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Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews? By Eli Ungar-Sargon

THE FORWARD, THE JEWISH DAILY, MAY 20, 2011
Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews?
By Eli Ungar-Sargon
May 20, 2011
http://www.forward.com/articles/137577/
The Bris on the Ballot
A San Francisco ballot initiative that would outlaw infant circumcision is gaining momentum.

Eli Ungar-Sargon is an independent filmmaker who grew up in an Orthodox home. His first film, “Cut,” was about circumcision and Jewish identity.

The subject of circumcision is often relegated to the realm of jokes and cheeky double-entendres, but a San Francisco ballot initiative now gaining momentum would ban the practice, and it raises some very serious issues. At the heart of the current controversy are three fundamental questions. First, is circumcising an infant wrong? Second, should infant circumcision be against the law? And third, would banning circumcision infringe on the rights of those who practice it as part of their religions?

The answer to the first question is relatively straightforward. Though practiced by Jews for thousands of years and more recently adopted in the United States for its purported health benefits, infant circumcision is an ethically problematic act. By surgically removing the most sensitive part of the penis, we permanently alter a person’s sexual experience and we do so without their consent. The argument that we ought to circumcise babies for health reasons is very weak. Consider an analogous situation: If all women had one breast surgically removed, we could probably reduce the incidence of breast cancer in this country. This is clearly not a sufficient reason to implement such a drastic measure and neither are the claimed health benefits of circumcision.

The answer to the second question is not as clear. Not all ethically problematic behaviors need to be criminalized. For example, sleeping with your wife’s sister may be unethical, but it hardly warrants a law prohibiting the behavior. Proponents of the ballot measure often point out that female circumcision is illegal in the U.S., while male circumcision is practiced routinely. The comparison between female and male circumcision may seem outrageous at first, but upon closer inspection, it is actually reasonable. Female circumcision is an umbrella term that refers to a variety of practices, some of which are less severe than male circumcision. Contrary to common belief, most forms of female circumcision do not completely eliminate a woman’s ability to feel sexual pleasure, yet any form of female genital cutting, even something as minor as a ritual nick to the hood of the clitoris, is illegal in the United States. The comparison to female circumcision is useful in so far as it helps to uncover a cultural bias that has yielded a legal double standard in the U.S. But understanding this inconsistency doesn’t get us any closer to answering the second question. The law prohibiting female circumcision might be as unnecessary as the proposed ban on male circumcision.

Nevertheless, one of the state’s primary responsibilities is to protect its citizens. And by allowing parents to permanently alter the bodies of their children, the state is failing to protect its most vulnerable citizens from bodily harm. It seems reasonable to draw a legal line when it comes to body modifications that have life-long consequences.

To answer the third question, I will focus on the Jewish community, as my knowledge of Islam is insufficient to do that community justice. I would argue that a clear majority of American Jews do not circumcise their sons out of a sense of religious obligation, but rather as a means of ethnic identification. These people mostly have it done in the hospital by medical staff rather than a mohel, which, ironically, means that their sons do not and cannot have an actual religious brit milah. Criminalizing circumcision would not infringe on this group’s religious rights, as they are not doing it for religious reasons. But there are religious American Jews who circumcise their boys out of a sense of religious obligation. These Jews can be divided into two groups: the fundamentalists and the non-fundamentalists. The former are a sub-group of Orthodox Jews who believe that our human understanding of ethics should not play a role in shaping Jewish law and practice. A ban on circumcision would indeed infringe on their right to practice their faith as they see fit. The human right to body integrity would, in this instance, override their religious right.

On the other hand, non-fundamentalist Jews, who constitute a very large number of Reform, Conservative, and even some Orthodox Jews, believe that human ethics are an essential element in the Jewish tradition. If my answer to the first question is correct, then there is a Jewish tradition practiced by virtually all Jewish parents today that is morally wrong. This should give pause to any non-fundamentalist religious Jew, and it is a black eye for the liberal movements that they have not taken this issue more seriously. Perhaps a law prohibiting circumcision is just what these Jews need to start a serious discussion about the problem of brit milah.

