Bris or Brit? To Circumcise Him or to "Name" Him

Penny Adler
from the Internet, September 25, 1997

Oh, Lucky Me, I'm with the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! I'm a Jew, a religious tribal male who is blessed with the Commandment of Jewish sexual ethics, (unless of course she's a blonde haired, blue-eyed shiksa all-babe fox). And like my Blessed Ancestors, I can partake of the Canaanite, Palestinian, Foreign Goyim Babes on one standard, but have to keep a higher standard for my yucky cousins, nieces, and other Brillo-pad (steel wool) haired, lumpy chested, big bottomed J-e-w-ish, domineering, ball-busting tribal wives. Yes, lucky me, I'm a Jew -- I got half my manhood sliced off of me before I had a chance to fight back, and if I marry a Jewish woman I'll be giving most of what manhood I have left to her and her mother and their family. My pruned prick is proof of my penalized existence -- and they wonder why there's no Jewish Elvis, no Jewish Football Hero, no manly Jewish "Adonis" or "Greek God" - but when a Jewish man is desirable it's because his business is good, he gives his money to his wife, he obeys his wife, and she can take him out in public to the parties on her list. Oy, Me!

In Israel, where some 70 to 80 percent of the men (and women) are non-ultraorthodox, is it so bad to be a boy in the public schools who hasn't been subjected to surgical sexual alteration? Will such a boy be rejected by the girls? Will the woman he loves laugh at him when she sees it for the first time, and insist that if she is to marry him that he get it done NOW! Will he be discriminated against in a religious institution as a deviant, and NOT ONE OF US!!!?

And, isn't it enough that he has Lesbians for a mother and father? Why make him different in one more sexual way over which he has no control?

So, either way: the mother, single or lesbian, is damned if she does, and damned if she doesn't.

In addition, plenty of boys have complications from circumcision. And would you do such a thing to your daughter -- surgically alter her primary sex characteristics? Does such a risk make him healthier, or is it better for the females or males he has sexual contact with? Probably it doesn't make any significant difference in and of itself. In fact, it is now considered elective surgery (if done in the hospital) and most pediatricians oppose it.

As was noted by a nice Jewish woman: Don't you think that along the same lines of outlawing female circumcision, which I am sure many on this list would call female genital mutilation, there should be support for outlawing male genital mutilation? Female circumcision is also religiously-based in Africa and the Middle East, remember?

But if we don't circumcise our sons, and if we name him, I say we name him on a Saturday, like we do with girls, or move them both to Friday, or to either, but not boys get Torah with their naming but girls may not.

Jewish Associates of CRC makes known to the Jewish community that a growing number of Jews either have not circumcised their son or would choose not to circumcise a future son. It is an opportunity for Jews who take this position to declare themselves and to be counted. A confidential list of Jews who contact the Circumcision Resource Center for this purpose is maintained. Learn how you can join Jewish Associates of CRC. Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation P.O. Box 56178, Tel Aviv 61561,  Israel    Tel 972-9-8949236    E-mail: avshalom@ozemail.com.au Af-Milah - Second Thoughts on Brit Milah The Israeli Newsletter Against Circumcision  (in Hebrew) P.O. Box 207,  Rosh-Pinah 12000,  Israel   Tel 972-51-979568    E-mail: af-mila@canaan.co.il Brit Shalom Providers Brit Shalom is a non-cutting naming ceremony for newborn Jewish boys.

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