We plan to raise our son Jewish, but I’m opposed to circumcision for medical and moral reasons
A Reform Jew wonders how to honor tradition as well as their own sense of what is right
Circumcision
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Fast Forward Danish parliament to debate bill that would ban non-medical circumcision
(JTA) — The Danish parliament is scheduled to consider a bill proposing a ban on non-medical circumcisions. Henri Goldstein, the president of the Jewish Community in Denmark, says the measure represents “the worst threat since World War II” to the country’s Jews, who traditionally circumcise baby boys on their eighth day of life, a ritual…
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Community Is coronavirus a reason to skip the bris?
My son and daughter had a joint bar and bat mitzvah a few months into the Covid-19 pandemic. The service took place in our temple and was broadcast on Zoom. On the bema, our rabbi stood apart from our immediate family and just a few congregation staffers were physically present. Everyone else, including grandparents, watched…
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Fast Forward Amid mohel-less lockdown, New Zealand man circumcises own son
A Jewish couple in New Zealand decided to perform a ritual circumcision on their son themselves, after determining that the country’s travel restrictions would make getting a mohel to fly in for the procedure impossible. Noam and Elisheva Fogel waited five months to conduct the circumcision ceremony, called a brit milah or a bris, which…
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News Russia has a full-time surgeon whose only job is circumcising Jewish men
(JTA) — The religious Jewish world has created some unusual jobs, from shofar makers to etrog pickers to mashgichim – kosher certifiers whose job is literally to watch others cook. But one of the more bizarre surely belongs to Dr. Yeshaya Shafit, who is Russia’s only mohel, or professional circumciser, for adult men. Shafit, a…
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News Many Jewish parents press on with circumcision amidst outbreak – while others opt for delay
Becky Lustgarten is due to give birth to her first child, a boy, at the end of April. Pre-pandemic, she and her husband, Taylor, felt committed to following the Jewish mandate for circumcision on the baby’s eighth day of life, though she admitted being “a little not-so-thrilled” anticipating the painful procedure. Now the couple, who…
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Fast Forward Four babies got herpes from ‘oral suction’ at their circumcisions
At least four infants have contracted herpes in New York City in the past six months after undergoing a circumcision rite in which the ritual circumciser, or mohel, cleans the circumcision wound by oral suction. Three cases of herpes have been reported since December and four since September from the rite called “metzitzah b’peh,” WPIX-11…
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The Schmooze Zach Galifianakis Talking Circumcision With Three Jewish Grandmas Is The High Point Of 2019
“Jews are like, my favorites,” says Zach Galifianakis, sweating, clutching a heart-shaped box of Russell Stover chocolates, as three Jewish grandmothers take him in. “I gotta tell ya, man, I love the Jews,” he rambles on moments later, the three women eying him like the fates toying with a piece of thread. “I have always…
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