Eli Ungar-Sargon is an independent filmmaker who grew up in an Orthodox home. His first film, “Cut,” was about circumcision and Jewish identity.
- Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews?
By Eli Ungar-Sargon
The Forward, The Jewish Daily, May 06, 2011, issue of May 20, 2011.
http://www.forward.com/articles/137577/


Rabbi Nathan Segal writes...
'I believe circumcision is a major mistake...The code of the Jewish law is called 'halacha' (the way). Within the Code, there is a provision that if a mother looses a son because of circumcision, she is NOT obligated to circumcise her next son. I extrapolate from this, the inter-connection of my human family, that enough deaths and maiming have occured because of circumcision. Therefore - circumcision is no longer a requisite! Just as we no longer practice the animal sacrifices in the traditional temple, so let us not sacrifice an important piece of our mammal in the temple of tradition. '
- Rabbi Natan Segal, 2007
Rabbi of Shabbos Shul, Marin County, California, U.S.A.
Ordination: 1977 Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Yeshiva B'nai Or Philadelphia, Pa.

A Jewish mother who kept her son intact writes...
This dynamic site is being created by, for, and about Jewish people. We won't always agree. But we're united by this principle: the genital cutting of infants and children is wrong and must stop, no matter their religion or gender.
http://www.beyondthebris.com/

In Israel, opposition to circumcision has happened in just two decades, and now these 'rebels' number in the tens of thousands, according to Ronit Tamir, founder of Kahal ( http://www.kahal.org ), a support group for parents who choose not to circumcise their children.
- Jewish World, 3/11/10.

'It's a mitzvah to fight to end circumcision!'
- Samuel Richmond, an Intactivist Jew who lives in the U.S.A. http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html

'Coming from a European background... where many Jews reject a brit milla as an archaic and barbaric ritual... This author grew up in France in a traditional Jewish family. Not a single male of her generation or her children's generation within her large family (or in her circle of Jewish friends) was ever circumcised.' - Nelly Karsenty, Humanistic Judaism, 1988; 16(3): 14-20.

A marginal but growing number of Jewish Israelis choose not to circumcise their children, settled a breach of a millenary tradition which places them outside the social consensus and confronts them with their families.
However, in Israel the 'rebels' have happened in two decades of virtual absence to be counted in tens of thousands, said Ronit Tamir, a founder of Kahal, a support group for parents who choose not to circumcise their sons. ( http://www.kahal.org )
Danii Amir was not so clear from the beginning. Circumcised her first son from a previous marriage and was an experience as 'weird and traumatic,' and decided that would be the last.
'I do not think God would create man with something to be settled after eight days,' explains the musician, who describes the atmosphere around circumcision as 'very different from twenty years ago.'
His current wife, Ruth, feels even greater rejection of what he defines as 'barbaric and primitive'. The last thing my maternal instinct tells me is to my newborn son to a man with a knife,' he argues.
New father a few months ago, Ofir also spent the eighth day after birth at home with his girlfriend, away from sharp utensils and blessings of the mohel.
The night before the circumcision ceremony came almost by chance on Internet forums about the Brit Milah and decided to cancel the appointment.
Now he feels he made the right decision: to make his son 'his own body, so it has created a virtual forum,' Gonen Al Hayeled 'to shed light on the Brit Milah.'( http://www.gonen.us )
- Jewish World - March 11, 2010

'Removal of a healthy body part without medical indication has been viewed as being a violation of the Hippocratic oath, falling under the United Nations' definition of genital mutilation. As such circumcision is seen as being against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of the Child.' - Canadian Medical Assocaition Journal, Volume 152, Number 11, Pages 1873-1876,
June 1, 1995.

