Jewish Groups Say it’s Time to Stop Circumcising Boys
The recent death of a baby boy in New York City has prompted some Jewish groups to call for an end to the practice of male circumcision. City investigators believe the boy died after contracting herpes from an infected mohel who sucked the blood from the baby’s circumcision wound. Two other boys circumcised by the mohel have also contracted herpes, including the dead boy’s twin brother.
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) February 9, 2005 -- The recent death of a baby boy in
New York City has prompted some Jewish groups to call for an end to the practice
of male circumcision. City investigators believe the boy died after contracting
herpes from an infected mohel who sucked the blood from the baby’s circumcision
wound. Two other boys circumcised by the mohel have also contracted herpes,
including the dead boy’s twin brother.
Also known as Brit Milah,
circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin from the penis. Although
circumcision deaths in the U.S. are rare, the ritual is facing heavy criticism
as it becomes synonymous with genital mutilation.
“What happened to this
innocent Jewish baby in New York is especially tragic,” said Gillian Flato,
Director of Jews Against Circumcision, an international organization of Jews who
have re-examined the practice and have found it to be immoral. “I think this is
a wake up call for the Jewish community. Are they willing to blindly follow
tradition and jeopardize their sons' lives? Circumcision does not make one
Jewish. Being born to a Jewish mother makes you Jewish, or a Jewish father in
the Reform tradition. Being Jewish is in your heart, not in your
penis.”
Dr. Ronald Goldman, Executive Director of the Jewish Circumcision
Resource Center in Boston and author of Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish
Perspective, said that many Jewish parents feel pressured to circumcise their
newborn sons by family members or others within the Jewish
community.
“For a growing number of Jews, circumcision raises serious
intellectual, emotional, and ethical conflicts. A lot of parents end up
regretting their decision to have their baby boys circumcised, especially if
they witness the ceremony,” said Goldman. “Those Jews that forgo circumcision
are at peace with their decision. Jewish parents who are questioning
circumcision have options."
One of those options is a Brit Shalom, a
naming ceremony that some Jewish families practice as an alternative to
traditional circumcision. Growing in popularity, it shares many of the same
ceremonial aspects of the Brit Milah, but without cutting the genitals. It is
similar to the naming ceremony used to celebrate the birth of Jewish
girls.
Attempts to protect boys from circumcision have
now crossed into the legal realm as well. While girls have been legally
protected from circumcision in the U.S. since 1996, a federal bill proposal
written by a San Diego group called MGMbill.org would extend that protection to
boys. Matthew Hess, the group’s president, said that Jewish support for the
proposed bill will be critical to its success.
“Efforts to legally
protect boys from MGM (“male genital mutilation”) will be much harder without
the support of Jewish leaders,” said Hess. “Many politicians fear that
supporting a ban on infant male circumcision will upset their Jewish
constituencies and cost them votes in the next election. But those attitudes can
be changed if more Jews speak out against the practice - just as Muslim women
have changed opinions on female circumcision in Africa.”
Hess himself is
not Jewish, but he said that feedback and advice received from Jewish members of
Congress and their staff have made him more aware of the need to encourage
activism in the Jewish community at large. “Concerns about the ethics of
circumcision are pervasive,” said Hess. “But transforming those concerns into
action requires people to speak up.”
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb207134.htm