Jewish Intactivist Rabbis - A Case for Bris without Milah

'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.
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/244064/

'According to modern scholars, circumcision is not even mentioned in either the earliest, 'J', version of Bereshth ('Genesis') nor the next three rewrites by other authors. Most importantly, the story of Abram is there in its entirety, except the part about the Covenant being 'sealed' with circumcision. The parallel Covenant story of 'a smoking kiln and its blazing torch' passing between the halves of animals and birds sacrificed by Abram is in J. Many biblical scholars agree on this point, and it is in accord with the mitzvot against desecrating the body.... It has even been suggested that early Judaism forbad circumcision!'
Case for Bris without Milah.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html

Rabbi Steven Blane: 'It is a violation of Torah law to physically assault or harm another person (Exodus 21:18-27). Jewish law recognizes a newborn infant as a person if the infant has been born after a full-term pregnancy.
With circumcision though, we generally overlook the humanity of the newborn infant and his awareness, perception, sensitivity, and meaningful responsiveness, though these abilities have been thoroughly documented by the latest research.'
- Rabbi Steven Blane

Rabbi Peter Schweitzer writes...
'For a variety of reasons, for example, there are an increasing number of Jewish parents who choose not to circumcise their sons. Yet they want to introduce these infants into membership in the Jewish people with a ritual that formalizes this connection. Fortunately, there are rabbis like myself who do not regard circumcision as the sine qua non of Jewish male identity. We will gladly officiate at ceremonies that equally welcome boys and girls into the community.'
- Rabbi Peter Schweitzer,
Jewish Currents, MAY-JUNE, 2007
(PDF) http://www.citycongregation.org/images/NYMag_Non-Circumcisio....

'AS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF AMERICANS – including a sizable number of American Jews – question the act of male circumcision, a group of San Francisco activists are advocating to ban circumcision, or what they call male genital mutilation... Many of the leading activists against circumcision around the country are Jewish.'
- Jerusalem Post, Challenging the Circumcision Myth, (Israel) 04/10/2011
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm

Nurses for the Rights of the Child, the largest organization of nurses
who refuse to circumcise, and who are working to ban genital
mutilation in the medical profession, begun by a Jewish mother and nurse.
http://www.Nurses.cirp.org

Rabbi Nathan Segal Writes That Jews Should Abolish Circumcision
http://www.rabbinathan.com/writings/circum.shtml

Rebecca Wald's Jewish Intactivist Parenting Blog
http://www.beyondthebris.com

The Case for Brit without Milah
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html

Brit B'lee Milah (Covenant Without Cutting) Celebrants
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html

Brit B'lee Milah (Covenant Without Cutting) - Covenant of Wholeness
http://www.nocirc.org/religion/Naming_ceremony.php

Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community by Moshe Rothenberg (New York, USA)
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html

Being rational about circumcision and Jewish observance by Moshe
Rothenberg (NY, USA)
http://www.noharmm.org/rationaljew.htm

The Kindest Un-Cut Feminism, Judaism, and My Son's Foreskin by
Professor Michael S. Kimmel
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/

Challenging Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective by Dr Jenny Goodman
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html

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, a support group for parents who choose not to circumcise their children. Jewish World, (Israel) 3/11/10.

'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.

I am calm and comfortable in the knowledge that no one will ever take a knife to this baby's flesh in the name of religion... I am confident that my people have such an abundance of life-enhancing, life-affirming and mind-opening traditions, that our identity and sense of cultural self-heed will happily survive our outgrowing of circumcision, a cruel relic which has always felt to me like an aberration at the heart of my religion.'
- Dr. Jenny Goodman, Challenging Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective (UK)
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html

Norm Cohen writes...
'Religious circumcision is the only religious ritual that involves cutting away part of another person’s body. The fact that this other person is a child who has not consented has made this practice a cause for concern by children’s rights activists everywhere.'
- Norm Cohen, author of one of the most popular Brit B'lee Milah (covenant without cutting) ceremonies.
http://www.nocircofmi.org/BrisShalom.pdf

Growing numbers of American Jews are now leaving their sons intact...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., executive vice-president of Doctors Opposing Circumcision ( http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org ), speaking to Rabbi Nathan Segal's Congregation (Shabbos Shul, the Shul of Marin County) on Kol Nidre eve. (USA)

Kathryn Mora at The Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary Hearing Room A2, Boston, Massachusetts, March 2, 2010
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm
I am a Jewish mother against circumcision and in support of passing Bill 1777. For years I was a certified childbirth educator and now a journalist and filmmaker. I continue to educate people that childbirth is a natural event rather than one filled with unnecessary drugs and other medical intervention, and circumcision is an unnatural event. These are two clear-cut examples of interfering with nature.
“The foreskin is a uniquely specialized, sensitive, functional organ of touch. No other part of the body serves this main purpose.”
My lack of education left my sons unprotected. They suffered pain and agony at that could have been prevented and it has affected them for the rest of their lives. Bill 17777 would have protected my sons from my lack of education about circumcision.
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm

My Son, the Little Jew with a Foreskin by Stacey Greenberg
http://www.mothering.com/health/my-son-little-jew-foreskin

The Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments by Lisa Braver Moss
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/moss.html

'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. ( http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/ ) She is a doctor and a psychotherapist as well as a Jewish feminist. '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.' ( http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html )
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, 2/19/1997, p. 12-13. (UK)

Jewish circumcision: an alternative perspective by Dr Jenny Goodman
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/

Testimony of Kathryn Mora at The Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary
Hearing, a Jewish Woman speaking out for a law banning circumcision.
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm

Circumcision: A Jewish Feminist Perspective by Miriam Pollack
from Jewish Women Speak Out, Canopy Press 1995
http://www.noharmm.org/pollack.htm

Letter from a Jewish Father by Michael L.
http://www.noharmm.org/letterjew.htm

Rabbi Yeshaia Familant ( http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html ), who is also a marriage and family counselor in Menlo Park, performs circumcision-free ceremonies, which are often called brit bli milah (covenant without circumcision) ( http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html ), brit shalom (covenant of peace), brit shem (covenant of the name) or brit hayim (covenant of life) ( http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html ).
'Sari Singerman, 37, and her husband, Moses Goldberg, 35, did not circumcise their son, Julian Zion. The couple said it's about time Jews against circumcision speak out -- even if it means stirring up controversy at the Petaluma Hebrew school where Goldberg is principal.'
- A Few Jews are Breaking with Tradition and Having Alternative Birth Rights Instead, By Lisa Fernandez, Mercury News, San Jose, California, Saturday, 6/12/2003

'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.

'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.'
– Professor Michael S. Kimmel, TIKKUN, Volume 16, Number 3, May/June, 2001.
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/

The American Society to Abolish Genital Mutilation
http://www.intactamerica.com

Intactivist Medical Professors and Scientists (International).
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.com

Society of Nurses to Abolish Genital Mutilation. (International)
(The founder of this organization is a Jewish nurse who refuses to take part in circumcisions.)
http://www.Nurses.cirp.org

The Founding Seeds of an American Intactivist Movement
http://www.intactamerica.com

The Founding Seeds of an Islamic Intactivst Movement
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/aldeeb1/

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

Real Laws for Male Protection
http://sfmgmbill.org

Will the United States make circumcision against the law?
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm


NEW YORK MAGAZINE, Oct. 18, 2009
Jewish But Don’t Want to Circumcise? There’s an option for you.
(PDF) http://www.citycongregation.org/images/NYMag_Non-Circumcisio....
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html
By Emma Rosenblum
Just as more American parents are choosing not to circumcise their children, so too are more Jewish parents reconsidering the practice. Devised by ultraliberal rabbis, the Brit
Shalom ( http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html ) is a relatively new and increasingly popular, if still rare, ceremony designed for parents who want to participate in a key part of the Jewish tradition while foregoing circumcision. Essentially a bris without the cutting, the ceremony involves a naming rite for the baby, prayers spoken by the rabbi, and an explanation of the name from the parents, if they so choose. It’s a way of “welcoming the child into the Jewish people,” says Rabbi Peter Schweitzer (
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html ) of the City Congregation of Humanistic Judaism on the Upper West Side. Although the vast majority of rabbis would vehemently disagree, Schweitzer maintains that circumcision isn’t a requirement of Judaism. “If you’ve committed to raising your child Jewish, that’s really all that matters to us,” he says.
Gail Karp, a Reform Jewish writer living in Harlem, opted for a Brit Shalom ( http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html ) when her son was born in 2007. She allows that she sometimes wonders if he may one day feel different from other Jews, but says she ultimately made the right decision: “I’m certain that if he wants to be religious, being circumcised isn’t a prerequisite.”
- Jewish But Don’t Want to Circumcise? There’s an option for you., By Emma Rosenblum, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, Oct. 18, 2009
(PDF) http://www.citycongregation.org/images/NYMag_Non-Circumcisio....
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html

Jewish Intactivist Activists
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html

A Jewish Intactivist Rabbi - A Case for Bris without Milah
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/273041/

Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community? By Moshe Rothenberg
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/244292/

New York Mag, 2009 - Article on Humanistic Judaism / Brit Blee Milah
http://www.citycongregation.org/images/NYMag_Non-Circumcisio....

Israeli and Jewish Parents Keeping Sons Intact
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/239443/

The State of the Jewish Foreskin
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/229723/

Jewish Media Star Howard Stern: Circumcision Should be Illegal
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/272875/

American and Israeli Jews are Keeping Their Sons Intact
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/237495/

Why is circumcision wrong? Religious and Medical Excusees for Circumcision.
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/244064/

The State of the Foreskin in Israel
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/233025/

Anatomy and Sexual Function of the Foreskin
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/230782/

Jews, Muslims and Christians Keeping Sons Intact
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/231196/

'many Jews reject a brit milla as an archaic and barbaric ritual...'
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/229743/

Natural, Holistic Doctors Reject Circumcision
http://abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/229744/
[message edited by Homeopathy International 1 on Sat, 14 May 2011 00:03:36 BST]