Jewish Media Star Howard Stern: Circumcision Should be Illegal........Jewish Radio Host and Intactivist supports ban on controversial surgery . "foreskin removal should be illegal. It is a mutilation." - Howard Stern

* Jewish Radio Host Howard Stern Says Circumcision Should Be Against The Law.*


Howard Stern, Jewish Intactivst by Rebecca Wald, JD
http://www.beyondthebris.com/2011/03/howard-stern-jewish-int....

Satellite radio talk show host Howard Stern told millions of listeners this Tuesday that he felt male infant circumcision should be illegal in the United States, declaring it a “mutilation.”
“I agree with you that men should not be circumcised. . . I don’t know where this circumcision came from, some people feel it’s a religious thing... There’s been all kinds of myths. I think it’s nonsense. That if you’re born that way, it seems to me it’s a mutilation to cut it off. The same way in Africa they sometimes cut off a woman’s clitoris and they think that’s justified. I think our foreskins were cut off in order to desensitize us, and I think it was a bunch of religious nudnicks who decided they didn’t want us going around fornicating so they cut off some of our penis skin.”
Many times during the interview, Stern said he agreed with Low that circumcision should be illegal.
Stern wrapped things up by telling Low, “You’re preaching to the choir . . . I happen to agree with you that foreskin removal should be illegal. It is a mutilation.”
- Howard Stern, Jewish Intactivst by Rebecca Wald, JD
http://www.beyondthebris.com/2011/03/howard-stern-jewish-int....

'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

'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....Eventually I think religious people, too, will stop doing it.'
- Kasher, co-founder of one of the biggest Jewish Intactivist groups in Israel.

A web-based multimedia project that puts real faces and voices to the current Jewish movement against circumcision. This dynamic site is being created by, for, and about Jewish people. We each hold our own ideas about life and our Jewish heritage. 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

'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.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html ) 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.cirp.org/library/cultural/goodman1999/ )
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, (UK), 2/19/1997, p. 12-13.

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.

'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... that would be preferable to this assault upon and mutilation of a newborn infant...'
Professor George Wald, M.D
Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine and Harvard University Professor

“You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves” (Leviticus 19:28)

RABBI SHERWIN WINE
'There is no reason for tying [genital cutting] to a humanistic Jewish birth celebration. Despite its historic importance, it is simply inappropriate in the same way that female segregation is inappropriate.' – Rabbi Sherwin Wine

DR. MOMMA.ORG
'Interestingly, a large percentage of the active intactivists (those who believe that all human beings deserve their basic right to bodily integrity) are Jewish men and women. Jewish physician, Dr. Fleiss, and historian, Dr. Hodges, wrote the excellent book, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Circumcision and Dr. Ronald Goldman (also a Jewish man) authored both Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective and Circumcision, The Hidden Trauma : How an American Cultural Practice Affects Infants and Ultimately Us All.'
- http://www.drmomma.org/2009/06/circumcision-jewish-fathers-m....


'...it would be anti-Semitic of us if we didn't defend Jewish babies along with other children. We respect what is beautiful in every religion or culture and speak out against what is brutal. All cultures and religions are capable of evolving.'
- Mary Conant, R.N. and Betty Katz Sperlich, R.N. (a Jewish mother), founding members of 'Nurses for the Rights of the Child' ( http://www.nurses.cirp.org ), America's largest union of Nurses who refuse to participate in circumcisions.
http://nurses.cirp.org/Interview_by_Professor_Sam.html

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* The Influence of Intactivist Jews in Israel *
The Israeli Society to Abolish Genital Mutilation. (in Hebrew)
http://www.britmila.org.il
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Israel's Protect the Child Organization. (in Hebrew)
http://www.gonen.us
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Intact Israelis' Parents' Rights Group. (in Hebrew)
http://www.kahal.org
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* Jerusalem Post: A movement to ban – or at least question – circumcision includes many Jews. *
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....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.
- Jerusalem Post, Challenging the Circumcision Myth, 04/10/2011
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm

'Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come; it is time to stop circumcision whatever have been the reasons and/or distresses that have perpetuated it.' - Moshe Rothenberg, Orthodox Intactivist Moyel
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html
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* The Influence of Intactivist Writers and Professors Worldwide *


Comments to a Jewish mother in America who is keeping her son intact.
http://consciouswoman.org/2009/01/07/a-father-and-son-dialog....
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Professor Michael Kimmel, A Jewish Intactivst Father
http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/
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Ashley Montagu, Intactivist Intellectual and Human Rights Activist (UK).
http://www.montagunocircpetition.org/
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Ashley Montagu, Intactivist Scholar (UK).
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/montagu.html
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The Founding Seeds of an Intactivst Movement in Africa (Worldwide).
http://www.historyofcircumcision.net
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* Tens of Thousands of Israeli Jews are Keeping Their Sons Intact *
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, 3/11/10.
- NOCIRC Annual Newsletter 2011, Vol 25
___________________________________________________________________
* The Influence of Intactivist Activists in the USA *

Nurses For the Rights of the Child (Intactivst Organization Created by a Jewish Woman).
Rights Group for Nurses Consciously Objecting to Circumcision
(USA, UK, Israel, & International)
http://www.Nurses.cirp.org
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The Founding Seeds of a Jewish Intactivst Movement (International).
http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org
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Community Forum for Jewish Intactivists (USA)
http://www.beyondthebris.com
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Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community by Moshe Rothenberg (New York, USA)
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html
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* Many International Jews Are Already Keeping The Sons Intact! *
'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.
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*Profound Moral Reasons for Jewish Intactivism. *
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
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* What's wrong with circumcision surgery? *
In Norway, 60% of the rapes are committed by 2% of the population who are circumcised.''
http://circabolition.multiply.com/journal/item/344/
___________________________________________________________________
* The Influence of Intactivism and Human Rights in the International Arena *

International Organization for Genital Intactneess.
http://www.icgi.org/information/medicalization/
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The Founding Seeds of an Islamic Intactivst Movement (International).
http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/aldeeb1/
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The History of Circumcision (Worldwide).
http://www.HISTORYOFCIRCUMCISION.net
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Real Laws for Male Protection (California).
http://sfmgmbill.org
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Will the USA make circumcision against the law? (U.S.)
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm
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* A Jewish Woman Calls to Make Circumcision Against the Law. *
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
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* Many American and Canadian Jews Are Already Keeping Their Sons Intact! *
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, speaking to Rabbi Nathan Segal's Congregation (Shabbos Shul, the Shul of Marin County) on Kol Nidre eve.
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org
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* Medical and International Intactivism. * Intactivist Views and Perspectives *
* Intactivist Medical Professionals & URLs. *

* The Influence of Intactivist Educators in the Medical Profession *

The American Society to Abolish Genital Mutilation (URLS)
http://www.intactamerica.com
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Intactivist Medical Doctors, Professors and Scientists (International).
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.com
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The Society of Nurses to Abolish Genital Mutilation. (USA)
(The founder of this organization is a Jewish nurse who refused to take part in circumcisions.)
http://www.Nurses.cirp.org
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The Founding Seeds of an American Intactivist Movement (America)
http://www.intactamerica.com
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* Jewish Nurses Who Refuse to Circumcise *
'...as a Jew, how could I not speak up against Jewish circumcision? I would be letting Jewish babies down.'
- Betty Katz-Sperlich, RN., Founder of 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.
http://www.noharmm.org/cuttingedge.htm


THE JERUSALEM REPORT APRIL 25, 2011
'Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon, who was brought up Orthodox, produced a documentary called “Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision,” which examines male circumcision
from a religious, scientific and ethical perspective. He also interviews his Orthodox father and his brother in the film. Another American Jew who works against circumcision is Laurie Evans, the director of the New York Hudson Valley chapter of NOCIRC ( http://www.nocirc.org ). “I went to a brit and couldn’t believe I was standing in a room of people who usually question so much, but didn’t think of the baby. It was one of the worst days of my life. I feel our religion is in our heart and soul, not in our genitals.”
When Evans’s children were born, she wanted to be more involved Jewishly, despite not being brought up to be practicing. She still maintains some of the Jewish customs, but her difficulty with circumcision has created a fissure between her and Judaism. “It’s hard for me to accept that we don’t accept tattooing and we like questioning, but this can’t be talked about. I see it like foot-binding in China.”
- THE JERUSALEM REPORT APRIL 25, 2011
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* Rabbi Steven Blane Urges Us to Abolish Circumcision for Moral Reasons*
'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

