disabled movement about that prohibition. On the other hand, I know a fellow who helped disabled men suffering spinal cord injuries to have sex again – and therefore, also, to please the women in their life. My favorite movie I saw in 2012, in fact, was the movie, “The Sessions,” a true story about a man who suffered from polio and was living in an iron lung most of the time, who learned, through a sexual surrogate trained to help men such as him, achieve orgasms and have sex with partners.]

If Maimonides had lived in contemporary times, he might have been more open-minded about erectile dysfunction, and as I just noted, about the disabled, as well, and would have found references in the Torah to support these compassionate leanings. Of course, though, he was writing long before Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medications, long before the establishment of the Kinsey Institute or the Institute for Advanced Studies of Human Sexuality. He was even writing long before the Internet, before Women’s Rights, Gay Rights and (and gay marriage, adoption and parenting), and before the passage of the American Disability Act. 

Jews had enjoyed a great deal of freedom in the Spain of Maimonides. Alas, a few hundred years later, the Golden Period would come to an end – with the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews from Spain. Only a few days ago, as I was researching this again, was there an article in The New York Times, about how difficult the Sephardic Jews are regaining their citizenship, even when they have proved that their ancestors were expelled so many centuries ago. 

What is so wise about Maimonides, and what I would love to conclude this entire blog with is the advice, worth taking and worth remembering if you are thinking about circumcising your son for religion, especially for Judaism (or to placate your Jewish parents, Jewish spouse, Jewish in-laws, or Jewish grandparents –yours or your partner’s) is to consider Maimonides dictate: The only reason to circumcise your son -- if you believe in God and want to live your life in relationship with God by observing as many mitzvot as possible, including what is considered one of the most important, and clearly the first – is to honor and to fulfill the Covenant of Abraham, which is the Covenant of Circumcision. Repeat: the only reason.

Finally, Maimonides also advised that if you decide to circumcise your son – knowing the difficulty of the operation, and knowing how hard it can be to watch because of the love you have for your son, a love that is destined to grow, and knowing that your son may choose not to be circumcised when he is older, so that circumcising him early is better than risking his decision not to be circumcised (but only if you believe it is your decision, or rather responsibility, to make; others believe it is not yours to make but rather, your son’s right to make the decision.) Infant circumcision today is relatively safe and far easier than circumcising an older child or adult, though there is a new technique being used in Africa and developed by an Israeli company that could change that. What is most important here – the most important message to take away from the entire blog and from Maimonides’ wisdom is this: Maimonides – nor anyone else – gets the last word on the circumcision of a Jewish infant – you do. If you believe, after a fair degree of research, consideration and perhaps, discussion with your spouse, your rabbi, your physician and others, that you have the right or responsibility to make the decision, then make as informed a decision as you possibly can. But if you are making it on the basis of Judaism, do as Maimonides suggested: Do it for faith in God and in Judaism and for no other reason. A circumcision can always be done later but can never be undone (despite attempts to grow new foreskins). 

Good luck with the decision. Remember that most Jewish men in the history of Judaism were circumcised – and circumcised on the eighth day of their life. On the other hand, a few, very notable men, were not circumcised at birth and spent most of their adulthood uncircumcised. These include both Abraham and Moses. But most importantly, if you are having a son, and intending to raise him Jewish – with or without a foreskin—Mazel tov! May he always be a blessing to you and your family.

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.