'The myth is that all Jews circumcise. But in Europe, South America and Israel, as well as here, there are Jews who do not circumcise their sons.' - Dr. Ronald Goldman, Baltimore Jewish Times — May 23, 1997

'Theodor Herzl was one of the most prominent figures who did not circumcise his son, who was born in 1891.' - Dr. Ronald Goldman, Jewish Spectator, Fall 1997

AS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF AMERICANS - including a sizable number of American Jews question the act of male circumcision ( http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org ) , a group of San Francisco activists are advocating to ban circumcision, or what they call male genital mutilation ( http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm )... Many of the leading activists against circumcision around the country are Jewish... Opponents of male circumcision believe that circumcision not only inflicts tremendous pain on babies, but also causes psychological damage to men, including feelings of anger, distrust and grief. They believe circumcision hinders full sexual satisfaction since the foreskin that is removed during circumcision includes thousands of sensitive nerve endings. ( http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/fleiss.html )
- Jerusalem Post, Challenging the Circumcision Myth, 04/10/2011

'Some families that have opted not to have their sons circumcised are resorting to an alternative ceremony called Brit Shalom -- meaning covenant of peace ( http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/ ). This ritual is a baby-naming ceremony done without removing the infant's foreskin, explained Rabbi Adam Chalom of Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in Chicago.' - Religion News Service

'an article in the January 1999 British Journal of Urology reported that women who had slept with both circumcised and intact men preferred sex with men who were not circumcised. The article reported that the women achieved orgasm faster, and were more likely to achieve multiple orgasms.' - Michael S. Kimmel, TIKKUN, Volume 16, Number 3, May/June, 2001.
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/

'Also the singer and literary critic Menachem Ben didn’t arrange a Brit Milah for his sons—in spite of his firm belief in God and the Bible. “It is possible to do a Brit Milah at a level specified in the Torah: ‘And you circumcised the foreskin in your heart,’ ” he claims with insistence. “I circumcised my sons my own way, without cutting, by reading verses from the Bible.” - Yediot (Israel)

'as recently as the mid-nineteenth century, in Eastern Europe and Russia there was a widespread move to stop the practice... Led by women--what a surprise!--who thought the practice barbaric and patriarchal, the movement eventually even convinced Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, who refused to allow his own son to be circumcised.' - Michael S. Kimmel, TIKKUN, Volume 16, Number 3,
May/June 2001.
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/

Betty Katz-Sperlich is a Jewish woman living in New Mexico, USA. A registered nurse, she is co-founder of Nurses for the Rights of the Child ( http://www.Nurses.cirp.org ). She refused to circumcise her son, now aged 13.
'I've been called anti-Semitic by non-Jewish people. But as a Jew, how could I not speak up against Jewish circumcision? I would be letting Jewish babies down.'
Jenny Goodman, from north London, also refused to circumcise her son. She is a doctor and a psychotherapist as well as a Jewish feminist ( http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html ). 'I know at least a dozen non-circumcised boys whose parents are identified as Jews,' she says. She adamantly opposes circumcision, claiming that it is physically and psychologically damaging to the child and violates human rights: 'It also violates the most important of medical ethics, above all do no harm.'
Opposition to male circumcision in the UK had its first big breakthrough 18 months ago with the controversial Channel 4 documentary It's a Boy!, by Jewish director Victor Schonfeld. It slammed the practice of Jewish circumcision as unnecessary and barbaric, with potentially horrific consequences. Mr. Schonfeld claims that public consensus against it in the UK is growing.
- Nursing Times, p. 12-13, February 19, 1997

'Nancy Wainer is one such mother. When her son was born 34 years ago, Wainer and her husband had him ritually circumcised. She has regretted it ever since. 'I can still hear his cries,' she said. 'He cried for hours. He was inconsolable.' Now, as a midwife in Massachusetts, Wainer advises mothers to leave their sons' foreskins intact... 'There are ethical questions about forcing an unconsenting person [to be circumcised].' - Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh - May 24, 2007

I should like to suggest to my fellow Jews that perhaps the time has come to redeem the foreskin itself, rather than sacrifice it. Surely some substitute might be found for this rite, ... that would be preferable to this assault upon and mutilation of a newborn infant...'
- Professor George Wald, M.D
Harvard University Professor, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine
[message edited by Homeopathy International 1 on Mon, 16 May 2011 00:15:36 BST]
 
