About this site
Just in the United States, nearly 20,000 Jewish male infants will be born each year. More and more of those infants will be born to parents in mixed marriages. An increasing number, since the West Coast is one of the fastest growing Jewish population areas, of Jewish parents are living on the West or East Coast, where Jewish parents are challenging many child-rearing practices that used to be assumptions in past years and past generations. And yes, this includes the ancient tradition of circumcision.
Actually, challenging circumcision is nothing new, although it is relatively uncommon. First record of a challenge was by the Jewish men wanting to hang out in bathhouses (naked, of course) with their Greek and Roman friends, shortly after the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem, around 70 to 130 or so C.E. That’s when they wanted to compete as runners and when Olympic runners and other (male only) athletes ran nude and the circumcised ones got ridiculed or else felt self-conscious and tried to uncircumcise themselves. And according to some scholars, the Maccabees fought, in part, for the right to circumcise their infants.
Circumcision was challenged again during the period when Reform Judaism came into being, mainly in Germany and France. Challenged by a few, but never abandoned by the majority.
In recent years, some liberal Jewish groups and liberal Jewish people have challenged the purpose of circumcision, including the Jewish humanist movement, led by Rabbi Sherwin Wine. Rabbi Binyamin Biber, who is president of their board, wrote an interesting article challenging circumcision, in fact.
The purpose of this blog is to offer in-depth, but unbiased, information about the roots of the Jewish tradition of circumcision, as well as a thorough examination of all the issues, in order to help a Jewish parent or a non-Jewish parent married to someone Jewish, who is struggling with the issue of Jewish circumcision as both a religious and a cultural tradition. The articles are lengthy because circumcision, being one of the most valued traditions and laws, does not lend itself to short articles or blogging.
Interspersed between facts and stories, perspectives and an explanation and examination of issues will be my musings. And yes, sometimes my musings take over; it’s a blog, not a book, after all.
Actually, challenging circumcision is nothing new, although it is relatively uncommon. First record of a challenge was by the Jewish men wanting to hang out in bathhouses (naked, of course) with their Greek and Roman friends, shortly after the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem, around 70 to 130 or so C.E. That’s when they wanted to compete as runners and when Olympic runners and other (male only) athletes ran nude and the circumcised ones got ridiculed or else felt self-conscious and tried to uncircumcise themselves. And according to some scholars, the Maccabees fought, in part, for the right to circumcise their infants.
Circumcision was challenged again during the period when Reform Judaism came into being, mainly in Germany and France. Challenged by a few, but never abandoned by the majority.
In recent years, some liberal Jewish groups and liberal Jewish people have challenged the purpose of circumcision, including the Jewish humanist movement, led by Rabbi Sherwin Wine. Rabbi Binyamin Biber, who is president of their board, wrote an interesting article challenging circumcision, in fact.
The purpose of this blog is to offer in-depth, but unbiased, information about the roots of the Jewish tradition of circumcision, as well as a thorough examination of all the issues, in order to help a Jewish parent or a non-Jewish parent married to someone Jewish, who is struggling with the issue of Jewish circumcision as both a religious and a cultural tradition. The articles are lengthy because circumcision, being one of the most valued traditions and laws, does not lend itself to short articles or blogging.
Interspersed between facts and stories, perspectives and an explanation and examination of issues will be my musings. And yes, sometimes my musings take over; it’s a blog, not a book, after all.