'BUT CHOOSING TO LEAVE A SON INTACT IS NOT JUST a choice being made by American Jews. Increasingly, Israeli Jews are making this choice. Kahal ( http://www.kahal.org ) was established in June 2000 by parents in the Tel Aviv area who decided not to circumcise their sons. The community is not a formal organization and includes only parents with intact sons.
Raquel Lazar-Paley is a parent who chose not to circumcise her son and she says she has several friends in the Haifa area who made the same decision. Goldin says the fact that there are an increasing number of parents in Israel who decide not to circumcise their sons is just another indication of the growing rift there between the religious and secular.'
- THE JERUSALEM REPORT APRIL 25, 2011

'It's a mitzvah to fight to end circumcision!'
Samuel Richmond, a Jewish intactivist writing in LA.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html

Rabbi Yeshaia Familant ( http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.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-shalom.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

SAN FRANCISCO SENTINAL, MAY 6, 2011
'[Jewish] Former KGO radio host Dr. Dean Edell has condemned it, appearing in a video produced by NOCIRC ( http://www.nocirc.org ), a national anti-circumcision group... To Edell, “ludicrous” is cutting off a sensitive part of a baby boy’s anatomy on the chance it might benefit him later in life.
Trained as an ophthalmologist, Edell has been a prominent medical reporter, with the syndicated radio segment “Medical Minutes,” his longtime KGO and syndicated show and countless appearances on local TV news. The affable Sonoma doctor said he understands Jewish resistance to any infringement on circumcision.
But to him, that doesn’t make it OK.
“I think it’s an unnecessary operation,” he said. “If a law like this were to pass, it wouldn’t upset me much. I can’t imagine it being enforced heavily, but it does make a statement. I don’t like government intruding in our lives, but I think the operation has proven not to have medical support.”
He’s right, in that circumcision rates among the general public have slipped — according to one survey, by health care data analysis company SDI Health, the number dropped from 56 percent of newborn boys in 2006 to 32.5 in 2009. The numbers are even lower in some places, such as the Bay Area.
“Infant girls have many times more [urinary tract infections]. You don’t alter a child’s genitals. How many preventive procedures do you do? You don’t do 100 surgical operations to prevent a single case that probably could be prevented if we had effective hospitals and antibiotics.”
- San Francisco Sentinal, 6 May 2011

WND, MARCH 05, 2010
'(Georgeann Chapin, R.N.) said there already is a federal law outlawing female circumcision, and she believes boys should have the same protection. She also doesn't believe there should be any exceptions for religious belief.
'All babies should be protected and we believe that people's faith is in their heart. There are many Jews who are devout with their religion, but there are lots of religious practices that people leave as they become more aware really of the reason for it,' Chapin said.
'Human sacrifice is in the Bible, and we don't do that. Many people practice religion and their customs selectively,' she said.
'Religious practices change over time, so Intact America is primarily focused on medical circumcision but no, we don't believe there should be an exception for religious circumcision,' Chapin said.' - WND, March 05, 2010
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* The Influence of Intactivist Educators in the Parenting Field *

The Whole Baby Revolution / The Intact State of the Foreskin (U.S. & International)
http://www.wholebabyrevolution.com/
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The Whole Network / Intactivist Parents Rights Network. (U.S.)
The Value of the Foreskin in it's Intact State (International)
http://www.thewholenetwork.org
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Intactivist Institute. (USA)
http://consciouswoman.org/
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Intactivist Facts! (USA)
http://www.intactamerica.com
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Intactivist Moms (America).
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org
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Real Laws for Male Protection. (U.S.)
http://mgmbill.org/hearing.htm
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