  Homeopathy International 1 on 2010-06-12
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
'The debate has even extended to the religious practice of Jews. Instead of opting for a bris...Theo Margaritov's family welcomed him in April with a brit shalom, a cut-free ceremony. 'That's the way God made him,' says his mom Deborah, 33, a raw-foods cooking teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y.' - TIME Magazine, 2008

'NEW YORK (Reuters) - In most respects, Michelle Chernikoff Anderson is a rabbi's dream congregant....like an increasing number of Jews in the United States, she has decided not to circumcise her son, rejecting the traditional notion... 'I see circumcision as a blood ritual that I can let go of,' said Anderson, who lives in Southern California....'At the Jewish Circumcision Resource Center in Boston, director Ron Goldman maintains a list of 400 names of Jews who refuse to circumcise their sons.' - Jewish 'intactivists' in U.S. stop circumcising, REUTERS, 2007.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
The Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments
By Lisa Braver Moss
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/moss.html
Lisa Braver Moss, B.A., a free-lance writer, received her B.A. with Great Distinction from the University of California at Berkeley (1977) Several of her articles questioning the Jewish circumcision ritual., Brit Milah, have appeared in Jewish publications, including 'A Painful Case,' an article focusing upon the current circumcision debate, in Tikkun's September/October 1990 bimonthly 'Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture & Society.'

ENDING CIRCUMCISION IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY?
By Moshe Rothenberg
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html
Moshe Rothenberg, CSW, is a social worker for the New York City Board of Education. He received his MSW in Social Group Work at Yeshiva University - Wurzweiler School of Social Work (1973) and did post-graduate work in group and family therapy at Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He coordinated a program involved with Affirmative Action for the National Conference of Black Lawyers, which helped win a positive Supreme Court decision in the Weber case. Mr. Rothenberg initiated and coordinated two parent groups providing advocacy and counseling services for the Miskon-Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in New York. He teaches Re-evaluation Counseling to adults on such issues as parenting, feminism, and racism, and lead parent support groups. He is an educator on the subject of Brit B'lee Milah both within and outside of the Jewish community in which he lives.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'The Talmud goes on to say (Hul. 10a) that ‘One should be more particular about matters concerning life and health than about ritual observances’... In the British Jewish community, a small but growing member of young parents are refusing to circumcise their baby boys. They are beginning to create alternative non-violent rituals, gentle ceremonies to welcome babies of both sexes into the Jewish community and the wider world... As more parents have the courage to say ‘no’, then the intact Jewish boy becomes no longer the exception, no longer the ‘odd one out’. In fact, the uncircumcised Jewish boys and their families have remained firmly within the Jewish community. Judaism has many joyful and life-affirming customs to maintain and pass on, and I believe Jewish culture will be strengthened, not weakened, by our outgrowing of neonatal circumcision.' - Goodman J. Jewish circumcision: an alternative perspective. BJU Int 1999; 83 Suppl 1:22-27.
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'Judaism is a fluid religion that has been subject to change as it

meets challenges and reaches new and better understandings. This is

shown with the advent of non-traditional ceremonies, like Bat Mitzvah,

and other significant changes to advance the roles of females including

the ordination of women rabbis, chazzans and shamases.'
- See: http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org

For more Jewish and Israeli resources opposing circumcision,
see Jews Against Circumcision
http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org
Gonen Al Hayeled (Protect the Child) (site in Hebrew language)
http://www.gonen.us
Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation
http://britmilah.org.il
Kahal, the Israeli Parents' group
http://www.kahal.org
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
For more Jewish and Israeli resources opposing circumcision, see...
Jews Against Circumcision
http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org
Gonen Al Hayeled (Protect the Child) (site in Hebrew language)
http://www.gonen.us
Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation
http://britmilah.org.il
Kahal, the Israeli Parents' group
http://www.kahal.org

'Judaism is a fluid religion that has been subject to change as it meets challenges and reaches new and better understandings. This is shown with the advent of non-traditional ceremonies, like Bat Mitzvah, and other significant changes to advance the roles of females including the ordination of women rabbis, chazzans and shamases.'
- See: http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Comments by Dr. Mark D. Reiss, M.D.
'I am a 72 year old retired physician, a Jew who is an active member of a Conservative synagogue, and a grandfather. Three years ago, as I was about to become a grandfather for the first time, my interest in the subject became more focused. I learned that more and more physicians now realize that any potential benefits of circumcision are far outweighed by its risks and drawbacks. Whether done by a physician in the hospital, or a mohel in a ritual brit milah, the procedure has significant complication rates of infection, hemorrhage and even death. Mortality may actually be higher than thought since some of these deaths have not been attributed to circumcision, but listed only under their secondary causes, such as hemorrhage or infection. I’ve learned of the very important role the foreskin has in the protection of the head of the penis in the infant, and in sexual functioning in adulthood.

Growing numbers of American Jews are now leaving their sons intact as they view circumcision as a part of Jewish law that they can no longer accept. Alternative brit b’li milah or brit shalom ceremonies (ritual naming ceremony without cutting) are being performed by some rabbis. Increasing numbers of intact boys are going to religious school, having bar mitzvahs, and taking their place as young adults in the Jewish community.

As a Jewish grandfather, I want to assure young couples about to bring a child into the world, that there are other members of the Jewish “older” generation, including other Jewish physicians, and even some rabbis, who feel as I do. If your heart and instincts tell you to leave your son intact, listen!'
- Dr. Mark D. Reiss, M.D.
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/mposition.htm....

'I was raised as a Jew and yet I never even considered circumcising my sons. Reason told me that God or nature doesn't make mistakes. Obviously there is a vast intelligence behind all of life, and just as our eyes have eyelids to protect them, foreskins must serve a similar purpose.

When all is said and done, circumcision is really a human rights issue. What right do any of us have to permanently remove a normal, healthy, sensitive part of another person's body without their consent? I have no problem with an adult male who chooses to be circumcised. I do have a problem with an adult who makes that decision for a child. I have known too many men, both Jewish and Christian, who resent the fact that they were circumcised.'
- Laura Shanley, A Jewish Woman Denounces Circumcision
http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/circarticle....

'What about religion? For boys and girls alike, under basic human rights principles, anothers right to practice a religion must end where that individuals body begins. Otherwise, individual protections carry little meaning. Many Jews and Muslims are involved with organizations working to stop male circumcision, and many are questioning whether removal of healthy tissue from the bodies of their children is required by or even consistent with their faith. When the child is of the age of consent, he or she can make up his or her own mind about his or her own body.' - Steven Svoboda, J.D., 'In Search of Fatherhood' Magazine Interview
http://www.arclaw.org/arc_activities/fatherhood-interview.ph....

Other resources can be found at http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org,
http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/,
http://www.HISTORYOFCIRCUMCISION.NET,
http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org, and http://www.Nurses.cirp.org.

“The physician today has a duty to discourage circumcision and to refuse to perform it.”
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, April 1996.

'In all studies to date, the risks of circumcision have always exceeded any alleged benefits, a fact that often is not made clear to parents.' Circumcision and the Code of Ethics, George C. Denniston, M.D., M.P.H., Humane Health Care International, Vol. 12, No. 2, April 1996.

'Study provides further evidence that circumcision for non-medical reasons may be a mistake.'
The Chronicle of Urology & Sexual Medicine, Routine Circumcision Questioned as Prepuce May Have Special Function.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
Source: http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm



Miriam Pollack from Jewish Women Speak Out:
http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm
'So we use the word 'circumcision,' but this is a euphemism What we are really talking about for females as well as males is culturally and religiously sanctioned sexual mutilation and child abuse. ...lest we open ourselves to the immense grief that inevitably follows the awakening to the profound injury we have caused to our most beloved treasures: our beautiful, perfect babies.

This treatment of the newborn is not consistent with traditional Jewish values. Judaism places infinite value on life, particularly human life. The principal of pikuah nefesh is fundamental to Judaism; that is, for the sake of saving a life, even the Sabbath may be desecrated. Sh'mirat haguf, the protection of one's body, is a high biblical priority. Tattooing, cutting the flesh and amputation are all forbidden. Consciousness of animal suffering permeates both biblical and Talmudic thought as expressed by the concept of tsa-ar ba-alei hayim, or compassion for living things. In the fourth commandment, animals as well as humans are commanded to rest on the Sabbath and, according to the Talmud, Sabbath observance may be broken to ease the suffering of an animal. The laws of kashrut are specific and elaborate pertaining to permissible animal slaughter with the intention of reducing and regulating animal pain if we are to be a meat-eating people. The precept of ba-al tashhit also informs biblical and Rabbinic thought. We are not to destroy the fruit trees, even during a war. The notions of sh'mitah and yovel, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, require that every seventh year, and again in the fiftieth year, the earth be allowed to rest from deliberate economic use. The message seems to be clear: we are stewards of this earth and it is our task to protect it and, more than that, l'havdeel bain kodesh v'chol, to make distinctions between the holy and the profane, so that we may consciously and continuously sanctify life.

We must envision a Judaism that can welcome all of our children, nonviolently, into the brit b'lee milah, a covenant without circumcision.... Only in these ways will we begin the restoration of the holy and establish tikkun, healing, between the sexes.

Ultimately, we all must know that it is not possible to violate or suppress the sexuality of one gender without doing harm to the other. Opposing circumcision is men's work; but it is also most profoundly, women's work. Our babies know and we know: it begins with us. '
- Miriam Pollack from Jewish Women Speak Out, p. 171-185, Canopy Press 1995
http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
'I believe circumcision is a major mistake (male or female)...The code of the Jewish law is called 'halacha' (the way). Within the Code, there is a provision that if a mother looses a son because of circumcisim, she is NOT obligated to circumcise her next son. I extrapolate from this, the inter-connection of my human family, that enough deaths and maiming have occured because of circumcision. Therefore - circumcision is no longer a requisite! Just as we no longer practice the animal sacrifices in the traditional temple, so let us not sacrifice an important piece of our mammal in the temple of tradition.'
- Rabbi Natan Segal,
One Rabbis' Thoughts on Circumcision, February, 2007

http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/mgmbill.html ....
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish3.html
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/religious.htm
http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/levitt.htm
http://www.norm-uk.org/circumcision_jewish.html
http://www.noharmm.org/rationaljew.htm

'I am not Jewish (or Muslim), but I can assure you that many Jews are rethinking circumcision. (I do not have any information about Muslims). As a matter of fact, two of the most well-researched and eloquent books on the harmful nature of circumcision have been written by Jewish men. For more information, I urge you to read Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., (Vanguard, 1997) and Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy by Edward Wallerstein (Springer Publishing, 1980).'
- Christiane Northrup, M.D.
http://mensightmagazine.com/Articles/Northrup/lovecirc.htm

“I should like to suggest to my fellow Jews that perhaps the time has come to redeem the foreskin itself, rather than sacrifice it. Surely some substitute might be found for this rite, ... that would be preferable to this assault upon and mutilation of a newborn infant...'
- Professor George Wald, Harvard University, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine

http://www.noharmm.org/mystory.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/shanley.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/goldmanbalt.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/choices.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/jewdiff.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/maverick.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/nontrad.htm

'Many Jewish mothers and fathers have long recognized the painful, harmful, and dangerous aspects of the surgical procedure of circumcision. Many have wished for some alternative to traumatizing their little boy on the eighth day of his life, while still welcoming him into the Covenant of Abraham. Unlike the Bar Mitzvah, Bris Milah is not a spiritual experience for their son. Furthermore, it entails surgical pain and trauma, medical risk and long-term harm. It is a violation of their child's body and his sexual organ. In response to these concerns, several alternative Bris ceremonies have been created which fulfill the spiritual and communal obligations of Jewish circumcision without its traumatic effects or violation of rights. These ceremonies lovingly welcome a Jewish boy into the community of Jews while maintaining his bodily integrity and his human rights... Since the medical and hygienic merits of circumcision have now been disproved, little can be found to justify its continued practice by most American Jews.' - Bris Shalom Ceremony, an alternative Bris ceremony for concerned Jewish parents
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/bris_shalom.html

'Circumcision is not a guarantee of Jewishness. And yes, you can be Jewish with a foreskin.' - Rabbi Natan Segal, One Rabbis' Thoughts on Circumcision, February, 2007

'I am in favor of leaving the penis alone. Pediatric opinion is swinging away from routine circumcision as unnecessary and at least mildly dangerous. I also believe that there is a potential danger of emotional harm resulting from the operation. Parents should insist on convincing reasons for circumcision and there are no convincing reasons that I know of (as cited in Wallerstein, 1980).'
- Dr. Benjamin Spock, famed parenting author.
http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
From the JERUSALEM POST:
Kasher says, 'I don't see any reason why I should cut my son's genitals. There is no reason and I don't think I have the right, even as a parent, to cut a normal part of his body just because other people do it.'

Kasher thinks that's only just the beginning, even though right now his movement is a fringe one. He foresees a time when the practice will be relegated to history books. 'Eventually I think religious people, too, will stop doing it. But it will take years.'

But perhaps not in Europe. If certain members of the Swedish parliament get their way, theirs will become the first country to outlaw the procedure. A bill introduced in the nation's Riksdag last month would forbid circumcision on any boy under the age of 15 except in cases of medical necessity.

'Hopefully they will succeed and they will be the first nation in the world to recognize circumcision for what it is - a crime,' enthuses Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin, who leads the Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation.

He hopes other European countries will follow Sweden's lead, even though, he says, 'You don't have to outlaw circumcision because it's already illegal to cut any organ from a minor if they don't want or need it done.'

'There's a very strong feeling in Sweden that the Swedish people and government should be at the forefront of [protecting] rights, especially children's rights,' he says. The law passed after a local Muslim boy died from complications from medication administered in connection with a circumcision.

The issue, according to opponents of circumcision, includes the moral ramifications of cutting one's child and the psychological impacts stemming from the trauma. They claim that the level of discomfort experienced by the child increases his later response to pain and hurts the bond between the baby and his mother. They also maintain that circumcision diminishes sexual pleasure and that there is no medical reason to remove the foreskin.

Americans - who unlike Europeans routinely practice non-religious circumcision - perform the operation on approximately 60 percent of the male population, down from nearly 90 percent a generation or two ago.

Ben-Yami counters that 'Jewish identity can survive without circumcision, in fact, even better without it because more and more non-religious Jews have an aversion [to the religion] because of some of the things it contains, like circumcision. Judaism has enough content in it to survive without circumcision.'

'It's something that came into Judaism from other religions and other tribal [customs] and it will pass from Judaism [too],' Udi says.

Kasher of Af-Mila agrees. Though he acknowledges that his opinions are minority ones, he points to growing interest in his publication and awareness of the subject in the media, as well as the quick increase from four founding families in Kahal to its current size.

'It's going to vanish by itself, from the people,' he says.

A group of 35 American Jews that claims members from secular to Orthodox tries to find ways of reconciling Judaism to a circumcision-free life. The organization, Jews Against Circumcision, was started, as founder Gillian Flato of California puts it, because information against the practice 'must come from within.'

Brought up Conservative and now a Reform Jew, Flato says that what makes you Jewish is whether your mother is Jewish, not whether you are circumcised.

Besides, 'There's a lot of contradiction in Halacha,' Flato says. 'Part of Halacha says you cannot harm another person. But ripping off the foreskin is harming another person.'

Hilary Leila Kreiger., JERUSALEM POST, 21 November 2002.
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% http://www.icgi.org

Ashley Montagu Campaign Against the Torture and Mutilation of Children
http://www.montagunocircpetition.org/

Ashley Montagu Essay
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/montagu.html

International Coalition for Genital Integrity
http://www.icgi.org/information/medicalization/

The Case Against Circumcision by Paul M. Fleiss, MD., MPH.
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/fleiss.html

Christiane Northrup, M.D.
http://mensightmagazine.com/Articles/Northrup/lovecirc.htm

Doctors Against Circumcision
http://www.doctorsagainstcircumcision.com

Nurses Against Circumcision
http://www.Nurses.cirp.org

Immunological functions of the human prepuce
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/STD/fleiss3/

Circumcision as a Risk Factor for Urethritis in Racial Groups
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/STD/smith/

Students For Genital Integrity
http://www.studentsforgenitalintegrity.org

Mothers & Fathers
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/ethical.html

Infact Protection
http://www.enfant.org

Catholics Against Circumcision
http://www.catholicsagainstcircumcision.org

Muslims Against Circumcision: To Mutilate in the Name of Jehovah or Allah by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/aldeeb1/

The History of Circumcision
http://www.HISTORYOFCIRCUMCISION.NET

Intact America
http://www.intactamerica.com

Not Just Skin
http://www.notjustskin.org/node/7

Australia
http://www.circinfo.org

NORM-UK
http://www.norm-uk.org

Colorado
http://www.coloradonocirc.org

Norm
http://www.norm.org

France
http://www.enfant.org

Norway
http://www.nocirc.no

Switzerland
http://to.go/samipage

UNITED STATES RESOURCES BY LOCATION
http://www.peacefulbeginnings.org
http://www.ksnocirc.org
http://www.norm-sa.co.za
http://www.nenocirc.org
http://www.NOCIRCofMI.org
http://www.nocircmo.org
http://www.nocircmn.org
http://www.nocircpa.org/
http://nocircnc.webs.com
http://www.uvm.edu/~gdavis/nocircvt.htm

Parenting Resources:
http://www.kahal.org
http://www.circumcisiondecisionmaker.com/
http://www.circumvent.org/
http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/
http://www.icgi.org
http://www.gonen.us
http://www.nocirc.org/
http://www.SexAsNatureIntendedIt.com
http://www.noharmm.org
http://www.norm-uk.org
http://www.infocirc.org/
http://www.intact.ca/
http://www.circumcision.org
http://www.jewishcircumcision.org
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org
http://www.HISTORYOFCIRCUMCISION.NET
http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org
http://www.arclaw.org

Medical Resources:
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/med-argu.htm
Legal: http://www.arclaw.org/arc_about/arc_about.php
Parenting: http://www.compleatmother.com/circ_faq.htm
Surgical Procedure: http://www.circumcisionvideos.com
Doctors & Hospitals: http://www.circumvent.org/
Rabbis Against Circumcision: http://www.rabbinathan.com/writings/circum.shtml
HIV & AIDS: http://www.circumcisionandhiv.com
Baby: http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/circumci.html
Religious & Jewish: http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org
Brit Milah / Bris: http://www.noharmm.org/letterjew.htm
Holistic Living: http://www.fathermag.com/health/circ/

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http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/75348/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/138741/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/228587/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/229743/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/229744/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/229944/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/230151/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/230961/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/231207/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/231424/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/231434/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/231716/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/232774/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/236817/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/236907/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/237592/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/237593/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/238058/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/238059/
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/238057/

More links....
http://www.noharmm.org/mystory.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/shanley.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/goldmanbalt.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/choices.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/jewdiff.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/maverick.htm
http://www.noharmm.org/nontrad.htm
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/rothenberg.htm
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/moss.html
http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/levitt.htm
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish3.html
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/religious.htm
http://www.norm-uk.org/circumcision_jewish.html
http://www.noharmm.org/rationaljew.htm
http://www.circumcision.org/ethics.htm

FORESKIN
http://www.cirp.org/library/treatment/
http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/STD/smith/

WORLD
http://www.cirp.org/library/statements/finland2003/
http://www.cirp.org/news/nationalpost08-30-02a/
http://www.icgi.org

MUSLIM
http://www.quran.org/khatne.htm

To Mutilate in the Name of Jehovah or Allah by Sami A. ALDEEB ABU-SAHLIEH
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/aldeeb1/
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade
 
Homeopathy International 1 last decade

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